Scotland Book Recomendation

Here are the books that we read before we went to Scotland a few years ago. If you click on the title, it will take you to a page where you can buy the book. Here are our blog posts we did about it a year afterwards: Horn Herald March 2007

Tales of a Scottish Grandfather by Sir Walter Scott
Originally written to his grandchildren about Scottish history, we read most of these books by Sir Walter Scott before we went to Scotland:

Volume 1- From Bannockburn to Flodden

Volume 2 -From Gileskirk to Greyfriars

Volume 3 - From Glencoe to Stirling

Volume 4 - From Montrose to Culloden


Memorial to Bonny Prince Charlie where he returned to Scotland

G. A. Henty Books based in Scotland:
Bonnie Prince Charlie

In Freedom's Cause


Castle Campbell

The Scottish Worthies - A book about most of the Scottish Reformers.

Stories of the Covenanters in Scotland - A book of three short stories about covenanters in Scotland, originally printed in the late 1800's.

Crown and Covenant Series - This is a series of three books by Douglas Bond. They are historical novels based in Scotland in the time of the covenanters. The three books are Duncan's War, King's Arrow and Rebels Keep.

Books on Scottish Battles:

Stirling Bridge and Falkirk 1297 - 98 William Wallace's rebellion

Bannockburn 1314 - Robert the Bruce's Greatest Victory

Culloden Moor 1746 - The death of the Jacobite cause

Other Books my Father Read:

John Knox - Trumpeter of God

Blind Harry's Wallace

The Life and African Explorations of Dr. David Livingston

Faith and Freedom Tour Day 4

On Thursday, it was very warm. First we went to Burial Hill, and Mr. Phillips and Mr. Potter gave talks about the people who were buried, and what they did in Plymouth Colony. Then we had some time to walk around the graveyard and look at the grave stones. Next we walked down to the waterfront to see the Pilgrims Progress, which is people dressed up as pilgrims marching in a parade to Burial Hill, and then they had a short pilgrim worship service on top of the hill.

The Pilgrims in the Pilgrims Progress

They have one every year on Thanksgiving Day and many people who are in Plymouth gather to watch, and listen to the service that is like the ones the pilgrims did. Then we went in an old church that is where the pilgrims first had their church, and now it is called the Church of the Pilgrimage. There we listened to the pastor of the church, Gary Marx, give a speech about the pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving.
Gary Marx giving his talk in the church

Then we walked to Pilgrim Hall, which is a museum in Plymouth about the pilgrims, and it has a model of the Mayflower, and some things that the pilgrims brought with them. At the museum they had a treasure hunt for the children to do, and if you complete it, they give you a free postcard.

The Pilgrim Hall Museum

Joshua, Stephen and I did the treasure hunt at the museum, and then our whole family went back to the hotel to get ready for the Thanksgiving dinner that they were having for us there. We sat with the Potter family during dinner. The dinner was a big buffet line with turkey and beef, and things you usually have at a Thanksgiving dinner. After everybody was finished eating we moved to a different room and some of the people on the tour got to tell what they were thankful for. Most people stayed around and talked to other people for a while after the dinner and then everybody left to go back to their hotel rooms.

Bermuda Pictures

We have added pictures to the Bermuda posts. Enjoy!

Second Day in Bermuda

Psalm 144:1-2
A Psalm of David. Blessed be the LORD my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle— My lovingkindness and my fortress, My high tower and my deliverer, My shield and the One in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under me.

Today, we spent the day exploring two of the fifteen forts that are on this small island that is two miles by twenty-three miles. Obviously, from the first British colony in Bermuda in 1612 until after WWII, they have felt very threatened. First from the Spanish, then the Americans. Once Britian lost the American War for Independence, they heavily fortified Bermuda since it and Halifax were the only ports that they had to protect their shipping lanes to the new world.
A view of the lighthouse from the ferry.

