Family – Page 3 – Jacksonville Blogger

Saved

It is unclear if I was searching for God or if I had a new-found determination to know Him. Somewhere about 1960-something, I walked the aisle at the Woodstock Park Baptist Church, which at that time was located on St. Clair Street in Jacksonville, Fl. Interesting to note that the church moved in 1997 from St. Clair to Crystal Springs road on a 10 acre plot exactly next to our home. We had moved from the Woodstock Park area about 1960.

The church pastor who welcomed me into the fellowship was Harold Cushing and it was then that I had an experience of new life in Christ. The expression of the Christian faith is often said in this way; “I accepted Jesus in my heart” and I did.

From that time, I had convictions that I had never known and the realisation that there was indeed an eternity and that I would one day see Jesus face to face. Yes, I believe that even today. No, I have not lived the perfect life but yes, I live forgiven daily as I depend on His Holy Spirit for strength, power and understanding.

For many years, we remained at Woodstock Park Baptist Church and both of my parents served faithfully. My Father was a deacon and my Mother worked in various positions at the church and as listed in the 1964 Church Directory, she was on the missions committee.

When my parents bought the 10 acre plot on the Westside of Jacksonville about 8 miles from Woodstock Park Baptist we continued to attend the church until we joined Macedonia Baptist on Fouraker Road to get involved in the neighborhood church. It seems I was about 10 years old.

It was so interesting in 1997 when Woodstock Park Baptist Church moved right next to our home on Crystal Springs Road. They purchased the land and built a big, beautiful, white church with office buildings and all. Our family never returned to join the church, although my niece was pianist there for a bit. In my Father’s older age, he visited a few times by simply walking across his property line to the churches transom. Full circle.

In 2019, Woodstock Park Baptist ended up in the hands of Hillcrest Baptist Church and there was a name change. It will alway be Woodstock Park Baptist to me though.

In my adult life, I attended Westside Baptist Church and then joined the First Baptist Church, the fellowship of my grandparents, Clifford and Lula Long. Again, full circle.

My life would have been very different without Christ. I’m thankful for the change. I’ll never be the same.

See you tomorrow,

Sources: Brochure- Jason Whittkopp

Category: Churches, Faith, Family | LEAVE A COMMENT

November 16

The Day the Tractor Disappeared Under Ground

In 2022, our family was deep, (no pun indended) into having my Father and Mother’s property cleared and prepared to host a wedding for Kristie, our youngest daughter. To do this, huge trees were removed and pushed to the back of the property where the massive roots were put on a fire in hopes to clear the land without the expense of removal. The weight and massive size of the trees would have cost a great deal to haul away so we tried burning to save. The biggest problem was the huge tree logs and roots were fresh wood and not easily burned. In addition, we went through a rainy season which kept the wood damp. When push finally came to shove, and our time was getting short before the wedding, we hired a young guy who had a new Kubota tractor. Boom! Done in a matter of minutes.

Ronnie, Kristie’s Dad videod the whole event and in the video showed this young forester, literally disappearing into the ground digging out a hole big enough to put 3 gigantic roots weighing thousands of pounds. The roots were almost as big as the equipment he was driving but he had no trouble digging out that dungeon and pulling in those massive pieces of wood, then covering them with a smooth surface.

He was on the property about 2 hours for which his payment would be $500. In that time, he spread a full truck load of number 57 rock, disappeared into the hole numerous times, leaving us with a walkway between the chapel and barn and a parking lot with a smooth surface of dirt for which to plant grass.

His disappearing act was exactly what was needed to prepare our grounds to host a perfect wedding and yes, we had that wedding.

See you tomorrow,

Category: Family, Transportation | Comments Off

November 14

Jacksonville Fair Frills

Every year, our family enters something into the Jacksonville Fair arts contest. It’s fun and free and you might even win a dollar or so. This year, I entered a cabinet door painted with chickens and won the $10 prize for “Best in Class”. How fun! Also entered was a drawing of the Jacksonville clock which received a blue ribbon. Yay.

As a “wanna-be” artist and being named “Nan”, I paint by the name of “Nan Gogh”. My cousin, Phyllis once teased me in that way and from then, Nan Gogh has been my assigned painting name.

Kathy, my sister has won multiple first place ribbons at the fair over the years and this year was no different, she received a first place for her drawing of Mollie, the family dog.

Ramey, my 9 year old grandson is now in his 2nd year of winnings with a first place this year for his photo of our family old Dr. wagon which was recently restored on our parent’s Homestead property.

