Flowers are the great equalizer.

The great common denominator.

I’m quite sure this is at the root of why I love them so. Oh, I, like most everyone else, prize flowers for their appeal to my senses and role in our ecosystem. But in traveling the world, I’ve also been touched by their symbolic meaning in cultural and religious creeds, traditions and rituals.

Despite the broad spectrum of differences in culture, politics and religion that too often divide humans, flowers are almost universally entwined in religious and spiritual beliefs in positive ways. According to some, they are revered primarily as God’s beautiful creation; for others they symbolize God or gods or spiritual practices themselves.

They are often symbols of what we humans hold in common to be right and good in this world: love, virtue, respect, hope. And they serve as metaphors for basic human aspirations such as fertility or prosperity. Many religions feature flowers in art and architecture toward both symbolic and decorative ends, and some offer them as tangible gifts to God as part of their rites of worship.

Rites and Rituals
Islamic traditions include roses in marriages, as well as dye from flowers of the henna plant to decorate the hands and feet of brides as a symbol of fertility and good fortune. And Islamic funerals often feature jasmine and a sprinkling of rose water on new graves. Extensive and intricate floral patterns embellish Islamic art and architecture.

In Hinduism, flowers play a more prominent role, with the primary prayer rite called puja (Sanskrit for the act of worship), translated into English as “the flower act.” The lotus flower is associated with divinity, piety, beauty, and fertility. The Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, instructs followers to be pure and detached like the lotus. Other specific flowers relate to specific gods or rituals, and weddings and funerals often feature jasmine garlands.

The lotus is also central to Buddhism and symbolizes the highest level of spiritual elevation that man can possibly reach. The lotus flower is a metaphor for knowledge and enlightenment and is depicted in much of Buddhist artwork, often with Buddha sitting on an open lotus flower.
The spiritual practice of Yoga has a major branch, Hatha Yoga, in which a posture called the lotus position, padmasana (also Sanskrit), is adopted by devotees striving to reach the highest level of consciousness.

In Chinese religions such as Taoism, flowers are metaphors for life, happiness and fertility. Peonies and daffodils are symbols of spring and renewed life, and the lotus flower symbolizes morality, purity, wisdom, and harmony.

Judeo-Christian Traditions
Flowers are featured in wedding ceremonies worldwide. They are also usually welcome in funeral observances except in Judaism, in which (at least in orthodox traditions), food baskets of Kosher items are typically more appropriate. Judeo-Christian traditions consider flowers among the most beautiful and pleasurable of God’s creations and symbolize the glory of the Garden of Eden before man’s fall from grace.

In his Divine Comedy, Dante speaks of Paradise after life: “…the beautiful garden which blossoms under the radiance of Christ…There is the rose, in which the divine word became flesh; here are the lilies whose perfume guides you in the right ways.” Dante also depicts the final, eternal World in Heaven “in the form of a resplendent white rose.”

Flowers symbolize numerous aspects of the Christian religion, such as the white Madonna lily (lilium candidum) as a symbol of purity. Red roses stand for Christ’s blood and for love. Roses are especially prominent in Catholic symbolism—with the Virgin Mary honored as a “rose without thorns” and the form of devotion called the rosary. In my church, Lynchburg’s First Presbyterian, a single red rose bud is placed on the baptismal font to celebrate the birth of every new baby in our congregation.

Protestant Practices
In Christian weddings flowers are an important accoutrement, and brides typically carry a bouquet of flowers down the aisle. Funerals are also a time for celebrating the life of the deceased with flowers.

The tradition among many churches is to decorate the sanctuary, narthex and other parts of the church with fresh flower arrangements, especially on significant liturgical days such as Easter and Christmas. However, in the interest of time and expense, a growing number of Protestant congregations have moved away from this tradition—or increasingly rely on artificial flowers.

Parishioners and congregations that continue to adhere to the practice of decorating their churches with fresh flowers and greens typically maintain an altar, chancel, or flower guild (or committee) to plan, organize and manage flowers as an expression of their devotion, as an offering of their gifts of time and talent to the Glory of God, and to serve as an inspiration to fellow worshipers.

