Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site & Georgia State Capitol Building - Atlanta, GA

As we passed through Atlanta, Georgia we made a special point to visit the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site and Preservation District. We have taught our children about Martin Luther King Jr for years. It has been really wonderful watching them gain sincere admiration for this good man. We were so excited to see where he was born and grew up, where he was ordained a minister and preached the word of God, where he is memorialized and his final resting place next to his sweet wife.

Martin Luther King Jr was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy of nonviolent resistance. In April 1959, eleven years after Gandhi was assassinated, Martin Luther King Jr was able to travel to India with his wife and a close friend. He stated that "since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity." You can read about his experiences in "My Trip to the Land of Gandhi", an account he wrote for Ebony, which was published in July 1959. We loved this statue and tribute to Gandhi!

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change Inc. or better known as "The King Center" is located across the street from the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site. It was lovingly established in 1968 by Martin's wife, Coretta Scott King. On the day we visited, which would have been her 86th birthday, they actually named a rose after her. It is a beautiful coral colored grandiflora rose named the Coretta Scott King. Check out the photo below. Isn't it lovely! Due to time constraints we had to leave before the dedication. We did see the King family pull up in limos and gather for the occasion. Out of respect I didn't take any photos of them. 

(Photo above of the Coretta Scott King Rose from www.weeksroses.com)

We were privileged to pay our respects to such a noble man and his beloved wife. Located between the King Center and Ebenezer Baptist Church are the gravesites of Martin Luther King Jr and his wife Coretta Scott King. He was originally buried in the South-View Cemetery until 1977 when he was reinterred in this memorial tomb. It is a very beautiful, solemn place. 

The Eternal Flame is right across from their tomb. It symbolizes Martin Luther King Jr's commitment to eternal hope and truth. I appreciated the words on the plaque. "The Eternal Flame symbolizes the continuing effort to realize Dr. King's ideals for the "Beloved Community" which requires lasting personal commitment that cannot weaken when faced with obstacles."

We were surprised to look up and see the buildings of downtown Atlanta. We didn't realize how close it actually was.

It seemed fitting to have dogwood trees planted next to the Eternal Flame. After living in North Carolina, I love the blossoms on dogwood trees! 
Enjoy the Legend of the Dogwood below.

Since we were on a very tight schedule we were unable to visit the King Center. (I thought it would be rude to check out the exhibits while the rose dedication was going on.) Instead we opted to tour the Ebenezer Baptist Church.

This beautiful church holds quite a lot of significance for the King family. Martin Luther King Jr's maternal grandfather was Reverend Adam Daniel Williams. He served as pastor of the Ebenezer Church from March 1894 until March 1931. He also was the pastor while the current Ebenezer Baptist Church was built back in 1922. His only child was Martin Luther King Jr's mother, Alberta Christine Williams. "Mama King" was baptized as a child and later married Martin Luther King Sr on Thanksgiving Day 1926 in this church. She served for 40 years playing the organ (1932 -1972). In June 1974 she was tragically shot while playing the organ for the Ebenezer Baptist Church congregation and she died later that day.

Martin Luther King Jr's father, Reverend Martin Luther King Sr, served as senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church for an astounding 44 years (1931-1975). Martin Luther King Jr was baptized as a child in this church and attended services here each week while in his youth. At the age of 19 he gave a trial sermon and was subsequently ordained a minister here too. He was co-pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church from 1960 until his was assassinated in 1968. Poignantly his funeral was held in this beloved church.

As you quietly reflect upon the significance of this church in the lives of the King Family you can hear the words of Martin Luther King Jr speaking of faith, hope, endurance, etc. It was a powerful experience seeing the pulpit where he once preached peace and nonviolent resistance. The Ebenezer Baptist Church also has the most beautiful stained glass windows. In the stained glass below there are depictions of Reverend Adam Daniel Williams (first window) and Reverend Martin Luther King Sr (second window).

We really enjoyed our visit to the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Here is a short history of the church produced by the National Park Service.

Our next stop was the Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site's Visitor Center. Honestly, it was quite a let down. We were hoping to see a state of the art facility with modern, interactive exhibits. Instead it was a very crowded almost outdated visitor center. It doesn't seem fitting due to the magnitude of Dr. King's influence in this world. Hopefully they will revamp it at some point making it more interactive and educational. 

