Family Trip - Part 2: Defending the Faith Conference

This second post will be all about the 5 days we spent in Sevierville, TN and our time that we had at the Defending the Faith family conference.

Update: I put a few more pictures in this post that I discovered after I published this post. 

You can now see why the Smoky Mountains are called the Smoky mountains. 

Just on this one hill there are dozens of cabins.  It looks pretty neat when it's dark.

We had these three very nice rocking chairs on our front porch.  We didn't use them enough. :)

We were blessed with a full use kitchen in the cabin where we could cook our own meals.

We also had access to the tennis court down the mountain.  We kids played twice during the course of the five days we were there. 

Johanna in position.

Abby really getting 'into it'. 

Caleb is ready to hit!

Yours-truly getting in on the action.

We celebrated Joel's 24th birthday on Monday while at the cabin.  So I made an Italian Cream cake, and we used tea-light candles, since we didn't have "real" birthday cake candles. 

With the cake we had ice cream and root beer.  Now, you're not getting hungry, are you? 

On Monday we got the chance to visit the Johnson Bible College campus in Knoxville.  Dad graduated with a Masters of Arts from Johnson in 1995 (before I was born!). 

Then for lunch on Monday we ate at Chili's, thanks to the very generous gift from the G. family.

We ordered their delicious fajitas.  They are so good!

Unfortunately we only got a few good pictures from the conference.  I think in this picture Steve Ham is introducing John G. Elliot.  Mr. Elliot played 2 or 3 piano concerts throughout the conference.  He is a very talented pianist.  We were truly blessed by his music.

Carl Kerby talking during one of the teen sessions.  This one I believe was on Fossils: Friend or Foe?

We each got a spiral-bound book, in which to take notes.

Dr. Jason Lisle taking questions from conference attendees. 

We girls were able to get Dr. Baucham's autograph, and also a photo with him. 

Joel was also able to get his book signed by Dr. Baucham, and also speak to him for a couple of minutes.

While at the conference we were honored to video interview 5 of the speakers.  Above is a snapshot of Bill Jack.  Mr. Jack is with Worldview Academy, and he talked three times, including twice in the teen sessions. 

Carl Kerby is one of AiG's most dynamic speakers.  He is truly gifted in this area, and he gave us a lot of godly wisdom during the interview. 

Joel and I were the ones who did the main part of the interview.  We did it out in the hallway, so it was kind of noisy. 

During the interview.

Dr. David Menton is another one of AiG's speakers.  We as a family have greatly enjoyed and benefited from his "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made" DVD presentation. 

Dr. Jason Lisle - I, personally, have greatly benefited from Dr. Lisle's "Ultimate Apologetics" DVD set, on presuppositional apologetics, and logic.  He talks science, but in a very down-to-earth and understandable way, and I appreciate that about him.

And, last of all, we were very privileged to get a short interview with Ken Ham.  We are very grateful for Mr. Ham taking time out of his busy schedule to do a video interview with someone he doesn't even know!

Caleb got these gorgeous photographs of the sunrise on one of the mornings while we were at the cabin.















God's creation is so beautiful... especially in this part of the world!

Check back very soon for more photos and news about the rest of our trip.