I was chomping at the bit to actually get there. On site. Where the action was. Husband must endure a great deal, apparently.
After we checked into the hotel and picked up our tickets, it was off to the Visitor’s Center to have our tickets validated. And as far as I was concerned, begin the Great Adventure.
By booking our tickets through WHMA (Williamsburg Hotel and Motel Association) a discount is applied both to the hotel price and to the ticket price. We chose a Historic Triangle Package ticket. This gave us unlimited entry into 5 attractions for 7 days. The places were Colonial Williamsburg, Historic Jamestowne, Jamestown Settlement, Yorktown Battlefield and Yorktown Victory Center.
Shuttle bus transportation around Colonial Williamsburg is provided through the Visitors’ Center (VC). It is a set of two bus lines (red and blue). The red line picks you up at the VC and drops you off at the Palace Stop where you can either walk a scenic trail into the Historic District or take the blue line bus to various stops within the district. The red line runs until 5:00 p.m. at which point the blue line continues to run until 10:00 p.m.
You can also choose to walk directly from the VC into the Historic District. You cross a bridge in your walk that has plaques on it that say “From this point in time, women were not allowed to vote,” or “From this point in time, everyone you know either owns or is owned by someone.” The side of the bridge that comes back into the VC is in the reverse. It’s a true picture of “walking back into time.”
Since it was about 3:30 and most of the trade shops closed at 5:00, we elected to take the bus directly in. The trade shops that are open display the colonial flag of the period to let visitors know they are open. Our first stop was the cooper shop.
A cooper makes barrels and buckets, of all sorts and sizes. The cooper in 18th c. Williamsburg only made barrels for the town’s residents to use in household tasks or for outlying farm needs. However, a cooper near a port town would have specialized in the business of making barrels for shipping needs, especially tobacco which was Virginia’s main export at the time.
The cooper also spoke on the practice of apprenticeship. I kept looking at my boys and thinking about how in that time frame, my two oldest would be near consideration for apprenticeship. Choosing your trade had as much to do with your interest as your health and skill level for particular trades. A slight boy would not be considered for the blacksmith trade any more than a particularly strong boy would be considered as a tailor.
Orphans without funds were placed as apprentices as young as 6-8 years old. It was the social care system of the day to place them in a home where at least their care was provided and a trade was learned for future support. Apprenticeships were of varying numbers of years, based again on the trade’s skill level.
After this presentation, I told the boys to think about what type of apprenticeship they would like to have after we had gone through the week’s trade shops. I’ll blog about some of their answers later.
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since we had remained at the cooper’s house so long. We decided to go over to the DeWitt Wallace Museum which stayed open until 7:00 p.m. You enter at street level through the Hospital for the Mentally Insane. This was the original hospital in the colonies.
Although it’s one of the smaller exhibits, the graphic nature of the crude and uninformed methods for treating the mentally ill was vividly displayed. I was concerned about my 7 year old’s potential questions. He later described it as “the hospital that looked like a jail.” The boys were also impressed at how the “prisoners” had been allowed to write on the walls of their rooms. Overall, none of the boys seemed disturbed by the various restraining contraptions, like the tranquilizing chair or the “quiet crib”. We answered their questions directly telling them that at this time doctors didn’t really understand mental illness and did the best they knew to do to keep the people safe and from hurting others.
They have a timeline in one part of the exhibit that shows both the improvements and changes in thought regarding the care of the mentally ill. A fire destroyed the hospital at one point, but excavations at Williamsburg during the restoration uncovered the original foundation as well as various remnants of shackles, pots, pans and medical supplies.
After leaving the hospital display, you go down into the basement of the Museum to the Abby Aldrich Folk Art Museum which contains a pure plethora of all things historical. We saw an enormous gun collection of period weapons from muskets to bayonets to pistols to blunderbusses to swords to rifles. Husband and sons could not have been happier. The boys spent their time in trying to decide which gun was bigger, which sword was sharper and which one was definitely theirs.
On that same level was a coin and currency display which showed the historical tracing of money for that time, from Spanish reales to Continental “dollars”. My youngest is a budding coin collector so this display had him all smiles. But what made me and the mother-in-law happy was the gorgeous collection of sterling silver dishes, candlesticks, serving pieces, and silver ware. Thinking of the household help it would take to serve a meal on these amazing works of art chafing dishes did not make me run home to polish my 4 1/2 pieces of sterling. It did make me gasp to think of the time and art such a meal would be. Beside the silver exhibit, they also showed a small display on pottery types, glazes, and history.
By that point, it was dark outside and drizzling and stomachs were growling so we caught the bus back to the VC and went back to the hotel. I had made Chicken Dumpling Stew a few days before for our trip. It was just the warm meal needed to restore our energy for the coming day. Tuesday was all day Williamsburg.
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We spent Thanksgiving week on an amazing trip to Williamsburg, VA. It’s a trip that I first heard about at our May Homeschool Convention. There was a booth with great, big, glossy brochures that honestly made me drool. Coming off a summer of back surgery expenses and physical recovery, the trip seemed like a pipe dream. Until God made it possible in a gracious way.
So we packed our bags, got into the car and drove 100 hours. Okay, not quite a literal 100 hours, but you couldn’t have convinced my bottom of otherwise. I’ve consumed more gas station coffee in the last 9 days than my whole life.
As Chess said though, “I don’t like traveling at all, but the trip was totally worth it!†That’s saying a huge bit from the child who used to begin screaming the minute he was placed in a car seat or heard the words “car†and “seat†in any combination whatsoever.