The kids enjoyed the D.R.E.A.M. Gallery Exhibit called "MINE EYES HAVE SEEN". This exhibit contained a replica of the Lincoln Memorial and reflection pool at the time Martin Luther King Jr gave his renowned I Have A Dream speech. Fun to take photos next to a life size Martin Luther King Jr at the podium. There also were pictures of key figures and events during the Civil Rights Movement.

Inside the Visitor Center is the main exhibit called "Courage to Lead". It contains lovely photos of the King Family and of major events in Martin Luther King Jr's life. We wish it had been much more extensive and interactive. It is geared more for adults and teens. Make sure to ask for Junior Ranger booklets if you bring kids. They help make visiting the Visitor Center and National Historic Site more interactive for children.

My children were touched by the part of the exhibit that contains a mock jail cell. It saddened them to learn about the 11 days he spent in jail for his nonviolent civil rights campaigning in Birmingham, Alabama. He wrote Letter from Birmingham Jail while being unjustly incarcerated.

Sadly at the age of 39, Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated on April 4, 1968. One of the most touching things was seeing the wagon that was used to carry his casket in front of over 200,000 mourners from the Ebenezer Baptist Church to the Morehouse College. This wagon and the two mules used to pull it were symbols of his efforts to help the poor. 

Our nation was blessed to have been influenced by such a noble man. His service and sacrifices helped to ensure equality for all citizens in this good nation. His example of nonviolent resistance is still applicable today.

There is an incredible mural on the wall facing the Visitor Center entrance. My artist children were in awe of it. 

The girls were really excited to find Rosa Parks footprints etched into the granite walkway along the Promenade leading back to the parking lot. 

We were bummed that we ran out of time and could not visit Martin Luther King Jr's Birth Home. Next time we will make a point to get there even earlier in the day so we can go on a tour right away. Tickets to tour Dr. King's Birth Home are free, but they are given out on a first come, first served basis. Enjoy this virtual tour of his Birth Home!

Before we left Atlanta we headed over to the Georgia State Capitol Building. It is only a short 6 minutes drive from the Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site and Preservation District.

Look at that dome! It is incredibly beautiful!

There is no where to park around the Georgia State Capitol Building so we just kept driving around it. Since it was closed we just took photos as I drove. We had a few homeless men look at us funny as we circled it for the fifth and sixth time. Not the most inviting building, but it is supposed to have a superb Georgia State Capitol Museum on the fourth floor. Next time we'll visit during the week when it's open so we can go inside.

We had a lovely morning in Atlanta, GA! Hoping to come back again so we can see a few more sights and spend more time at these two great places. 

Good Friends and Civil Rights Sites - Montgomery, AL

While passing through Montgomery, Alabama we made a point to visit my friend Cindy. It had been almost 14 years since I last saw her. We lived right across the hall from each other in the East Cambridge apartments at BYU. She is such a warm, friendly southern sweetheart! Her smile is infectious and she has the kindest heart. We have kept in touch over the years and it was so nice to finally be able to meet her wonderful husband and four sons.

My kids had a blast playing with her sons! It was such a blessing being able to get out of the van for a while and let the kids play. They treated us to pizza, cantaloupe and cookies. That cantaloupe came in real handy later when Alyssa and I were the only ones still awake as we drove. (Cantaloupe never tasted better!) Wish I had taken a photo of her whole family before her sweet baby went to sleep. Her husband, Cameron, was kind enough to take these photos for us. He is a great guy and I really enjoyed our conversation. It was so nice to relax and catch up with such a lovely friend. Thank you so much Cindy! Hoping to see you guys again before another 14 years goes by!

Since our trip schedule was so off we ended up not getting to any of the places in Montgomery, AL we wanted to check out until after they were closed. We did make a point to at least drive by the points of interest we planned to go check out. First stop was Dexter Avenue Parsonage where Martin Luther King Jr lived while he served as minister of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church from September 1954 to February 1960. 

Next stop (only 0.5 miles away) was the First White House of the Confederacy. I had no idea this even existed until we planned our trip through Montgomery. After living in the south for the last four years I am not surprised one bit that there was a Confederate White House. 

Right across the street is the Alabama State Capitol Building which was built in 1850. It served as the first Confederate States of America Capitol from February 4th until May 29th 1861 when the capitol moved to Richmond, Virginia. Jefferson Davis took the oath of office as the only President for the Confederate States of America. Next time we hope to take a tour.

My friend Cindy's husband, Cameron, works as a lawyer here for the State of Alabama. All of the Alabama state government buildings are white washed like this. Odd to see white buildings everywhere in downtown Montgomery. 