First, we took a hotel ferry to Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda, where the sister hotel of the hotel we are staying at is located. From the ferry dock, we walked up to the fort that overlooks the city, Fort Hamilton. It was built in response to the new American iron-clad warships, i.e. the Monitor class ship, which ended the British dominion of the seas. The fort had a complete moat around it which has now been planted to be a botanical garden. The moat walls are approximately thirty feet high. It was a dry moat, so it was protected by gun ports that are accessible via tunnels that are open to the public.

A view of the dry moat from a gun port.

A view of inside the dry moat.

We then took a ferry from Hamilton to Dockyard. Bermuda has one of the highest population densities in the world, so rather than using roads it is frequently faster to get to your destination by ferry which is the same cost as a bus. The Dockyard Keep is also from the nineteenth century and is the largest fort in Bermuda. It houses the Bermuda Maritime Museum which covers many aspects of the history of Bermuda. Most of the museum exhibits are located in the restored commisioner's house, which is a very large three story building with a beautiful view over the harbor toward Hamilton.
A cannon at the dockyard.

Bermuda was a significant island during WWII, primarily because it was the staging area for convoys to cross the Atlantic to supply Europe. They would gather in Bermuda and then cross under the protection of battleships. Also, it was where much of the mail crossing the Atlantic to the United States was censored. At the peak, there were about a thousand women, called censorettes, busy examining the flow of mail. Also, a German u-boat was captured and brought to Bermuda. It contained two Enigma machines along with the German code books allowing the Allies to decipher the German missives. Because of the importance of hiding the breaking of the code from Germany, it was never leaked that the u-boat was captured even though over a thousand people knew about it. The capture was finally announced nine days after the surrender of Germany. After the war, the u-boat was repaired and is now on display in Illinois.

First Day in Bermuda

This was our first full day in Bermuda. We have left the children behind for a long weekend. The first time since the birth of Stephen, who is now nine and a half years old. It is an early celebration of our twenty years of blessed marriage, which will occur this fall, but this seemed like a better time of the year to go to a beach location. Kendra has been wanting to see the pink sand of Bermuda (and her birthday is Saturday.)

Psalm 98:7-9
"Let the sea roar, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell in it; Let the rivers clap their hands; Let the hills be joyful together before the LORD, For He is coming to judge the earth. With righteousness He shall judge the world, And the peoples with equity."

We began and ended the day with a walk on the beach. The first walk was along the hotel's private beach. It was small, but nice and secluded with umbrellas and chairs neatly arranged. Also, the sand was well groomed.

This is the beach at our resort.

This is the view from the beach club restaurant.

Psalm 119:105
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

From the shore, we walked up to the Gibbs' Hill Lighthouse. It is on the highest point of the island and was the second cast iron lighthouse ever built. It was casted and setup in an iron works in London, before being sent over in pieces and reassembled here. It was made of cast iron, a relatively new building material at the time, because of the soft rock of Bermuda was unable to hold the weight of the tower and lamp. It was built because of the number of shipwrecks on the reefs to the west of the island, which extend twelve miles out to sea. There had been a lookout on that hill since the mid-seventeenth century when they were on the lookout for Spanish galleys that might conquer the island.

Our hotel from the lighthouse.

A view of the island from the lighthouse.

In the afternoon, we took a long hike on a series of public beaches. This was probably about a three mile hike round trip and required climbing over the rocks to get from beach to beach. It was a pleasant day with beautiful weather. Then we found a spot to watch the sunset before heading back for a gourmet Italian dinner.

Re-finishing the Hard-wood Floors

This Christmas we are refinishing our hardwood floors as a project. Last year we put tile on the kitchen counter tops. This is even bigger because we have 900 sq. ft. of hardwood floors. The builders did not do a good job of sanding when they finished them the first time and the finish is gone in spots.

Here are the steps:
  1. Get everything off the floors, out of the pantry, and off the kitchen counters.
  2. Sand them. We do this to get the finish off, and make them smooth.
  3. Put stain on.
  4. Put three coats of polyurethane on (sanding, vacuuming, and tack clothing in between coats.)
We started on Saturday. Here are some pictures:Stephen Walker, who lives near us, came over to help.This is Daddy running the drum sander (which is for sanding the main parts of the floors). Stephen is holding the cord so Daddy does not run over it.Here is Joshua using a small orbital sander on the floor. The orbital edge sander we rented is beside Joshua.

