This past Sunday, the hand bell choir from Crown Point went down to a little historical town with the oldest church building in Florida to perform for a lovely group of people.
The early history of Ocoee and the beginning of the Ocoee Christian Church are closely related. Immediately after the Civil War, Captain Buford M. Sims, an officer in the Confederate Army, rode into town (from his native state of Tennesse) on the horse he had ridden in the war. Making the lovely spot in the wilderness his home, Capt. Sims named this place Ocoee after a small river he enjoyed as a boy. The city was officially founded in 1886.
Sims discovered sour orange trees in the hammocks that dotted the shores of Lake Apopka (I love some of the great names of places here in FL). He cleared land and planted the groves which would become the first groves to produce citrus fruit for commercial use.
Prior to the founding of the city, a Confederate General of artillery, General William Temple Withers, came to the area from Kentucky in 1883. He began at once to plan a Christian Church building. Captain Sims gave the land and General Withers provided the funding. The church is of Carpentry Gothic architectural design with beautiful stained glass windows that were commissioned in memory of General Withers. These windows were imported from Belgium to the Sanford, Florida area and then on to Ocoee via ox-cart.
Our hand bell choir was so blessed to be able to perform in this lovely little church as the accoustics were fantastic! As it was the third Sunday of the month, all the ladies in the congregation had beautiful hats to compliment their pretty spring outfits.
We brought our little chihuahua, Eleni (aka, The Bug) with us for the day and she was able to attend her second church service in another historical church. Her first service was at the Cathedral Basillica in St. Augustine. She loves the attention she gets from all the church ladies. The hubster (Rob) was in charge of wrangling The Bug wearing a stylish black sling-bag. He is truly a confident man! On top of that he is the most handsome roadie.
On a side note, we made it back to the Swamp in time for this transplant from Detroit to catch the third period of the Red Wing game. We crushed the Black Hawks in the first game of the conference finals. I am ready to see the Octopus flying baby! GO WINGS GO!
We continue to be blessed with wonderful opportunities to share great days like the one above and look forward to many more great days ahead with God's Grace.
Thank you for all of your prayers and good wishes as we wait to hear the results of Rob's packet that has gone to the Army Chief of Chaplain's Office Board. We are hopeful that we will hear something soon. As soon as we know what is happening we will let everyone know.
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