Country Christmas Train--2022

 'Twas the first night of the Country Christmas Train, 2022--
and three of us managed to make it to the Denton Farm Park---Granny, Granddaddy and Gunner.

There was sickness in the ranks and the others stayed home to make it to the Park another day.

We did most of the usual fun things--shopped and bought gingerbread men, strolled around the park, visited the displays in the vintage buildings, took in the music at the old church--always the best to hear Eddie Hill and Family sing 'Beautiful Star'! Took the tram down to the Reid Plantation and the Blacksmith Shop, and yes--we rode the train and watched the Nativity film along the tracks.

Gunner and Granny had fun seeing the displays from the old days, esp. those about racing.

Aunt Bea's belongings (Andy Griffith Show)

Re-creation of Bobby Myer's Racing Garage (Chocolate Myer's Dad)

       Buren Skeen, NASCAR driver from Denton, NC
(died from injuries at Darlington, 1965)

We were tired as we said "Goodnight" to the Park and trudged our way to the car. Another great night at the Country Christmas Train!

"Behold, children are a gift from the Lord."

(Psalm 127:3)

"Dancing with a chainsaw."

One day you are a spectator with big dreams. 

Another ...you are in the driver's seat and part of the entertainment.

You can't believe it. Your own car and your first race.

Then you understand what Cale Yarborough meant when he said, "Driving a race car is like dancing with a chainsaw."

But you did it! All of it!

The plan was to enter the race, drive two laps for experience and drop out. Make a debut for real next season. 

The reality was that when the checkered flag dropped, you were still running. You ran the whole thing!  

One race and you came in 9th in the season for your class and won $90! 

So much for waiting until next year to debut! 

I wouldn't have missed that night for the world!  

"Behold, children are a gift from the Lord."

(Psalm 127:3)

A Grand Passion

“Riding a horse is not a gentle hobby, to be picked up and laid down like a game of Solitaire. It is a grand passion.”    (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

And Laurel is hooked!

Laurel & Jazz

The gleanings from the September Johnston County Horse Show for Laurel, her Aunt Rachael, and her friend, Koltlyn. 

Not a bad day!!

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord.
(Psalm 127:3)

Boogety, Yall!

 When he was very young, he showed us what he wanted to be...

"When I grow up, I want to be a race car driver."

And then about 10 years later:

First practice...Wake County Speedway

"Behold, children are a gift from the Lord."

(Psalm 127:3)

Some of Gee's Best Friends

Some of Gee's best friends are geese---Canada Geese.

She loves to hear and watch myriads of them fly over as they change venues from pond to pond.

“The majesty of geese lifting themselves over the road and surging into the morning sky laid bare the meaningless rush of cars speeding off to places that seemed much less important than those for which the host of magnificent geese were destined. And I thought that there is more meaning in a handful of geese aloft than a million men on a thousand roads.”
(Craig D. Lounsbrough)

She loves to see babies and teenagers grow into adults indistinguishable from their parents.    

She sometimes has to hold her breath and not watch as a geese parade of mamas and babies, watched over by the daddies, crosses the busy road  by her house as they make their way to and from the pond.   

She loves it when the geese parade causes the cars from that busy traffic to stop going both ways to let the parade pass undisturbed. 

It reminds her of when the Ballentine Dairy cows used to stop traffic on Sunset Lake Road as they came home from their day in the pasture.  

From: The Independent Newspaper Sept. 2, 1987

There is no telling how many generations of the beautiful creatures come back to the pond at Gee's house each year and call it home. Gee likes her friends, the geese.   

"And God blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.'”
(Genesis 1:22)

The Perfect Sunner Friday Night

 Summer Friday Night at the Wake County Speedway. A special kind of fun.

According to Henry Ford,
"Auto racing began 5 minutes after the second car was built." 

Probably true. That was a long time ago. And Wake County Speedway, America's Favorite Bullring, has been around a long time---1962. Ir's now NASCAR sanctioned, and this year it celebrated its 60th birthday.

And so here we are on a summer Friday night--

With these people--  

And no place else you'd rather be as day lowly slides into evening... 

"Start your engines!"

                              

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 
(Jeremiah 29:11 )

What a Privilege!

 Noah and Mike traveled to Charlotte in June to the 2022 Radius Missiology Conference.

The what? It's a time/place "where the ideas, philosophies, and methodologies of historic and contemporary missions are discussed and taught by pastors, missiologists, and experienced cross-cultural church planters."

It was an opportunity for church leaders to learn more about "the state of modern missions" and how churches can prepare their members "to take the gospel where it has never been."

Mike--A. Begg--Noah

They had a chance to meet one of the conference speakers, Pastor Alastair Begg, formerly from Scotland and currently Senior Pastor of Parkside Church near Cleveland, OH.

Love the opportunity for Noah to sit under the teaching of such a man of God. 

https://www.radiusinternational.org/missiology-conference/
https://www.radiusinternational.org/rmc-2022-speakers/#AlistairBegg
https://blog.truthforlife.org/weighed-down-by-a-guilty-conscience-there-is-hope

Train up a child in the way he should go; 
even when he is old he will not depart from it.
(Proverbs 22:6)

Horse Girl

This young lady just won all of her model classes and a championship on Jazz at the JC Horse Show! 

Hot, hard work pays off. 

Go Laurel!

"Behold, children are a gift from the Lord."

(Psalm 127:3)

Driver's Ed Prep

 And THIS is how Noah prepped for his Driver's Ed driving experience. 

Getting Dale Jr. to sign your racing helmet!

Something must have rubbed off on him, cause he did well. Now clear the highways.

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord.

(Psalm 127:3)

Jr. Race Fever

Race Fever is catching. It can be contracted at most any age. [The Internet, in its wisdom, says not to use 'contract' for an ailment unless the ailment is serious.] Race fever is. Very. 

According to Junior Johnson, (and he should know), the best way to make a small fortune in racing is to start with a big one. 

But once you catch it, you might as well run with it...so to speak. 

[Noah carting at Rush Hour]

[#3]

Some people get over it and go on to have a normal life. 

[Noah practicing burn outs]

Some people never do!

                                                [Darlington 2021]

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord.
(Psalm 127:3)