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

Henty Series

I have just finished reading the G.A. Henty collection we have. We only have 73 books out of the 99. We bought them all from Vision Forum, and we have all the ones they sell. I started reading them in January 2007. It has taken me less time to read 73 books than it took Joshua and Rachel, my siblings, to read 30. My family thinks I can read very quickly. This is a picture of me in front of our Henty collection:I am going to write an overview of each book as I re-read through our collection.

Reformation Day

On October 31 Hope Baptist Church had a Reformation Day celebration at the Brown's farm. The first thing we did was to eat hot dogs for dinner, and then we gathered in the Brown's tent and sang A Mighty Fortress is Our God. Then there were different families from our church that discussed five great reformers: Jan Huss, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, and Oliver Cromwell. We were going to burn Jan Huss in effigy, but there was a burning ban because of the drought so we couldn't do it, but one of the men from our church, Mr. Sides spoke about him, and all the things he did, what he preached about, his imprisonments, his trial, and his burning. He spoke against the Catholic church and was imprisoned for his denouncement of selling indulgences. Before he was burned, he said, "in 100 years, God will raise up a man whose calls for reform cannot be suppressed."

Mr. Sides acting as Jan Huss.

Then another family, the Breagys, did a skit about Martin Luther. First they had Shea and Claire walk around the stage with big signs with the city and the year on them. Then they had Stephen Breagy, who played Martin Luther, nail the 95 theses to the church door in Wittenburg, Germany.

Claire holding up a sign in front of the church door.

Then they had Grace, Shea and Claire come up and ask Stephen some questions about what he was preaching, what was wrong with indulgences, and things like that. Then Stephen read a short paper that he wrote, and Grace sung a song that he wrote, based on the 46 th psalm, to the tune of A Mighty Fortress is our God.

Grace, Shea, and Claire interviewing Stephen Breagy.

Next Timothy Orr came up and read a paper that he and his brother Josiah wrote about John Calvin, about his life in Geneva, and his preachings and doctrine. He is most noted for his commitment to the absolute sovereignty and holiness of God, and the doctrines of predestination, election and grace.

Timothy Orr reading his paper on John Calvin.

Then Mr. Tsantles came up and did an overview on Oliver Cromwell who was an army general, a member of Parliament, and a great reformer. Then two of his children, Allison and Taylor, read two of his letters to his daughters, one to his wife, and one to a friend.

Then our family came up onto the stage and did a reenactment from the writings of John Knox from a conversation between Mary Queen of Scots and himself. Joshua was John Knox, Stephen was a guard, and I, Rachel, was Queen Mary. Stephen brought in Joshua for me to discuss with him what he said about me. Then he talked to me for awhile, and then Stephen said that dinner was served, and took Joshua away.

Stephen, Joshua, and I on the stage.

Then Daddy came up and talked about why we should remember the Reformers, then we sang It Is Well With My Soul, then we had dessert, and then everybody left.

Cromwell Done Right!

These are the notes Stephen took on Dr. Joe Morecraft's talk on Oliver Cromwell at the Chalcedon Conference. Book recommendations: The greatness of Oliver Cromwell (Collier books) The Great Christian Revolution
Cromwell was the greatest English man that ever lived. He created the English world of today. Many scholars of his time praised him, but now people despise him. We think that Cromwell and the Puritans did not like entertainment, but playwriting flourished under Cromwell. We cannot understand Cromwell without understanding Puritanism. When the reformation hit England, Puritanism was created. Puritanism was the idea of making England a Christian nation and changing the Anglicans to Christians. They were trying to clean England. When Cromwell heard of Charles' tyranny, he had no idea what he would do. He did not take up arms and fight till he heard about the slaughter of the puritans in Ireland. Cromwell would become one of the greatest generals ever.
Cromwell did something no one else had ever done. He made officers out of peasants. He saw value in the craftsmen. Cromwell's chaplain was the preacher of the church he had gone to. Cromwell was plagued all his life because the Puritan Scots still wanted a Stewart back on the throne. He knew he would have to stop these. If he did not, they would take over and place a Stewart on the throne, and all would be lost. Scholars charge Cromwell with attacking his subjects, but he did not. He fought with Ireland and Scotland only when they rebelled. Cromwell struck such a blow to Ireland that it never recovered. But he also did Ireland good. Before it was a desert, but afterwards it was cultivated. Cromwell fought Scotland when they tried to put Charles II on the throne.
Cromwell fought Scotland differently than he fought Ireland because they were Puritans. He fought them kindly. Cromwell went to churches with his army and listened to the preacher publicly curse him and his men, yet he did not attack the preacher. Cromwell wrote the first English written constitution. America took a lot from it in the founding. The catholics were afraid of his army. Once when the Catholics were persecuting Puritans in Ireland, he sent a letter to the pope and said that if the persecution did not stop he would burn Rome to the ground with his navy. The persecution stopped immediately. After Cromwell died his son took his place. His son was incapable of ruling. The leader of the army died shortly after Cromwell. Soon Charles II's followers took over and placed him on the throne.
My favorite speaker was Dr. Joe Morcraft because I thought he did the best job. Maybe it was because we heard him before. He used more scripture than the other speakers, although he was talking about a person.