One block from the Alabama State Capitol Building is the charming Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. This beautiful brick church was completed in 1889 and was in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Martin Luther King Jr served as the pastor here from 1954 to 1960. He organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott from inside this church's basement offices. 

I was really bummed that we had to completely cut out visiting Selma, Alabama since we were a day behind in our move. We planned to travel along the route taken in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Marches stopping in Selma to visit the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute. 

On March 7, 1965, "Bloody Sunday", about 600 civil rights marchers were attacked by state and local police using nightsticks, tear gas, etc as they peacefully marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to protest the lack of voter's rights. People were so outraged by the police brutality against nonviolent protesters that two more marches were organized. 

On March 25, 1965 the final march was led by Martin Luther King Jr from Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge to the steps of the Alabama State Capitol. Upon those steps Dr. King spoke to a crowd of 25,000 telling them that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Little did he know that five months later the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would pass. 

The photos below are of the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail as we drove from Montgomery through Selma that evening.

We plan to visit Montgomery, Alabama again so we can go inside each of these historical sites. We hope to learn more about the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama and how it helped to shape our nation.

Moving Day & Kings Mountain National Military Park - South Carolina

On April 25, 2013 we were finally blessed to move out of North Carolina! It had been weighing heavy on my heart since August 2012 that we needed to move to a safe, healthy place outside of North Carolina. After planning for months to move to Washington our financing and job opportunities sadly fell through in February 2013. At that time it was ever more apparent that we needed to leave North Carolina for the sake of the children. We made the decision to take Hotch's parents up on their offer to come live with them until Hotch finished his Master's degree. (Major mistake! Turned out that everything we were promised by them was a complete lie. More on that later.) Since Hotch did not have a job lined up in CA we opted to leave our stuff in a storage unit in NC until we could afford to come back and move the whole house. We packed up the most important stuff (our scriptures, clothes, school stuff, kid's toys, bedding, etc) and left everything else behind.  

 Really puts life into perspective when you can only bring a van full of belongings. Makes you really evaluate what is most important.

Our turtles, Tank 'Em and Bud, were in for quite the adventure. 

Alyssa was my navigator for the first few days.

Hotch had to stay behind and clean up all the crap in the basement that he had been collecting and avoiding for the three years we lived in that house. He had known that we were going to move since December yet he waited until the week of our move to start doing his part. That is one tired Hotch!

The kids and I had packed and sorted everything in the house ourselves except for the basement, leftover food and bathroom stuff. We were anxious to get on the road and out of Nutty Craplina (our nickname for the state). 

The little ones were out before we even left the city limits. It had been a very long and tiring day! They ended up sleeping for two hours.

Alyssa missed the South Carolina state sign so we decided to turn around at the first exit so we would have a picture of it. Totally grateful to see "Welcome to North Carolina" for the last time.

The exit we took to turn around inside North Carolina actually led to the Kings Mountain National Military Park. Since we were already so far behind in our plans we decided to go check it out. During the Revolutionary War an hour long battle was fought on Kings Mountain. It was an important American victory. Thomas Jefferson even said that it was "the turn of the tide of success". Here is the Junior Ranger packet for this park. It contains tons of information on this Revolutionary War site. By the way, this national park has the largest sign we have ever seen. Seriously, isn't that a cool sign! 

We were bummed that the Visitor Center had closed only 30 minutes before we arrived, but the drive through Kings Mountain National Military Park is breathtaking. I recommend visiting in spring or fall. It was so incredible looking at the sunshine filter through the soft green of the leaves. We plan to visit this national military park again when we come back for our stuff. 

We were so relieved to finally pass into South Carolina. 

Here's the Peachoid which is actually a 135 foot tall water tower shaped like an enormous peach. It is located right off the I-85 in Gaffney, SC. (Nicknamed: Peach Capital of South Carolina)

My sweet boy, Braxton, let his little sister sleep on his shoulder for an hour and a half that night. She was completely out! Every once and a while he would "nudge" her off of him. Love his face in this photo! He actually wasn't annoyed with her just really into his drawing.

After driving in major traffic at night, avoiding getting hit by the crazy Atlanta drivers and getting lost twice we were so grateful to finally arrive at our hotel. We were so ready for bed and no beds every felt so good. In the morning we were ready for the adventures that awaited us in Atlanta, GA.

Though our trip started off to a rough start we ended up having an epic time!