We will use 3 or 4 different grades of sandpaper.

On Saturday we did almost the entire floor once, then we went to the Browns' barn to spend the night since we go there for worship on Sunday morning and it was too dusty to sleep in our house.

One day left for Vision Forum Give Away

There are only 24 hours left to enter the drawing for the League of Grateful Sons!

If you would like to enter, please send your name, email, and shipping address to hornj@datatek-net.com by noon on December 20.

For more information about this give away, visit: http://hornherald.blogspot.com/2007/12/vision-forum-give-away.html

Bill Brown, one of the heroes in the video, wrote a book with his wife on their life in Alaska. It is called, From Cowboy Boots to Mukluks: Six Years in the Territory of Alaska.

You can buy it from Amazon by clicking on:
From Cowboy Boots to Mukluks: Six Years in the Territory of Alaska

Vision Forum Give away



For 6 days only, we will be offering one free gift from Vision Forum. We will give away one copy of the DVD of League of Grateful Sons, a great video about honoring our fathers which was produced by Vision Forum. Even if you already have the video, you can enter anyway, it is a great video to give to others!



To enter the contest, please email your name, email and shipping address to hornj@datatek-net.com. We will only accept one application per family. All applications must be received by December 20, 2007. The winner will be notified by December 24, 2007. You will probably receive your free gift in 2-3 weeks. Please email any questions to hornj@datatek-net.com.

Mr. Bill Brown and his wife go to our church. He is one of the heroes featured in the film.


Vision Forum also sells a book about Mr. Brown, Coming In on a Wing and a Prayer, written by Kelly Bradrick, his granddaughter who went to our church before she was married.

To learn more about this great movie click here: League of Grateful Sons
To buy more products from Vision Forum, click here: Vision Fourm

We hope you enjoy this contest.

The Horn Family

Faith and Freedom Tour - Day 3

On Wednesday morning we got up and walked a few blocks to the Plymouth waterfront. There they have what is called the Mayflower II. It is a re-creation of the original Mayflower. This year is it's 50th anniversary. Just before we got on the boat, Mr. Phillips and Mr. Potter told us about the journey of the Mayflower, and what it would have been like aboard. It was terrible. The Pilgrims were not allowed up on deck because of the storms and they were cargo on board. There was no privacy in the hold. The Mayflower II is run by Plymouth Plantation, so there are a few actors impersonating sailors and passengers on the Mayflower. Here are pictures from it:


Morning on the Mayflower II



Horn Family aboard the Mayflower II


On the Mayflower we talked to several sailors. After the ship, we picked up lunch and boarded the buses for Salem. Salem was about a 1 1/2 hour drive. Dr. Jehle gave us a walking tour of Salem. We saw the statue of Roger Conant, the peace-maker who was the founder of Salem:
We also went to the Salem witch memorial, where Dr. Jehle talked about the Salem Witch Trials. He said that they were not an example of how all Puritans were, but instead of how the Puritans made mistakes. The problems were gossip, disobedient children, and throwing out the important laws (innocent until proven guilty, etc.) We really enjoyed this speech. We also went by Nathaniel Bowditch's house, and also went in a museum very quickly to see his writing desk, cane and other items owned by him, and also to see two famous paintings of the witch trials.

We also went to Ye Olde Pepper Company - America's oldest candy store. We went down to the Salem wharf where many missionaries left from, and heard a speech by Mr. Phillips and Mr. Potter on missions. After this we headed back to Plymouth and ate dinner there.