Ah…What to do for next year…

See you tomorrow,

2022

Category: Art, Family, People | LEAVE A COMMENT

November 10

The Storm After the Wedding

Thankfully, the weather was beautiful before, during and after the November 5, wedding. It was so grand that everyone sat out in the open air at the tables and rocked and rolled with the band until about 10:00 pm.

Fast forward only a few days and we’ve now removed the 20 x 40 tent, secured anything that might blow away or fall and stacked the chairs. (Although, I think I’ve stacked them too high and strong winds might take them down. We shall see?)

A now designated hurricane named “Nicole” is on the way up the middle of Florida and expected to skirt the west side of Jacksonville. I’ll keep you posted as to what happened to the chairs.

See you tomorrow,

Category: Family, Random Posts | LEAVE A COMMENT

November 9

The Proposal

Derrick wanted to make the proposal special so he called Katie the sister of Kristie to see what could be done to make that happen. He chose to allow the family to be a part of this momentous occasion and we all were thrilled. Love was in the air and through a turn of events, it was scheduled that we would all get aboard a horse and buggy in St. Augustine and Derrick would do the honors, even getting on one knee.(Not pictured here but he did).

(Photo: Nan, Ramey, Katie, Ronnie, Kristie, Derrick)

We all were a part of it in the Nation’s oldest city, St. Augustine in December of 2021 and afterwords ate at a luxurious restaurant to seal the deal. Great fun was had by all.

They were married last week in November at the family Homestead in Jacksonville, Kristie’s hometown. It was wonderful. They will live happily ever after.

See you tomorrow,

Category: Family, Random Posts | LEAVE A COMMENT

November 8

After the Wedding

After the wedding was over, we had a team of people willing to help. Chairs had to be stacked, food had to be covered and refrigerated, trash had to be gathered and all of the small details had to be put in place in order to leave the venue.

One of the last things to come down was the flower display which had been place over white painted antique doors. Now what to do with them. They still are resting over wooden benches in the chapel. We don’t know how to store or even wrap for possible future use.

Any ideas out there?

See you tomorrow,

Category: Family, People, Random Posts | LEAVE A COMMENT

November 7

Barn and People

Kristie wanted a barn wedding. We had an old barn on my Father and Mother’s property but it was small, old and rickety. We decided to start fresh and so we did. We began in January of 2022 and set out the clear the land, demolish the barn and build a new one. We also determined that we would take the current camper barn and add onto it creating a chapel and we did.

The wedding began at 5:30 p.m. and by 6:30 p.m. everyone was rocking and rolling with the band. Great fun was had by all.

See you tomorrow,

Category: Family, People, Random Posts | LEAVE A COMMENT

November 6

Wedding Clean Up

It took us some ten months to prepare for this wedding. It was over in about 35 minutes, we had a party and then the clean up. Wow and wow! We had everything from tables, chairs, food, and bags of garbage, incidentals and more to dispose of or store. The morning after began for Katie and her team at 8 am and they kept at it long into the afternoon.

We left it as neat and clean as possible and removed anything that the rodents might be interested in….To be sure the didn’t get into anything, we stored all trash bags inside the bathrooms until the next day when we could take it out to the trash pick up. Good thing too. We forgot one bag in the tent and the racoons had a hay day…( No pun intended).

See you tomorrow,

Category: Family, People, Random Posts | LEAVE A COMMENT

November 5

We Had a Wedding

In December of 2021, Derrick, my daughter’s boyfriend proposed to her in St. Augustine on the mount of a horse and carriage. It was sweet and heart-felt. Fast forward to November 5th and they married among friends and family members. Congrats to the happy couple.

While they both live in Alabama, Kristie wanted to marry in her own hometown so she did. She was born and raised in Jacksonville and she came home to seal the deal. More to come….

See you tomorrow,

Category: Family, People, Random Posts | LEAVE A COMMENT

November 4

The Night Before the Wedding

The night before the wedding, everything was set. The entrance was ready for the gates to open wide in the morning. The chapel was set and all benches in place. The barn was ready for a party.

The chapel was actually our Dad and Mom’s barn for the camper. It was parked under a covering and they could pack it and get it ready for their next campout without worrying about weather. When we decided to remodel it for a chapel, we added a second side, painted it and put in 20 benches for seating; 10 on each side. It’s called Vaughan’s Chapel.

After the wedding, we would need a barn for the party so we set up a barn the size of the swimming pool. The swimming pool was 20 x 40. The barn was extended to a 24 x 40 and was set up for the party.

See you tomorrow,

Category: Churches, Faith, Family, People, Random Posts | LEAVE A COMMENT