Altar, Chancel and Flower Guilds
My friend Anne McKenna, who co-chairs the Flower Guild at Lynchburg’s St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, shared a quip from internationally renowned flower-arranging expert, Gay Estes, author of The Church Ladies’ Guide to Divine Flower Arranging, “Flowers are a gift from God; unfortunately, he doesn’t arrange them.” So Anne and her co-chair, Rod Meeks, manage a group of devoted arrangers, hold flower-arranging workshops to encourage parishioners to join them, and make general appeals that bring out men, women and children to take on all the jobs (including sweeping the floor) it takes to fill the church with flowers for festival days. After holding back on flowers during Lenten season, they go all out for Easter and celebrate with glorious fresh spring flowers everywhere.

We at First Presbyterian have an established, on-going Chancel Guild with monthly teams responsible for fresh flower arrangements in the sanctuary, narthex and entrance foyer every Sunday. Our co-chairs, Becky O’Brian and Betsy Burton, gather us all together to decorate more extensively at Easter and Christmas. We surround our Advent candles with a wreath of evergreen boughs, representing God’s continuous love and the soul’s immortality, and we prepare fresh evergreens for our “Hanging of the Greens” service. Dozens of live poinsettias also grace the Sanctuary in honor or memory of loved ones.

Another friend, Meg Laughon, notes that her church, Rivermont Evangelical Presbyterian, focuses on the joys of nature and celebrates each season by arranging fresh flowers and greens from members’ gardens. We at First Presbyterian also use bounty from our gardens both to share God’s gifts in our community and hold down expenses.

My assigned month for the Chancel Guild is always January, and I enjoy gathering sticks, rocks, mosses and other gifts from nature for an arrangement—or forcing quince, saucer magnolia and other early spring blooming shrubs and trees or sharing my indoor orchids that bloom each winter.

Getting Started
Arranging flowers as a ministry builds community and friendships among worshipers and presents avenues for expression of artistry. We laugh and share our lives and skills as we learn and create.

And that brings us to the ‘how’ of arranging church flowers. Flower arrangements can be as elaborate and daunting or as simple and inviting as you and your church wish. At one end of the spectrum we are awed by huge and grand arrangements at The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. and at the other we find joy in small and sweet roadside bouquets at tiny country churches.

First, decide where you land on this continuum and your available resources (people, time, money, available flowers) and if you need an organized system or only one or two devotees. Then decide on location and scale of arrangements to best suit your church and where and when the actual arranging will take place. And be sure to meet with your clergy to understand your church calendar, festival and other special days, and what kind of arrangements are appropriate for each.

Design and Mechanics
Basic principles of design rule flower arrangements, as they do any other form of art. Rhythm, contrast, dominance, scale, proportion and balance all are considerations. Mechanics and techniques of flower arrangements have filled many books and workshops, as well as inspiring Gay Estes with:
A Church Arranger’s Prayer

Oh Lord,
Please don’t let my flowers wilt,
My lilies stain the vestments
Or my vase leak.
May the Altar Guild not fight
Over who gets to do the altar
And who must do the pews.
Let my arrangement neither fall,
Nor catch fire from the candles. Amen

Starting simple and adding complexity is always a good rule of thumb. Just remember that flowers are a gift from God, and our gift is our behind-the-scenes talent and work to share them in uplifting arrangements in God’s House. Every time I go into our sacristy at First Presbyterian to prepare arrangements for the upcoming Sunday, I look up and once again silently repeat the simple little prayer taped to the cupboard above the sink:
Flower Arranger’s Prayer

May God Grant that our hearts
Our eyes and our hands may
Receive His inspiration,
Enabling us to glorify
His House with the beauty of
Of the leaves and blossoms
Which He has created. Amen
(author unknown)

As we celebrate our faith with our love of flowers, we are reminded that our gifts of flowers are about glorifying God, and we are grateful that they are the great equalizer—the common denominator with kindred souls around the world who also share flowers in their own way, according to their own faith and spirituality.

Amen

by Susan Timmons

Celebrating a Victorian Holiday House

Much like a beloved postcard from the mid-19th century that celebrated the Christmas season, Madison Street in the Garland Hill Historic District of Lynchburg is one of the most fashionable in the city that memorializes Victorian society. Queen Victoria presented many aspects of Christmas to the British that we still honor today, such as trees trimmed with candles, sweets, fruit, homemade decorations and small gifts.

