Washington Tour Audio Formats

Before we start preorder for the Washington Tour, we want to know whether you would prefer MP3 or CD. You can vote in the poll below. Thanks!





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Family Reunion - Day 2

Washington Monument

Today we walked around Washington DC. We started out at 6:30 because we wanted to go up the Washington Monument to prepare for the Life of Washington tour we are going to do, but to get tickets you have to get there really early. After getting tickets we ate breakfast and came back and went up. After losing a few pocket knifes, we made it to the top. There are some really good views. Here are some pictures:

View of the capital from Washington Monument

View from Washington Monument with the WW2 memorial in the foreground and Lincoln Memorial in the background

After the Washington Monument we walked arround to different monuments including the World War II Memorial, Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial, Lincoln Memorial and more. Here are some pictures.

The WWII Memorial

Washington Monument reflected in a pool at Constitution Gardens

Lincoln Memorial

After that we went on a tour through the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. That is where they print all the fiat money. The tour was interesting and we were surprised they mentioned the fact that the money has no real value. They would not let you take pictures inside. Next we went to the National Museum of American History. It was a pretty good museum, but it was really big and we could not see nearly all of it. We went to the part on military history. They have lots of artifacts there, and one that was interesting to me because I am studying the French and Indian War was Lt. Col. Adam Stephen's coat, who was Washington's second-in-command during that war.

Lt. Col. Adam Stephen's coat

Atlanta Roadtrip Stop

Here are a few pictures from the NCFIC Atlanta Road Trip stop from a few weeks ago. We went there with a  total of 21 people from Hope Baptist, and all of us plus the Bradrick family stayed with one very hospitable family, that none of us had ever met before.

Cowpens Battlefield

A few weeks ago we visited Cowpens Battlefield  with friends from church on our way to the Atlanta NCFIC roadtrip stop. It was one of the most important battles in South Carolina of the American War for Independence. General Daniel Morgan made a stand there against the British troops who were chasing him under the cruel British commander Tarelton. Since most of his troops were undisciplined militia, he put them out in two lines in front of the Continentals. He told them to fire just two shots and then they could run. That is just what they did, and the British became disordered in the pursuit. The Continentals retreated as well due to a misunderstood order, but as they ran they suddenly turned and opened fire on the British. Many British fell, and the militia came and surrounded them. The Americans won the day. The British suffered 300 killed and wounded, and over 700 prisoners. The Americans lost less than 150. This victory was important because it encouraged the Americans that they were able to beat the British.

The British troops charged across these fields

A Cannon at the Battlefield like the ones the British would have used

The monument at the Visitor's Center

We will try to post a video from the battlefield soon.

Family Reunion - Day 1

Yesterday night we drove up to Washington D.C. for our grandmothers 80th birthday and a family reunion. Today we went to Great Falls, VA for a picnic.My mother used to go there as a child when she lived outside of Washington D.C. Great Falls is a series of waterfalls on the Potomac river. We learned that George Washington surveyed there and helped build a canal that he believed would help with trade to the western frontier. It was very beautiful, and we got to climb on some rocks by the river. After that we went to the new Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. It had a lot of famous planes, such as one of the bombers that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan.

Blogging the Reformers: Jean Merle D’Aubigné

D'Aubigne

Jean-Henri Merle D'Aubigne was born on August 16th 1794. He lived in Geneva, where the great reformer John Calvin had lived 250 years before. But by the 1800s Calvin's reformation was gone and had been replaced by Unitarianism and other heresies. He was saved while studying for the ministry, and was ordained in 1817. In 1817 on the 300th of anniversary of the Reformation he visited Wartburg Castle where Martin Luther was kept. There he decided that he eventually wanted to write a history of the Reformation. He was a preacher in Hamburg and Brussels until 1831 when he returned to Geneva. There he assisted the establishment of a reformed theological seminary in Geneva. He was professor of Church History there for 41 years until his death. He was a great preacher in Geneva and was one of the leaders of the the reformation there. While he was in Geneva he wrote his two major books on the Reformation, a five volume History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century and an eight volume History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin. He traveled all over Europe to study the original source documents. These books were very important in the history of the church. “For the first time, the Reformation, with all the various and boundless benefits which it has conferred upon the world, is beginning to be, in some measure, comprehended by mankind.” 1 A historian wrote that his writings “had a wider circulation, at least in the English translations, than any other book on church history.”2 D’Aubigne’s writings are still a great way to learn about church history. You can buy them here.

Geneva Today

1 J. H. Merle D'Aubigne, The Life and Writings of J. H. Merle D'Aubigne – The History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 2001) volume 1, p. XV
2 http://www.visionforum.com/hottopics/articles/2005-04-14_001.aspx

Hummingbirds

Here is a short video of some hummingbirds on the feeder behind our house.