October 25th: Andersonville National Historic Monument by Hope

Andersonville National historic prisoner of war museum

   Hi, Hope again. Today I'm writing about our visit to Andersonville national historic monument in Andersonville, Georgia. We went to Andersonville national park on October 25. Andersonville was a prison in Georgia during the American Civil war.
   I got a stamp in my national park passport. There was a nice ranger that gave me a sticker for free.  
  I did the Junior ranger program. The junior ranger book they gave me was unique. It was sorta like a chose your own adventure book. The only thing I didn't like about it was that you had to pretend to be a boy in it(At least I didn't have to go to the men's bathroom).
   We listened to a man talk about being a prisoner in Andersonville. Do you know they didn't have any shelter in the  prison; unless, the prisoner built one himself. The prisoner usually had a blanket or something he could make a tent with. If they didn't have one they would have to buy one from a guard. The tent was usually made of wood (such as sticks, branches etc)and kinds of fabrics. We saw some of the kind of  tents (not the actual ones).

   We met a prisoner(It was a man dressed up as a prisoner). We also saw the chains with those Iron balls at the ends. My Mom put me in one of them. There were also stocks and a rope for hanging people.

    A lady helped me make a antique looking handkerchief(Well, sorta it was more like drawing a picture 'stead of embroidering on it). First I  drew a picture on it. (drew a bird. I had no idea what Josiah drew I only knew there were some zigzags and what my brother called a duck) Then A lady helped us dye it with black walnut dye(To make it look cool or antique). 

Another lady was making soup. There was a person who smoked. He didn't use a cigarette, he actually used a pipe. I thought that was cool NOT the smoking part, the part that he used a old fashioned pipe. We also went to a cemetery. Then we went to a spring called providence spring.
    They called it that because (here's the story): So, there was a creek and they drank from that creek. But it was very muddy. And people threw their waste in there and the confederate army and the hospital also threw theirs in, too. So of course, it became very dirty. The prisoners prayed for a fresh spring to drink out from. One day there was a thunderstorm.The next day there was a spring!

    
I got my junior ranger badge and a patch. Also a goody bag with a pencil, some trading cards and other miscellaneous stuff(I learned that word from moving boxes) .

   We ate at a barbecue. I got chipped pork with fried okra and fried onion rings. Josiah ordered Chipped beef with baked beans and potato chips(Not homemade potato chips) . My Mom got chipped turkey and fried okra and Brunswick stew. My Dad got Sausage and corn nuggets and coleslaw. I especially liked Chipped pork, fried okra, fried onion rings, sausage, corn nuggets. I did like the other thing but those were my favorites. We had Pecan pie and Banana pudding. Yum! 

Ha ha Dad 

 (below) I didn't know Union soldiers wore glasses or that confederate soldiers had little hands on the shoulders 

Then of course we went home. 

Some Southern Memories

We visited the Mossy Creek Festival over the weekend and had some fried pork rinds, beans and ham, corn bread, black eyed peas, sweet tea (black tea and about a  bucket of sugar in each cup), and chili.  People were selling their southern wares: carved wood, carved rocks, carved anything.  The kids got to watch some glass blowing, a little girl throw her bull whip around.  It was a lesson on Southern culture.

This fly was in our back yard. That is Paxton's hand, so it was purdy large for a fly. I guess when it's flying, one may think it's a butterfly or bat? of sorts...

This is the lake next to our home. In the morning, the mist arises like out of Lord of the Rings. We have to walk through some woods, but it's very pretty. We have to go get a fishing license, but we think there is fish here.

This liquid is everywhere. We didn't realize how sweet this was until we accidentally ordered the tea and took a gulp. Yowsers. A cup of sugar is less sweet than this stuff. Whenever this if offered, we always dilute it down with about half water or half unsweetened tea.

Another southern fare is grits. We've been happily introduced to cheese and grits. Not bad. We hear people add shrimp or bacon into the grits. We could grow to like that. It has the texture of corn meal and oatmeal. Mixed with cheese, it's pretty flavorful. 

The Farmer's Markets are still bustling here. The tomatoes are about the size of our hands, and various squashes and fresh okra are for sale.  This week, Lisa will try to make some roasted okra from that stuff.