Even the acclaimed Charles Dickens tale “A Christmas Carol” was written during the Victorian era, a time where they were examining Christmas traditions from the past and creating new Christmas customs for the future. No era influenced modern Christmas more than the Victorians.

In that same spirit, “The Wilson House,” as it is commonly referred to by local historians, was built during Queen Victoria’s reign. It resides on Madison Street, which was among the first roads to be paved with brick in 1895.

This prominent street with its elegant homes still entertains and welcomes friends and families to relish in its sentimental charms and rich historic past.

Ghost of Christmas Past
This stately Queen Anne Victorian is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designed by E.G. Frye, an esteemed local architect well-known among the most prominent landowners of the day. Frye designed many of the larger homes and buildings in Lynchburg, including Jones Memorial Library on Rivermont Avenue and Court Street United Methodist Church, sparing no simplicity in his designs. The Wilson House was built by contractors Wilson & Seay circa 1894 for William V. Wilson Jr., a law partner of Kemp and Hodges and President of the Lynchburg National Bank. While Wilson’s wife died in 1915, he lived for almost two more decades, passing away in 1933. In his will, Wilson left the majority of his estate in a trust fund entitled “Nellie Wilson Trust” in memory of his wife. She often bestowed love on children who fell into her life since she didn’t have any of her own. To honor this legacy, he left the trust to the former Presbyterian Homes & Family Services in Lynchburg.

Through the years, the house had been divided into three apartments, one on each floor. It remained apartments until Bobbi Hurst and her husband Randy bought the historic house in 2004 and began restoring it back into a single family home.

“We discovered the house while driving through some historic neighborhoods with my brother,” Bobbi said.

The couple’s goal was to make the home livable, so they first added heating and air. There were six fireplaces that heated with coal, and since electricity wasn’t original to the house, their first addition was a large undertaking.

Fortunately, they had experience with restorations. Randy restored, remodeled, repaired and built custom homes for a living, so this house certainly rendered the need for his services. Since moving to Lynchburg from North Carolina, he had studied historic homes, as well as Frye and his designs, which helped them reinvent the home’s original authentic charm.

“We hadn’t thought of moving here until we fell in love with the house… saw it, called the realtor to see it the next weekend and bought the house,” Bobbi said.

When they began the restoration, they found some unique oddities. The stairs had been redirected to an outside entrance for apartments. While reconstructing those, they discovered the finished side of the stairs and a hidden five-foot archway. The archway mirrored one on the other side of the entrance hall fireplace. This helped them see where the original stairs, landings and archway had been before removal.

“When we pulled the paneling off, we could see the ghost of where stairs had been,” Bobbi said.

They took great effort to not lose any paneling in their 14 x 25-foot entrance hall. The panels stop at the first landing and act like a chair rail that rises three to four feet up the wall. The parlor fireplace had also been removed, covered up and moved to the terrace level apartment, so they relocated it back to the parlor. They even moved a bathroom to make one of the bedrooms into a master suite.

On the exterior, there is plenty of charm—the home’s inverted columns and detailed use of mixed materials of red slate, pressed brick, wood, corrugated metal and even Spanish copper is indicative of a time period when lavish detail was celebrated.

“The restoration and renovating has been a labor of love, and sometimes hate, but we love living here,” Bobbi said.

Ghost of Christmas Present
By starting their holiday decorating the day after Thanksgiving and tearing down seasonal décor around New Year’s, it takes the Hursts about two weeks to put up and take down all of their decorations. This gives them time to pull their holiday baubles and trinkets together, ensuring their trimmings from nature will last through Christmas Day without causing any fire hazards.

“I do as much as I can with natural things, but since natural things get dried out, I’m afraid to do too much,” Bobbi said.

As a former art teacher with an undergraduate degree in home economics, along with an art graduate degree, Hurst knows how to arrange and artistically present her home’s decorations. She uses that artistic eye to think creatively each Christmas. By intertwining silk flowers and synthetic Christmas trees with natural greenery and boughs, it adds a fullness and realistic element to her arrangements. She elegantly interweaves silk with live greens, velvet bows and ribbons on their intricate stairwell, making the artificial appear genuine. In the Victorian era, ribbons and bows were used in abundance as a festive embellishment in both men’s and women’s fashions, so Bobbi tries to keep her holiday décor as authentic to the home’s original period as possible by using them within her seasonal decorating. She also includes dolls typical of the Victorian time period.

