Historic St. Luke's Church

A friend just told us about this historic church dating back to 1632. We are eager to go out and see it soon.

"Amid stately oaks south of the James River in Virginia stands a handsome brick Gothic church which has stood vigil over the community of Isle of Wight County through almost 400 years of conflict, peace, despair and prosperity. Traditionally, Historic St. Luke’s Church, formerly called the Old Brick Church, was founded in 1632 as a beacon, a fortress, a mission, and a gathering place for colonists facing unbearable hardship in the early days of the colonies.

Venerable Historic St. Luke's, Mother Church of Warrasquoyacke Parish (later called Isle of Wight) was affectionately known as "Old Brick Church" long before it was given its present name in 1820. It is the oldest existing church of English foundation in America and the nation's only surviving Gothic building. It forms a unique bridge between the early civilization of our country and the rich culture of Medieval England. Its structure reflects the architectural and spiritual descendents of the great Gothic cathedrals of England. By tradition and recollection of the first Vestry Book, "Old Brick Church" is dated to 1632. It closely relates to the Tower Church at Jamestown, dated circa 1638/39. As was common at the time, it took four or five years to erect such a church; and the finishing of the interior fittings required an additional number of years, even in this parish, already numbering 522 persons in the year 1634. In 1640, John Day (direct ancestor of Henry Mason Day, the first President of the foundation) came from England with his own fine household furniture and personal servants.

Colonel Joseph Bridger of "White Marsh" long associated with "Old Brick Church", a man of significant wealth, and a member of the Council of State to Charles II for Virginia, is known to have settled in the parish at least as early as 1657. According to tradition, Colonel Bridger brought members of the Driver family from England to do "finish" work on the church. Colonel Bridger was given increasing acknowledgement for the important contributions he made in bringing the church to completion. His remains, relocated to the church in the 1890's, are in the church's chancel marked by a basalt ledger stone. By the Order of Assembly issued in March 1623, this parish was one of only four locations, other than Jamestown, where the General Court of the Colony was permitted to convene. Since the Court convened in the church, there was urgency to make it suitably reflect this important function. The "Lord Governour and Captaine Generall" would be present and during their stay attend church service. The high box-pews were designated for their use. Those who first assembled in "Old Brick Church" knew much of Captain John Smith, Pocahontas, John Rolfe and Powhatan, who were still regarded as contemporary figures, and the tragic Indian Massacre of 1622, which wiped out nearly a third of the Virginia settlers. Nathaniel Bacon, the scourge of Governor Berkeley, passed not far from "Old Brick Church" on his way to burn Jamestown in 1676. In the stirring days before the Revolution, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Patrick Henry, and many other of our great patriots must have knelt here before the altar and asked for guidance on their passage to or from Williamsburg, as they slowly shaped the destiny of a nation" http://www.historicstlukes.org/history.html

Gettysburg, July 1-3 1863

At my dad's Military school in Washington D.C. they had a family trip to Gettysburg.
My dad and I and a whole bus full of students and family took the trip.
We had two teachers from the school giving the tour. These teachers had their doctorates in Gettysburg history so the facts they presented to us were well studied.


Colonel Chamberlain and the 20th Maine on Little Round Top.

The Confederate leaders at Gettysburg. Men who are sitting: Left- Picket, Middle- Lee,
Standing Right side two over- Longstreet, Standing middle left- Armistead friends with General Handcock. Red uniform- British Embassador to the Confederates. ohe British were thinking of coming in on their side because of the economic benefits of the agricultural south.

On the first day of the battle of Gettysburg a small group of Union Cavalry held the ground
outside Gettysburg near the Luthern Seminary against the Confederates. The dismounted cavalary held until the Union brought up the supporting infantry.

Durning the battle of Gettysburg their were war dogs similar to the ones on Guam in World War II. The one story the teachers told were of a small dog that was a mascot of a battalion of Union soldiers. The little dog would march along with the soldiers. When she was killed in battle the soldiers stopped their attack and buried her before continuing the attack.


Being at Gettysburg was a sacred experience knowing how many had died there.
The hill I am pointing at is Little Round Top. This hill was the site of the historic hold by the 20th Maine against overwhelming Confederates. When the 20th Maine was low on ammunion they fixed bayonets and with the down hill chasing the Confederates off. The 20th Main's Commander Colonel Chamberlain earned the Medal of Honor for orchestrating the hold and the charge on Little Round Top.


Here is the place where the 20th Maine held their ground against overwhelming odds.



This red farm house was a Hospital for wounded soldiers in the movie "Gettysburg". The country side is beautiful. It is hard to imagine all the blood and gore that occered on such beautiful ground.

On one side of the field of Picket's Charge is a statue of General Robert E. Lee. There is a Union general facing him on the Union side of the field, almost a mile away.