Faith and Freedom Tour Day 2

On Tuesday we went on a walking tour of Plymouth. In the walking tour, first Mr. Jehle gave us a talk on providential stories at Plymouth. Then we went to the Plymouth rock memorial were Mr. Phillips gave a talk on Ebenezers.Then we went to the Pilgrim Mothers statue, where Mr. Phillips analyzed the statue. Then we went to the Bradford monument where Mr. Phillips gave a talk on William Bradford.Then we walked through the Brewster gardens. After that we went to the first burying ground monument where the Pilgrims had buried their dead in the middle of the night so the Indians would not know how few people they had. Then we went to the Massasoit statue where Mr. Jehle talked about the Pilgrim's relationship with the Indians. Then we boarded the buses for Plymouth Plantation. Plymouth Plantation is a place where actors recreate what the settlement would of looked like. Mr. Phillips gave all of the children a list of what they had to do to get a special prize. After that we ate dinner with the Pilgrims. It was a re-creation of the dinner John Robinson's church had before some of them left for the new world.
Here are some good books to learn more about Plymouth:
  1. Plymouth in the Words of her Founders by Paul Jehle
  2. Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford
  3. Plymouth set: Of Plymouth Plantation, Plymouth in the words of her founders, and the Thanksgiving Primer
  4. Landmarks and Liberty(CD)

Faith and Freedom Tour - Day 1

This year we are again attending the and Freedom Tour which this year is located in Plymouth, MA. We left last Friday, November 16 pretty late. We drove through the night to Washington, DC, and we arrived at the Days Inn in Arlington, VA about 2:30 in the morning. We had called soon after we got in the car to reserve a room. So they went in and turned the heat on to be ready for us. When we arrived, many hours later, it felt over 100 degrees. I could not sleep for about an hour because it was soo hot. Finally we got to sleep, and woke up Friday morning. Daddy had to go to a business meeting with Mr. Breagy at 9:30. We stayed in the hotel room until Daddy got back, then we drove into Washington, DC.

Mommy and Rachel wanted to go to the National Art gallery, while Daddy, Stephen and I wanted to go to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum, so that is what we did. We had a good time there. We saw the Wright Brother's Plane, and the Spirt of St. Louis Plane, space-ships and many other things. We enjoyed it a lot.

Mommy and Rachel also had a good time at the National Art Gallery.
We met at the car when our three hour parking expired. Then we went to the National Portrait Gallery, where we saw portraits of many men. After this, we sat in traffic an hour and a half to get to BWI airport. There we planned to get on a plane to fly to Manchester, NH. From there we would drive the next morning to visit our friends the Linders.
We got on our plane, but we did not get to sit together because we did not check in early and we were flying Southwester. We arrived in Manchester safely, and went to our hotel to spend the night. We had a nice time with the Linders on Saturday afternoon and went to two church services on Sunday with them. They wanted to hear what we thought about the two churches since they are still looking for a church to be a part of.
On Monday we drove down from NH to Plymouth, MA. We checked into our room and got ready for the opening dinner. We were surprised to see lots of people we know, especially a family from NC that has visited our church, and we had a good time. We are looking forward to the Faith and Freedom Tour.

Chicken Killing

On Saturday, the Breagys, the Damings, the Sides (families from our church), and us, slaughtered chickens together. The Damings had kept the chickens. All of the families got some of the chicken. There were about 99 chickens. There are 7 steps to processing chickens:
1. The first step is catching them.
2. Then they are killed.
3. Then they are dipped in boiling water so their feathers are loose.
4. Then they are plucked.
5. Then they are eviscerated (which means taking the guts out.)
6. Then they are checked for any other feathers, and they are hosed out.
7. Then they are weighed and put in bags.

Killing chickens reminded us of these verses in Numbers, Numbers 11:31-33

"31 And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. 32 And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. 33 And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague."

Now we have an idea what it was like. It took us almost a whole day to do 99 chickens, and that was with 30 people. We calculated it was about 90,000 quails on every side, since the Israelites were surrounded with quail. After just one day it would of stunk. They had to do the cleaning with all of them, and they did not have any automatic machines, and they could not get away from it since they were surrounded.

These are some books written by Joel Salatin, who gave the plucker that we used to our friends, the Sides: Pastured Poultry Profits, Salad Bar Beef, and You Can Farm