NC, Day 2 and 3

Ok, back to the vacation, after an interruption of awesome awards and birthdays...

So after our party day on Saturday, we were pooped, but Ashton really wanted to go to my mom's church on Sunday morning. (While she was there, before we arrived, she had gone to their Vacation Bible School and met some of the teenagers.) We went. It's always nice to visit another church, but especially my mom's. See we attend a rather large church in our hometown, but my mom goes to this little tiny church in her town. It's so "cute" to us and amazing to see this little tiny congregation giving so much money that they pass their needed budget amount every single week! Unfortunately, at our church, it's a cause for celebration when we surpass our weekly needed budget. But, it's so encouraging to see this church do just that. Anyway, it was a really nice service and everyone is so friendly!

The rest of Sunday we basically laid around and then, as usual, visited the local Wal-Mart and bought a bunch of stuff. How surprising, huh?? lol But, it was a very nice and relaxing day, which was just what we needed to recuperate from the 14 hour drive and then a day of partying!! lol

On Monday, we went to the cemetery to visit my dad's grave site. Ok, back to Sunday: The kids knew we were going to the cemetery on Monday because one of the things I bought at Wal-Mart was a couple stems of fake flowers (They use them there--we use fresh here.) for the grave. On Sunday afternoon, the kids found out that my mom has a whole shelf in the garage full of fake flowers that she, my aunt, and my grandma have collected for the family graves that they arrange then reuse later. So they all decided to make their "own" arrangements for my dad that they could take the next day. They were very interesting, to say the least, but they had fun and it was a heartfelt offering to their missed Grandfather. Here they are, deciding whose flowers are going where.

Here's the boys with the finished product. The blue ones in the vase are the ones from me. My dad died only 3 months after Indy was born and he never even got to meet Levi....but he will someday! :-)

After the cemetery, we visited a ghost town. Well, not really...well, sort of. Here's the story. Someone told my mom about this town about 45 minutes away that was wiped out by an epidemic in the early 1900's, but the buildings were still there and you could walk through the town. Sounds cool, huh? (I always take the kids to stuff of historical significance...or at least learning.) Well, too bad only half of what the lady told my mom was true. There was a town and part of it was wiped out by an epidemic, but there's no buildings left, only a more recently erected flagpole to commemorate the town. So, we go on this adventure to the absolute middle of nowhere...really....and come across a visitor's center, which we had heard was there. It was a neat building across from a beautiful park/field and rather large "creek". We learned that the flagpole was located on the foundation of the post office and that the town had been in a one mile radius of the post office. Also, further down the road was a cemetery. Also, there had not only been an epidemic of typhoid, which had killed almost every single child in the town within 3 years, but also 2 floods and a couple fires which burned down all the factories and caused any remaining people to flee. Tough history, huh?
This is us in front of the visitor center.
This is the park/field across the street. Beautiful, huh?
This is the cemetery. Looking back at the flagpole picture, I noticed that the plaque said the town was incorporated in 1907. The epidemic hit in 1908 and this cemetery is full of little graves from 1908-1911. There were several brothers and sisters who died within days or months of each other. I can't even begin to imagine the heartbreak of these parents. There were so many little graves with only river rocks erected as headstones with no writing even on them. Either the people couldn't afford the headstones or the headstone makers were too busy.

While we were looking around, a groundskeeper of the park next door (who we had previously spoken to) came up to see if we had found what we were looking for. We told him we were only looking and that we had heard about the history of the town. He's the one who told us the epidemic was typhoid. He also told us about one of the graves that was broken. We noticed it earlier, but figured it was grave robbers. He said that lightning had hit the metal fencing around the grave and ricocheted off, hitting the grave and breaking it all up, including the headstone. Then he said that "They say that the little girl gets up at night and walks around here." I actually burst out laughing and said, "Oh, that's funny!" But, I was stopped dead in my tracks when he had a look that said, "I'm serious!" on his face. I realized that he actually believed this and that I had probably offended him. I changed my tune and said, "Wow. That's spooky." Well, what else do you say?? I was floored that he actually believed this, then I remembered I was in the back woods of some mountain in a town the size of my grocery store and here they believe all kinds of things.

But, I'll tell you, that incident really sent me into thinking mode.... If that town was incorporated in 1907 and all the kids died within 3-4 years, and there were 2 floods and a couple fires....what were they doing that caused God to decide to wipe them out?? I'm sorry, but that's just weird. I know things happen...epidemics, floods, fires, all of it. We live in a fallen world and bad things happen. God uses these bad things to help us become more like Him. But, wipe a town completely out? In just a matter of years? What's up with that?? Just makes you wonder. Also, I have thought a lot about the groundskeeper and spiritual warfare. What if there really is a "ghost" walking around up there at night? I mean, obviously, not a "ghost", but maybe a minion of the enemy working hard at keeping people away from Jesus. I don't know. This is way too deep of a thought train to keep going here and now, but maybe in the future. Anyway, it really has been on my mind how people live and die and how God is so in control of it all. I think I got way more out of that trip to the cemetery than the kids did!! lol

Ok, so after the cemetery, we drove to the "creek" and parked the car to play. Just look at the size of the "creek". Ha! I'd say a low river is more accurate. Here's Nicky looking down at the water with the boys.

Ashton climbed down and walked along the edges of the water. Just look at the size of the rocks!

Savannah climbed down and sat on the edge. Later, both girls climbed all the way down and took a walk.

That's them in the middle, climbing on the rocks. Just look how tiny they look next to the rocks! And, from this view, you can really see the "gorge" the "creek" had caused. See what I mean about the river instead of creek?

While the girls were climbing, you knew it would happen, but Ashton slipped and fell into the water, getting all her clothes wet up to her chest. And, boy, was it cold!! lol She was so mad, because we all laughed. She only got a little scraped up, poor thing, but she fell in slow motion, which was so funny. Besides that, all her dramatic effects were pretty comical, too. By this time, it was way past dinner time, with a 45 min. drive home. Nicky suggested we skip eating and go home to let her change. She said, "No way! I'm hungry!" So, we went to eat, with a jacket wrapped around her wet clothes and had a great dinner.

Whew! That was a busy and educational day! :-) More to come tomorrow.....