The field of Picket's Charge


The place where the Union soldiers held the Confederates attack back.


The place where the Confederate charge stopped.

On the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg the Confederates under command of Roberet E. Lee made a daring charge across an open field, a mile long. The confederates had Colonel Alexander's artillary, but the foot solders who had to march across the field were still desimated because they were fully exposed to the Union guns. General Picket never forgave Lee for ordering the charge that killed almost all his men.

On the Union side, General Hancock and his men under the barrage of the Alexander's artillary quickly set up defenses against the inevitable infantry attack. Their defences worked and they succeded in holding their line just as the Confederates had at Fredersburg. So desimated was the Confederates that General Mead, General Handcock's superior refused to chase the Confederates after they retreated because it would have been a slaughter. General Mead received chastisement from President Lincoln for letting the Confederates go. General Mead gave the honorable order by not completely slaughtering the helpless Confederates.

Later, General/President Eisenhower bought a piece of property here in Gettysburg. He wanted to have a Gettysburg address like the Lincoln, Gettysburg Address.

We didn't forget about you!

This is just a friendly reminder that the G family has not forgotten about you all, our dear faithful blog readers... As you all know, this year the whole family is in school. Dad studying at ICAF, Mum at ODU Woman's Health Nurse Practitioner course, and David and I at TCC. We are all flooded with term papers, finals, and presentations! Just trying to keep our heads above water.

We promise to provide full updates on our trip to Washington DC, Gettysburg, Deaf Spaghetti Dinner, and Thanksgiving, as soon as the finals are over!


Above: Picture of the G family and Chaplain Dowds during our stay in Washington DC last month. :)

God bless you all! We hope your Thanksgiving was a wonderful one!

David at Di Carlos!

David is now employed with me at Di Carlos! Yay!

He is learning to do prep work, which consists of making the dough, shredding the cheese, and stretching a tray. Eventually, he will also be doing deliveries too! It is exciting that we both are working together now...



...AND he makes amazing pizzas!! Yum!

Update from G4

Hi, yes, it has been quite some time since we last blogged. A lot is going on with Dad at ICAF, Mum busy with our home life, and David and I busy with studies. Within the next couple of days we will post some pictures from our latest adventures to Washington DC, Dad and David's trip to Gettysburg, and the Deaf Rally. *smiles*

Below are some photos we leave you with, until we add more. *smiles*

Here's David - dressed in camis and I - in Dad's flight suit (yes, it was rather large on me!).


Last week, we went to a different YMCA and tried out the climbing wall! It was a lot of fun. Here is DJ just about to reach the top.


On Saturday, my ASL teacher had a Halloween harvest party at her house. Everyone dressed up, had fun playing ASL games, and telling stories. Here is a picture of me with some of my Deaf friends Crystal, Joyce, and Chris.


We hope everything is going well with you...
More photos to follow!

Happy Birthday Dad and Mum!

This past month we celebrated Dad and Mum's birthdays! Yay!




Here is Dad and I at Golden Corral. :)



Here is DJ, Mum, and Dad with a "pink lady cake."



I'll have to note, the first picture is of the cake in full... this last picture of DJ and I with only half a cake...hmm. Question of the day, where did that half-a-cake go? haha! :)

Happy Birthday Dad and Mum! We are praising God that He blessed both of you with another year of healthy life. :)

Emily is working at Di Carlo's Pizza

For a while I've been searching for a job. I've applied to Brusters, Starbucks, Subway, Farm Fresh, to name a few. But nothing worked out. Finally Mrs. Murphy - the mother of a young girl I babysit for, told me about her friend who was starting a pizza place and looking for employees... before I knew it, I was hired! I was so excited!



Thursday, July 31st was my first day of training. We will be training daily until next week when Di Carlo's opens. We are learning all sorts of cool things. I will be working as a counter girl. So I'll be dealing with answering the phones, taking orders, boxing pizzas, stretching dough, and I even know how to make pizzas! :) I'm very excited about this new job and plan on working a lot until fall term starts up later this month.



Come visit me sometime! I'll make you a very yummy pizza!

DJ got his license

A couple weeks ago Mum and DJ headed for the DMV office... DJ was going to take his on the road test to get his licenses. Dad and I waited expectantly at home. Finally, Dad and I heard the car pull up. We ran down the stairs and to the car, "How did it go?" DJ smiled and pulled out his card... HE PASSED!

Yay! Praise God! :) And yes, he's a great driver!

"And You Will Call Him John..."

The Gs have been on an adventure with the Zavalas. Chris and Latoya found out 9 months ago that they were going to have a baby. We were almost as excited as they were... we were going to have a baby!!



On July 11th, nine days after John was due, we got a call from Chris saying they were at the hospital and would we come join them. We excitedly drove to the hospital and eagerly awaited the arrival of the new baby! Chris and my mom were in the delivery room.



