Spring Break ~ Goats, Music, & Fellowship ~ Part 2

Spring Break week continued as we eagerly waited for the rest of the family to arrive in South Carolina on Good Friday. We were all scheduled to attend the late afternoon performance of The Living Gallery at Bob Jones University. Driving on campus is always a treat when the trees and flowers are in bloom. It was just lovely:
This was our first time to see this magnificent production where actors step out of paintings and then back into them (and vice-versa) to actually become part of the painting. If you didn't see it happen, you'd never know the characters were real. We loved it!

And my motto of always taking a camera with me everywhere I go? Fail! I left it behind because no photography was allowed inside the auditorium.

And what happens?! I met my blogging friend Becka, who writes Becka's Blog, for the first time InRealLife! She and her husband, Rob, were attending the same showing, and she had spotted us in the crowd and came over. Ooh, I was so disappointed when our cell phone camera didn't work! Becka and I will have to plan a real get-together another time with lots of blogging pictures!

Saturday and Sunday we traveled further south to Aiken to visit new friends that some of the family met at last fall's White Unto Harvest conference in Asheville, NC. Here we are getting acquainted with the Hammond family:First order of business was a tour of their dairy--so very interesting for all of us who know nothing about goats! We saw the milking station and the processing area where the milk is handled and where cheese and goat's milk soap are produced for several Farmers' Markets they attend each week:Thirteen goats were ready to be milked...most by machine, but some new mama goats needed milking by hand since little goat babies were newly born that morning! We arrived very close to milking time, so guess what? They allowed us to participate. Hi, Goats!And, yes, all of us practiced milking! Even I was talked into it! But Sarah was a natural and caught on quickly: The fresh milk from the mama goats was put into bottles for the babies...here are Hannah and Sarah holding some very cute little baby goats just before they fed them:  The Hammonds' daughter and son-in-law from Canada were visiting with their little daughter while we were there. It was great meeting them, too. Caleb talked with Jonathan while one of the kids had some fun nibbling on Jonathan's pants: Here are all the Hammond ladies, including little Miss Victoria:Jonathan takes a turn at feeding one of the newborns. This one was named Frisky: Now Hannah takes a turn feeding Peaches...there were enough newborn babies so everyone got some practice: Sarah always seems to find the doggies...or they find her:After a delicious meal around the table, we brought out instruments and played some Celtic tunes and sang a few hymns: Here's the Hammond family having fun as they prepare to sing for us: We also had an enjoyable time looking at wedding photos and watching the wedding video of Caleb and Jordan. Ethan, one of the Hammonds' sons looks along with Tom and Sarah: The next morning, Resurrection Sunday, we attended the Hammonds' home church fellowship which consisted of six or seven families. They met in a beautiful log house nearby.

Here Tom and I are posing with the Hammonds after the service...Mr. Hammond is the pastor of the church:We enjoyed the Easter brunch the ladies of the church prepared and also enjoyed fellowshipping with the families there:This home church day brought back many good memories of when church families met in our home for several years:
Flowers were blooming everywhere, and the day was just beautiful for outside conversations also. The Hammonds' youngest son, Noah, plays on the deck with the other children:Thank you, Hammond Family, for your gracious hospitality and friendship! We certainly enjoyed the visit!

~Deb

Comments

[victoria]

What a great trip and fun times. Glad you all had such a wonderful visit. Come a little further south next time. :)

Victoria

[Kathryn Duke]

What wonderful photos and fellowship too. All of our guitar playing friends have now moved away and I so miss the music...grew up with two special male friends who play and sing and I am constantly encouraging one of them to retire and move back...

[Lisa Spivey]

What a fun time and sweet fellowship!

[Tammy C]

The pictures show that a it was a fun
time for all

[Dorothy Horton]

Looks like you had a lovely trip! Lee was a part of a living pictures production at Word of Life when he attended there. It was amazing to see them still, then start moving about! Thanks for sharing all the pictures! And happy belated birthday to your sister, Bet! :-)

[Chris]

Loved readig this post Deb, and the one previously where you met your blogging friend and you all exchanged gifts. :) The Chicken scratch towel looks GREAT!! (I STILL haven't started my hedge hog one :(... The baby goats are so cute and it looks like everyone enjoyed "meeting" them. :) I bet Hannah wanted to take some of that milk home for her soap making! :)

[Melissa N]

Thank you for sharing all these great photos. I love seeing the fellowshipping and I also love to see how the ladies dress. I love goats and sheep, especially babies. That must have been a lot of fun to feed those little goats. Blessings ;o)

[Laura]

Oh what a wonderful way to spend Resurrection weekend. Isn't God so good to us to have us meet like-minded believers?!?

Bob Jones, you know the very first Bob Jones was here in our little town of Cleveland, TN. It is now called Lee University, it's a Church of God university. It is beautiful and now huge, but the main campus still has the look of the old Bob Jones College...just a bit of history for you :)

[Stephanie in MI]

Looks like a lot of fun. I would have enjoyed playing with the goats!

[The Hammond CLan]

We so enjoyed having you all stop by our place! And you were such good sports about trying out the milking, too! Thank you for the delicious cookies (a consolation prize since we didn't end up winning the Holly Jolly Blog Bingo this winter!) as well as the lovely chicken appliqued towel. That was very thoughtful of you. Any time you all are in the area, please feel free to stop by!

Warmly,
The Hammond Clan

[Nic]

Aren't those goats cute!
Sarah sounds like me - I too find all the dogs :)
Looks like you hand a wonderful and warm visit. Thanks for sharing