Friday-July 20, 2007
This morning we visited a city park in Gadsden, AL named Noccalula Falls, named for an
Indian princess who jumped off the falls rather than being forced to marry a man from another tribe to please her father. Unfortunately, the falls were rather weak because of the drought. Little did we know that this was the first of many waterfalls on our trip that were nearly dried up by this year's drought. The city park was just a bonus; we saw a brochure in the hotel, and it turned out to be a lovely way to start our day. There were several historic buildings preserved at the park, and one happened to be a one-room schoolhouse/church. I gave the sermon for our morning devotional; the WOW girls declared me a natural preacher!
We stopped in Birmingham to see the 16th Street Baptist Church, the site of a bombing during the 60's that took the lives of four young black girls. We took some pictures in the sanctuary and met some of the current members who were folding bulletins.
Our destination that evening was Slidell, LA, which is right outside of New Orleans and is the home of Jane's sister, Rebecca and her husband, Sonny. Their home backed up to the bayou and we spotted an alligator from the backyard. During Katrina, they were forced to evacuate. Their entire first floor was flooded; 75 to 80% of their trees in their yard were destroyed; and Sonny's first edition books and teaching notes (he was a college professor) were destroyed.
No comments:
Post a Comment