The next thing we knew, we saw little John being held by his parents and grandpa. There was such increadible joy and praise. God blessed them with a beautiful boy.



3 John 4 - "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."



May God be with this new family!

Emily's State Interpreting Test

In May, I, Emily, took a journey up to Richmond, Virginia to take my Virginia Quality Assurance Screening (VQAS) interpreting test. This test consists of two parts - written and signed. This day I took the written part, along with several of my classmates, Trish, Tanya, and Kellen. Once we pass the written part we can start working among the community for some jobs.

On the drive up to Richomond, we were nervous. 'What if we didn't all pass?' 'How hard is this test?' So we decided to just take it in stride, since either way it would be a learning experience for us.

We took the test... and we all passed! Praise God! Thank-you to those of you who prayed for us. We greatly appreciated it! We all start the interpreting program this fall. We eagerly await learning more about interpreting, so we can take the second part of the test.

Grand Caymans SCUBA vacation

On May 22, 2008 the Girardin family flew down to the Caribbean for a SCUBA diving vacation on the Grand Caymans. Please join us as we review our memories of this special family vacation.



This is a picture that was located in our room - beautiful...a perfect display of the Grand Caymans.

We arrived in Charlotte, NC airport and learned that Dad's tooth hurt. As a SCUBA diver this is *not* a good way to begin a trip. Dad found the contact information for a dentist on island. As soon as we walked off the plane into the warm tropical breeze, we headed for the dentist... BUT this is not easy since the drive on the left hand street on the Grand Caymans. Dad had to think each time he made a turn, "I am driving on the LEFT side of the street."


Here is Dad outside the SMILES dentist office - emergencies welcome. *smiles* That was us that day!

The dentist explained to my dad that they could schedule an appointment for him to have a root canal. For those of you who know my Dad well, he isn't fond of dentists. But between then and the appointment if he wanted to dive he would need to be on some medication. As it ended up, Dad and Mum discussed it and prayed about it. They decided since the meds were working well, they would hold off for the root canal until we got back to the states. We are thankful that Dad's tooth didn't prevent him from diving.


A family shot the first day on the dive boat. We are still fairly white, but the Caribbean sun changed that!

We dove a total of nine times. Eight of the dive sights were usual island sites filled with amazing animal and coral life. One of them was the famous "Sting Ray City." "String Ray City" is a dive site where you kneel in about 10 feet of water while the the rays get fed squid. The sting rays will comes so close. You are allowed to touch them. The best description of their underside is like a wet mushroom. You know when you take a mushroom out of a can it feels smooth-like? It's like that. The top part of a ray is almost like sand paper. It was definitely a special experience!



We dove with an awesome diving business called, "Ocean Frontiers." Our favorite dive guide was an Aussie named, Brad. He took us through some amazing swim throughs and helped us find some turtles and other interesting fish. "Ocean Frontiers" had four boats. Only three are shown in the picture above. This is taken from our room... it was so beautiful!!



Above is Mum and DJ after a dive. As we have previously done it, Mum and DJ are dive partners, while Dad and I (Emily) are buddies.



The Blow Holes is a very interesting attraction. The coral on the beach has a hole in it. When the waves hit the beach, they spurt up through the hole shooting about 15 feet up.



Above is Mum and Dad at the Blow Holes. The following is a display of what exactly happens at the Blow Holes:





Above is DJ enjoying the beach. It was so beautiful to live right on the beach. The first night our AC didn't work. The staff was very sorry about the inconvenience. But we remembered our times on Guam and simply opened the windows. It was so beautiful to go to sleep with the smell of the salt water and the cool ocean breeze coming into the room.



Here I stand on the dock enjoying the last day in the Caymans. On this dock was the four dive boats. Each morning we would come down to the dock, get onto our boat, and go to our first dive destination.



Here DJ says goodbye to the beach, as we prepare to leave. This vacation was such a blessing for our family. We are going in different directions this fall, so this vacation served as some beneficial family time. As we approach some crazy times now, I remember back to our time there and thank God for the time together.



The future we are trusting to God...
Thanks for joining us in reviewing our Grand Caymans adventure! :)

Happy Mother's Day

We had a full day planned for today, Mother's Day. One optional activity was strawberry picking. It was raining a lot over the past few days, so we thought this wouldn't be a possibility. But we made a quick last minute decision to try it out since the sky held up and Mum really wanted some strawberries!

Happy Mother's Day!!!


Only 27 pounds of strawberries... "only!" But we'll be sharing them with our AWANA Youth Group on Wednesday. Yum!


Art...that strawberry is really tempting, isn't it? Want us to send you some?


For those of you who have never picked strawberries or any berries, it's loads of fun. We have a strawberry self-pick right down the road from here. Why don't you stop over sometime and we can go strawberry picking together!

Happy Mother's Day everyone! =]