We are still gathering courage to try the boiled peanuts at the gas stations. They look scary, but there is always a line to buy those things. They also sell "green" peanuts. Not sure what those are. If anyone is informed, help us ignorant northerners.

Oh, one southerner, as a 'nice to meet you' statement, said "Well, I hope you like Georgia and won't stay too long."  Not sure what that meant. We think it was a backhanded way of saying, go away....

Nicer Kid shots

OK. The previous blog had some silly shots with the kids's hands in front of the lens, but here are some good shots that they took:

Hope is having a staring contest with Pinocchio; he won. Hope thought it was unfair. Mom did too. 

We moved into our home October 10, Friday. The movers came around lunch time and dumped our worldly goods into each room. Lots of broken things: tables, shelves, pans, banana holder. Ah well. 

Great news is we found piano teachers at a local church. The church runs a music ministry where kids can learn different instruments. Maybe we can start cello next semester? Piano for now.

Exactly 8 weeks

Exactly eight weeks ago, we were told we'd have to move to Georgia. What a whirlwind, but the grace of the Lord helped us to sign the lease today to the rental you see above you. This humble abode will be our home for 1 year. It's not bad, has a lake next to it, close to Paxton's work, close to most things in town. 

Thank you, God, for helping us find a sufficient home while we sojourn here, whether it be a year or more.

We move in tomorrow, Thursday,  October 9th. Our furniture comes Friday. Can't wait to see what goodies have been pilfered or broken. It's almost like Christmas and getting broken toys.  What? Do we sound jaded? Not at all....;P

We did finally try some fried things. Stomach now hurts. Not used to southern food...yet.

On a side note, Lisa got to give the kids their first photography lessons. Here are some of the results:

They are still learning not to put their hands over the lens. But overall, not too shabby. More practice....

October 7th, Sunday written by Hope

I went to Uncle Alex, Cousin Dakota and cousin Reid's church (Passion City Church). It's where Pastor Louis Giglio speaks and Chris Tomlin leads worship and David Crowder leads kids worship (mom wrote that).

There was a game. You had to pick tick tacks with a pair of tweezers. It was Boys v.s Girls. The final score: Boys:5 Girls :0. So the Boys got the tick tacks Later a girl told us That the girl's tweezers were broken but the Boy's wasn't. After church we ate at a Chinese restaurant. After eating I watched Dakota play "Temple run" When we left the owner gave us yummy tootsie roll lollipops. Then we went to their house. They had a cat, But it hid far under the bed. Reid and Josiah played video game the whole time(except at the end).

Me and Dakota did girl stuff. 


We had a great time .

October 4th: Georgia NATIONAL Fair - Perry , GA

In Georgia, they don't  have STATE fairs, they have NATIONAL fairs. Not sure if that is pride or somethin' else. 

Anyway, we got tired of looking at homes to rent, so we decided to drive down to the farm town of Perry, GA to check out this HUGE fair. 

We saw: cows, horses, pigs, goats, sheep, bunnies (one bunny was 22 pounds and larger in size than our dog), guinea pigs. 

The cows were cleaner than the people down there....no joke.

Events: magic show, pig races and swimming to win the coveted Oreo cookie, mutton busting (more below), wake boarding in a pool (only crazy teenage boys did this sport), and eating fattening food: peach cobbler and ice cream, roasted corn, pulled pork, brunswick stew.  Of course, they sold the funnel cake, fried pickles, corn dogs, ribs, etc etc.

Hope  is trying to act like a farmer. Didn't work. She didn't want to get dirty. 

Definitely someone who can be a farmer

Great invention: washer, ice cream maker, butter maker, meat grinder  all-in-one. It was over 100 years old.

As close to mutton-bustin' this kid is going to get. Mutton Busting: a real sport where kids 2-7 years old under 60 pounds hang on to a dirty sheep's back for dear life and stay on for at least 6 seconds to qualify for prizes. Kids who won at this fair go on to win at the National competition in Fresno, Cali.

Another non-mutton bustin'  kid.

Strawberries grow well in Georgia. Check out how large this one got!