Thankful Hearts!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a small Thanksgiving this year, with just our family and my older sister's husband and baby, Elisabeth, but it was a relaxing, refreshing, enjoyable, and blessed day! 

Amber's beautiful Apple Pie!

Psalm 107:22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

Psalm 116:17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.

Reliving the Civil War

Grammy and Grampy took me to Chattanooga area in search of as many Civil War sites as we could find! We had a great time, and enjoyed walking the sites of some crucial battles in American history! We took our time and enjoyed reading all the plaques and writings along the way, so we didn't have time to see everything there was in the area! We still learned a lot and enjoyed the day! Now that is my kind of studying!

A lovely view from the side of the highway on our way to Chattanooga.

Yes, I was cold!

A view of the Tennessee River from the top of Lookout Mt.

Entrance to Point Park on top of Lookout Mt.

An electronic 3D map of the Battles of Chattanooga! What an amazing presentation! So much better than just reading about it!

Cravens House. First controlled by the Confederates, but soon taken for Union officers

"Mr. and Mrs. Craven"

Maybe a Confederate soldier once crouched behind this rock reloading his rifle as the Union army pushed their way up to overtake Lookout Mt.

Invitation to the President's House!

Ok, so I wasn't exactly invited to the Presidents house... but we were welcomed to tour it (for a small fee, of course!)! After Grammy and Grampy picked me up at the airport in Nashville we stopped at President Andrew Jackson's house, The Hermitage. I thoroughly enjoyed our tour as we strolled through his garden, peeked into the old slave cabins, explored his mansion, and trekked his grounds! Though he was president before the Civil War and did have some impact on the events that lead up to the war not much about him will be on my test, but it was still a great way to spend the afternoon! The only problem was... I was freezing! I don't know what I was thinking but I hardly brought more than my jean jacket and a sweatshirt... I could have used my winter jacket... and gloves! :) I guess I thought I was going South so it would be warmer, and it is, but just not as warm as I had hoped!

Entrance to The Hermitage

Smoke house

Dish design that President Washington chose

Back of the Hermitage

Slave cabin

Andrew and Rachal Jackson's grave site

"The General's" headstone

The view of the house from the garden 

Family and close friend cemetery in the garden

Inside the slave cabin.  20x20 living quarters!

The house that the Jackson's moved into before The Hermitage was built, they later became slave cabins.

A "sample" field of cotton. 

Up close cotton plant

Almost Opposites!

My journeys continue... to TN!

When I was in Japan, my host family offered me their sky miles to book a round trip flight somewhere. The list of possible destinations was rather long! (I’ve got the traveling bug!) I decided to visit my grandparents in TN for a week! Japan and TN are extreme contrasts, and, even though I'm still not sure which side of the road I should be on, are introducing me to new sights, sounds, and thoughts! I've been to TN before, but it was many years ago and I hardly remember the trip! I'm so thankful for this opportunity to get to know my grandparents better and get a taste of what life on a farm is like! A bonus feature of my trip destination and timing is all the Civil War battle sites and museums! I'm currently studying the Civil War to prepare for the DSST exam!

Here are some pictures of the farm my grandparents live on. They just moved here recently so they are in the process of building barns, putting up fences, etc., but it's still beautiful! 

View of the house from half-way up the hill

Chickens and Roosters!

The woodshed on the left and the old tobacco barn on the right

The horses! I don't have a picture of them, but they also have 4 cows in there.

Kallan and Kenzie! Very big babies! 

The skittish Belties (Belted cows)!

Inside the old tobacco barn

Old trucks!!!

A few "flowers" can survive these frigid climates! (I've been freezing the entire trip thus far! I don't get it! I'm supposed to be a thick-blooded Northern girl.... but I'm just not! At least I'm not thick-blooded!)