I am not really a fan of these ipads! They are not very friendly!
After a night of trying really hard to camp out on Sunday night... we tried four different camping areas, and were turned away everytime that they weren't open yet or there was not camping - at the Illinois Nelson Ledges State Park. Can't really figure that one out but they don't allow camping! The ledges were beautiful in the dusk on Sunday night but at that point we didn't know we were going to have such trouble finding a campsite. Finally we ended up in a hotel about 20 minutes from the Johnson farm. We were grateful to find someplace to lay our head at the end of that long evening looking without success!
Monday morning at the farm we were not the only group there and my little ones were very wiggly! I don't know what the matter was but they wouldn't sit still. A Senior Sister gave us the tour and we enjoyed her testimony of the farm and of Mother Johnson and her willingness to sacrificace for the church! At the time that Joseph came stay with her she had 3-6 of her 10 children there (I believe!) at home still. Then she moved out of the master bedroom she and her husband had finally built for themselves, and gave it to the prophet and his Emma and their business. While in that home, Joseph was tarred and feathered at least once, and they lost one of the Murdock twins. (I had to leave with wiggly little ones so I didn't get to hear the end of the tour.) Mother Johnson is a hero to me! I had challenged the kids to come up with a question they could seek to have answered. I asked to have my testimony strengthened concerning the role of the Sisters in the Restoration. Then the Sister Missionary spoke just on that topic. Prayers answered there and again later!
Outside on the step, the same rock steps that Joseph preached from the very morning after being beaten and tarred and feathered are still in place. We took pictures there on those steps.
In the parking lot was a really big rock, the kids enjoyed slidding on the rock. It brought to our attention that there are not many rocks in this area! It was still a drive to the Hill Cumorah where those sacred plates were burried under a rock, but significant that there weren't many rocks in this area!! Oh, to remember this place too, the kids named the fruit trees around the Johnson farm the "Tutu trees." They were pruned really funny looking... heavy on the bottoms like girls wearing tut skirts! Later that afternoon, we rolled into Cumorah. We stopped at the hill to use a bathroom, and to learn about schedules of events/sites in the area. We learned they were open until 9:00 p.m. but we really wanted to start at the Sacred Grove first and then come back to this sacred site. We decided that it was not raining right then, and the kids all begged to get to climb the hill while it wasn't wet outside, and so we climbed the hill and sat at the top - ALL to OURSELVES and read Joseph Smith History about the hill and his lessons from Moroni there, continuing on until we got to the part about the Susquehanna River parts. I loved sitting at the top of the hill just us! The grass is very green, but the leaves are not out on the trees yet. There are daffodills blooming all over, it is beautiful to see a clump out in the trees just kissing a little color to the dry leaves covering the ground! I am sure it is beautiful here when the trees are in full swing, but I also understand the humidity and heat are intense, as well as the bugs. We haven't had ANY of those problems! We treasure the sunshine minutes and count our blessings for the special times when it stops raining just for us!
After a night of trying really hard to camp out on Sunday night... we tried four different camping areas, and were turned away everytime that they weren't open yet or there was not camping - at the Illinois Nelson Ledges State Park. Can't really figure that one out but they don't allow camping! The ledges were beautiful in the dusk on Sunday night but at that point we didn't know we were going to have such trouble finding a campsite. Finally we ended up in a hotel about 20 minutes from the Johnson farm. We were grateful to find someplace to lay our head at the end of that long evening looking without success!
Monday morning at the farm we were not the only group there and my little ones were very wiggly! I don't know what the matter was but they wouldn't sit still. A Senior Sister gave us the tour and we enjoyed her testimony of the farm and of Mother Johnson and her willingness to sacrificace for the church! At the time that Joseph came stay with her she had 3-6 of her 10 children there (I believe!) at home still. Then she moved out of the master bedroom she and her husband had finally built for themselves, and gave it to the prophet and his Emma and their business. While in that home, Joseph was tarred and feathered at least once, and they lost one of the Murdock twins. (I had to leave with wiggly little ones so I didn't get to hear the end of the tour.) Mother Johnson is a hero to me! I had challenged the kids to come up with a question they could seek to have answered. I asked to have my testimony strengthened concerning the role of the Sisters in the Restoration. Then the Sister Missionary spoke just on that topic. Prayers answered there and again later!
Outside on the step, the same rock steps that Joseph preached from the very morning after being beaten and tarred and feathered are still in place. We took pictures there on those steps.
In the parking lot was a really big rock, the kids enjoyed slidding on the rock. It brought to our attention that there are not many rocks in this area! It was still a drive to the Hill Cumorah where those sacred plates were burried under a rock, but significant that there weren't many rocks in this area!! Oh, to remember this place too, the kids named the fruit trees around the Johnson farm the "Tutu trees." They were pruned really funny looking... heavy on the bottoms like girls wearing tut skirts! Later that afternoon, we rolled into Cumorah. We stopped at the hill to use a bathroom, and to learn about schedules of events/sites in the area. We learned they were open until 9:00 p.m. but we really wanted to start at the Sacred Grove first and then come back to this sacred site. We decided that it was not raining right then, and the kids all begged to get to climb the hill while it wasn't wet outside, and so we climbed the hill and sat at the top - ALL to OURSELVES and read Joseph Smith History about the hill and his lessons from Moroni there, continuing on until we got to the part about the Susquehanna River parts. I loved sitting at the top of the hill just us! The grass is very green, but the leaves are not out on the trees yet. There are daffodills blooming all over, it is beautiful to see a clump out in the trees just kissing a little color to the dry leaves covering the ground! I am sure it is beautiful here when the trees are in full swing, but I also understand the humidity and heat are intense, as well as the bugs. We haven't had ANY of those problems! We treasure the sunshine minutes and count our blessings for the special times when it stops raining just for us!