The saving up for the trip began in earnest by June, and through bits and pieces plus a great measure of promotional offer from the Williamsburg Hotel & Motel Association, we were able to go. Their tourism was less than measly over the summer because of fuel expense, and several hotels were offering deals on their room prices or stay three nights, get the fourth night free.
We spent a ton of time in the research & finally found a Marriott Residence Inn offering a fourth night free for their 2 bedroom suites! With full kitchen! With hot breakfast buffet! I can take supper meals! We only have to eat lunches out! Woo Hoo!
On top of that, my mother-in-law agreed to go, volunteered her help with expenses; God caused the gas prices to go down, and voila! There we found ourselves in Williamsburg, VA over Thanksgiving.
I journaled, by hand, during the trip and will take the next several posts to write about our experiences for the sake of memory. While I was researching the trip, I actually found precious little in blog entries from other families. I figure there are other interested parties and maybe something we did or saw could help another family plan their trip.
Have you ever been to Williamsburg? What was your favorite thing?
Posted in Future Greats, Homeschooling, Thankfulness, That's Life | 2 Comments »
that still has me reeling in His utter faithfulness. All of it.
Yesterday I wrote a long post about a difficult situation in our lives. It’s here. I wasn’t sure if I was going to post it or not. I knew that it was first important to submit my heart and attitude to all the Lord was teaching me. And revealing all of that on the internet seemed very, very exposing.
Then today, Husband called and told me that the entire situation had witnessed the intervention of God. We are going to receive payment for the work.
After the crying for joy and praising of God, I thought of yesterday’s post. I didn’t want to only publish a post of praising God for an answered prayer because it was answered as I wished. I want my words to magnify His faithfulness in all circumstances regardless of outcome.
That was part of the lesson I had to once again live, and the lesson I realized God was teaching my sons.
Yesterday, before we had an answer, God showed Himself faithful. His ordering of our circumstances was to reveal more of Himself to us and more of ourselves to us. To face our fears and seek Him as our Reward over anything and anyone else.
Today, as God showed His answer in timing we would not have chosen, in a way we couldn’t have imagined, and in example of His power and might over the hearts of men, He is still showing Himself faithful.
I give glory to His name. To His Name alone.
Posted in Grace & Faith, Sovereignty & Glory, Thankfulness | 4 Comments »
I may have to send a Christmas card. And I don’t send Christmas cards. Not for being a grinch, but because I’m terrible on the timing and organization of that particular holiday task.
This man, however, has become the Lord’s instrument of glory to my three sons this year. He doesn’t even realize it. You see, Husband is self-employed. When we began this venture, I finally realized what the Lord meant when He instructed His children to pray for their daily bread. Some weeks we literally have.
Over the years, the Lord has more than demonstrated His faithfulness in our self-employment. Some years have been full and great, like the seven fatted cows. Other years have tested our faith and contentment, peace itself being gnawed at like seven scrawny cows after the last head of grain.
One of the sweetest aspects of God’s faithfulness in our lives is watching my sons participate not only in the prayers for profitable work to come to Daddy but to also praise God, loudly, when He answers. The idea of stewardship, managing well all that we have been given, has to be exercised in this home because extras are not readily available. The idea of gratitude, being truly thankful and content with all that we have, must be expressed in our home because it is what it is. The idea of God as Provider has to be acknowledged in this home because only the intervention of His hand softens clients’ hearts to pay overdue bills.
Don’t get the idea that we’re spending our time singing “It Is Well With My Soul” all day long. There are equally the moments of cost when a son realizes that the video game his best friend has will not be his, or that someone else’s great family vacation is simply not in our budget. Even my own yearning for the extras is undergoing continual refinement as I consider the priorities of eternal citizenship over earthly status.
It’s not easy.
Back to that man in Florida though. You see, he’s a client that has not paid us for work completed and materials purchased. The amount is more than significant in this year of economic uncertainty. I’ve railed, ranted, worried, and cried. I’ve thought up dozens of ways to make this man pay. I’ve woken in the night and prayed, pleading with God to intervene, to execute justice for us, to just make the problem all.go.away.
The Lord’s ordering of these circumstances has brought me to my knees in a new way. He has revealed Himself to me in a greater way of how thoroughly He, and only He, can provide. I am hearing my sons pray regarding God’s past faithfulness and with eyes of faith to His future provision. I am hearing my sons pray for the encouragement of their parents, for the increase of our understanding, and for our family’s contentment no matter the outcome.
Even as they understand the loss of income means shorter Christmas lists, no extras and tighter belts all around.
I am seeing my sons view their Daddy in a new light, to appreciate his integrity and value his requirements of trustworthy behavior. I know that they will never forget the cost it is to others when a word is not kept, when a contract is broken. The have a new understanding for his long days as their appreciation has grown for the time he takes, even when tired, to hear their stories and play card games. These boys are seeing their Daddy respond with wisdom and courage in a difficult situation, and they are giving God the glory for His work in our family’s life.
I wonder what the man in Florida is teaching his three sons.
How very humbling to have the Lord revealed in the words of my sons’ prayers. How precious to remember that the Lord’s economy has no comparison to the world’s economy. God’s storehouse and His promises of its abundance to His children is forever fast and secure. Every affliction of this world, every test of our faith is for our good and for His glory. Only His peace assures us, grants hope and keeps us from outright despair.
So this year, there is a man in Florida who is getting a Christmas card from us.
Posted in Future Greats, Grace & Faith, Sovereignty & Glory, Thankfulness | 5 Comments »
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