Happy 27th Anniversary, Dad & Mom!

Happy Anniversary, Dad & Mom!

We are so thankful to you for bringing us up in the Lord, pouring a lot of time into educating us, and providing for us!  We love you!

"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, 

and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

(Genesis 2:24)

Summer Days

Our summer has been filled with fun, blessings, many farm babies, work, and heat (thankfully this summer hasn't been as hot as usual)!  In the beginning of this season, a timber company bought and cut down about eight acres of trees.  We are planning to make some of that land into a goat pasture (their current pen is temporary), a wildflower field, pasture, and a deer plot.  We are looking forward to getting everything cleaned up from the mess of the trees getting taken down and starting to build our barn and goat pasture.  During our free time we have enjoyed exploring, cutting trails, fishing in our well stocked pond, and spending a lot of time together!

First, I'll finish up with some pictures from our trip!  On Saturday and Sunday, we drove back down to Georgia stopping along the way to visit friends.

Our cousin, Ryan, lives close to the area where our hotel was, so he came by and we enjoyed spending time with him.

Visiting with friends and having Bible time.

We went to church and had lunch with more friends!

Almost home!

Our 4th of July meal!

We had almost eight acres of trees cut down by a timber company who bought them.  That was a noisy week!

Our blueberry harvest was incredible!

 

Mom's brother and sister-in-law, Greg & Tina, came to visit!  We really enjoyed our time together!

We took them on a tour of Savannah

                                      

Joseph playing piano for the residents at the Nursing Home.

Woody & I (Erin)!

We took care of a friend's horses while they were away, which we really enjoyed!  

While Mom & Joseph were shopping, they saw this beautiful rainbow!

Jack & Daffodil!

Friends of ours came to visit and see our new farm yesterday.  We had a very blessed and fun time together!

We did some paddling in the pond together!

Our orthodontist flew over our property the other day and took this picture.  It looks much different since the trees got taken down!

"So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows."

(Psalm 61:8)

Virginia Trip Part 2 - Majesty Music Conference

"Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. 

Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. 

Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals."  

Psalm 150:3-5

   

On August 2nd and 3rd we were blessed to attend the Majesty Music Conference in Woodbridge, Virginia. We scheduled our annual canoe and hiking trip around it.  It was exciting to be with fellow believers and develop our music abilities with our wonderful teachers.  One of the main focuses was voice, so all the participants (after three and a half hours of practice) were able to be part of the choir in the closing concert.  The Majesty Music and The Wilds faculty did a fantastic job teaching us more about music, practicing, instruments, and voice; but, most importantly, reminding us that our voices and musical talents are to be used for God's glory.  We are very grateful to Heritage Baptist Church for providing such a great facility for the conference and all they did for the participants. 

I (along with the rest) thoroughly enjoyed meeting Matt and Christy Taylor from The Wilds.  Using their amazing voices for God's glory has been a blessing to me.

Mrs. Hamilton playing a two piano duet with Mrs. Lynch.

Lunchtime!

                                          

We were very blessed to hear powerful devotionals by Pastor Kurt Skelly and Evangelist Caleb Garraway.

Dr. Warren Cook, our amazing and humorous, choir director!  He was so much fun!

Benjamin & Mrs. Hamilton

Voice Lessons!

The Wilds choral reading.

After two days of the conference, the closing night was the grand finale, the concert.  There were about two hundred people in the choir. Can you find us!?  For those of you that might be interested, you can watch the whole concert here:   

(Be sure to scroll down to August 3rd)

It was a blessing to meet old friends and make new ones!

I am so thankful for the wonderful time we had together and the great things we learned!

In Jesus' name,

Luke

Virginia Trip Part 1 - Outdoor Adventures!

After church on July 29 we headed up to Roanoke, Virginia, for an exciting vacation! We lived in Roanoke before moving down to Georgia 10 years ago.  Last year we began our annual family trip of canoeing, hiking, and visiting in Roanoke, and were eagerly looking forward to this year!  Luke found a Majesty Music conference about three hours away from Roanoke, so we planned our trip around that (a post on the music conference will come later).

The weather was beautiful for driving, and the sunset on the mountains was amazing to see.  God is truly, the greatest artist! On one portion of the highway, we get to the top of a mountain where there is a gorgeous outlook called Fancy Gap.  We never get tired of seeing it!

Fancy Gap

Monday we spent our day visiting friends and going to Peaks of Otter- a favorite place of ours to visit.  It has a large lake with a background of one of the tallest peaks in VA, called Sharp Top.  It was a rather misty day so the peak was hidden by a cloud.

Friends

Sharp Top

Tuesday we headed to the James River to canoe/kayak nine miles.  It was another cloudy day calling for rain, but it cleared up towards noon.  The river was also very clear, so we could see all the way down to the bottom, which was typically 6 - 8 feet deep!  Isaac and Luke were in kayaks and Mom, Morgan, Joseph, Dad, Benjamin, and I (Erin), were in two separate canoes.

Isaac

Morgan, Joseph, & Mom

Luke

Dad, Benjamin, & I

The pebbly river bottom is one of the prettiest parts!

A favorite place to stop

The two pictures above were taken at water level!

Some of us love to float/swim a couple of miles on the river!

A small bass Isaac caught

An overloaded canoe!  Benjamin & I went in Mom's canoe to catch up with Dad.

 

A swinging bridge that hangs over the James River in Buchanan, VA.

On Wednesday we hiked and then headed up to Northern Virginia for the music conference.  We were trying to find a trail we had looked up online, but we ended up not being able to find it.  We then decided to hike whatever we found on the way, and Sulphur Springs Trail was perfect as a 2.5 mile hike one way.

Isaac, Luke, & Benjamin

The outlooks are amazing along the trail when there is a break in the trees.

The summit!  Notice the rain falling in the distance.

 

The view made it a perfect place to take pictures

The continuing rain

About to head back

And yes, we were caught in the rain!

We were so thankful for the time spent together in God's creation!  Majesty Music Conference post coming next!

"And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, 
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; 
his leaf also shall not wither; 
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

(Psalms 1:3)