Recently, I traveled to scenic Faber, Virginia, and had a wonderful time sharing with the ladies of Pop Up Church, Adial Baptist Church, and many from the surrounding areas.
Adial Baptist is a beautiful, historic church built in 1856.
and even entered and exited through separate doors,
which you can see in the rear of the sanctuary.
The decor for the conference was welcoming and charming. The windowsills in the sanctuary were strewn with these delightful blue roses.
And don’t you just love these posters? The Bible verses were from my teaching sessions.
Friday night kicked off with a delicious lasagna dinner. Then, in our first teaching session, God’s Design for Biblical Womanhood, we looked at God’s unique design for womankind. God ingeniously created us differently from men because His creation wasn’t complete without womanhood in the world.
Saturday morning started with a wonderful time of doughnuts, coffee, and fellowship. In our first teaching session, Walking in Biblical Womanhood, we learned how to rock our role as godly women, walking out biblical womanhood in our day to day lives. Then we wrapped up the day with an awesome Q&A session.
Conference swag and snacks! (Thank you to my anonymous friend who made me the beautiful potholder!)
Some of the lovely ladies who attended the conference. I’m forever grateful to Melissa (in the burgundy top, bottom left), who was a superb hostess and went out of her way to make me feel at home and show me all the local points of interest. (Melissa also shared her photos and thoughts about the conference here.)
If you’re familiar with the television show, The Waltons, from the 1970’s, you may recall that it was based on the real life and memoirs of Earl Hamner. Earl was born and raised in Schuyler, Virginia, right down the road from where I was staying. He and Melissa’s dad even went to school together as children. Melissa was kind enough to take me up “Walton’s Mountain” to Schuyler to see all of the Waltons/Hamner sights.
On the way up to Schuyler, we passed through Rockfish, a neighboring town that played a major part in the show. All that’s left on the main road is the old post office and the nearby railroad tracks.
When we got to Schuyler, the first place we went was the Walton’s Mountain Museum. It is actually housed in the old Schuyler Elementary School where Earl Hamner (and Melissa’s dad) attended. They have converted several classrooms into replicas of the various sets from the television show: John-Boy’s bedroom, Ike’s store, the kitchen, the living room, and the Baldwin sisters’ parlor and “recipe machine”.
Living room 
Living room 
Living room 
A radio of the period 
John-Boy’s room 
John-Boy’s desk 
Boatwright University pennant over John-Boy’s bed 
Ike’s store (gift shop) 
Sorting the mail with Ike and Cora Beth 
Kitchen 
Kitchen 
Kitchen 
The “recipe machine” 
This is the actual pony cart from the show 
Earl Hamner’s director’s chair and camera
Across the street from the museum is a delightful bed and breakfast which was built to mimic the Walton home from the show.
Next door to the bed and breakfast was the actual house Earl Hamner grew up in.
Nearby in Schuyler are Schuyler Baptist Church (the church the Hamners attended), the site of Ike’s store (the original store burned down in a fire years ago), and some other points of interest.
Many thanks to Melissa, Pastor Mike Hevener, and all of the ladies and gentlemen of Pop Up Church and Adial Baptist Church who worked so hard to put on a great conference and made me feel so at home.
If your church or organization is ever in need of a speaker for a women’s event, I’d love to come share with your ladies as well. Click here for more information.
Photo Credits
Photo of exterior of Adial Baptist Church and balloon photos courtesy of Adial Baptist Church.
All photos of Michelle by Melissa Morris.
All other photos by Michelle Lesley.
Michelle Lesley 
We were signed up to attend but we’re unable to come. I am glad you were able to be in Virginia. I know the ladies were blessed.
We visited Schuyler earlier this summer and we’re blessed by all the memories of The Walton’s and their simply way of life.
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Thanks Stephanie. I’m sorry you weren’t able to come. Maybe another time. :0)
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