Though she strives for period appropriate décor in much of the house, Hurst recognizes that the original homeowner, William V. Wilson Jr., didn’t always live in the Victorian age. She allows herself the beauty of living in the present by taking detours on occasion. She uses a lot of candles since that would have been indicative of the Victorians, but one advantage to modern living she enjoys celebrating is the use of electricity. Decorating with an array of lights makes the home sparkle, both inside and out.

Throughout this stately Victorian house, eight artificial Christmas trees adorn the home each season. The main tree in the parlor sits by itself within a nine-foot octagon shaped section of the room, framed inside a beautiful archway, creating a grand focal point for the home’s most significant tree. With 12-foot-high ceilings in much of the house, Bobbi finds it a welcomed challenge to decorate vertically. She incorporates a theme of red, white and gold throughout the main living areas of the home, including in the parlor and entrance. At the top of their ornate wooden stairway is a feather tree, much like those originally used in Germany; the branches are made from goose feathers. The master bedroom is an area where Bobbi detours from traditional hues to introduce a more modern color scheme. She chose blue and aqua tones indicative of the Art Nouveau time period, embellishing with balls and ribbons. The guest bedroom is home to a smaller tree that sits on a table draped in beads and angels.

Atop her elaborate mantels, Bobbi decorates using items with value. One of the more sentimental pieces she incorporates into her theme is a nativity that encapsulates Mary holding Christ. It is a resin statue she bought unfinished. She embellished it in a brownish antique color and then varnished it. Randy then built a manger for her, which they married to the crèche. Bobbi places it on the entrance hall’s mantel so when their guests come through the doorway, it is the first thing they see.

“It was a fun way to put it together,” Bobbi said. “We put it in a prominent place because that is what Christmas is about. I love doing the mantels.”

The Hursts take great enjoyment making sure all the rooms are festive for the holiday season even if there’s not a tree in that room. In the bathrooms, Bobbi uses bows, colored glass balls and glittery wreaths. Silk poinsettias, ivy, fruit, pinecones, magnolia leaves and different garlands are also seen throughout the home during Christmastime, along with antique glass balls she purchased locally. Bobbi buys the pieces individually and then puts them together to become a cohesive arrangement.

“I don’t buy very much,” Bobbi said. “I use my own ideas to put it together. We’ve collected things from when we first married. We’ve kept things we like.”

Bobbi’s art studio is home to one of their most whimsical and colorful spaces during the holidays. In the bright and sunny space, Bobbi embraces the creative aspects found in the room by garnishing the tree with angels, butterflies, snowmen and beads, along with whimsical hues of bright lime greens mixed with coral tones.

The couple’s beloved pets, a golden retriever and a cat, Jude and Jazzy, are even given special honor with decorations just for them under that tree and in the windows.

“[In the studio] things typical of the Christmas season are done in an unusual way,” Bobbi said. “I like that room. I don’t mind putting colors together that you wouldn’t ordinarily use together. I tackle the challenge.”

The Hursts have two grandchildren. In the room where their granddaughter Caroline sleeps when visiting, Bobbi decorates with special touches of pink and white décor, incorporating baby dolls.

For their grandson Christopher, Bobbi thoughtfully decorates his room in his favorite sports team colors and with cherished nutcrackers.

While Bobbi focuses on the inside, Randy spearheads all the outdoor decorating. He uses flood lights to highlight the Queen Anne house, but to keep with the authenticity of the period, he uses mostly garlands, wreaths and bows to decorate rather than electrical lights, since candles would have been the only light present during that age. He does detour from tradition slightly though by hanging individual lights on the porch garlands and wreaths.

“My husband is really helpful because he can make basic things that help a lot with decorating,” Bobbi said.

Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
To ensure that the next holiday season is as stress-free as possible, the Hursts incorporate a few key measures that make it easier for decorating the following year. One major advantage that allows them the luxury of ease for the next year’s holiday is their attic storage space. Having a large house, they are able to keep all their trees decorated by covering them with plastic sacks and placing them in the attic. Some trees are prelit, but mostly they use string lights that they keep hung on the trees.

“Decorating from scratch would take too long,” Bobbi said. “We try to do one room at a time.”

By wiring glass balls to branches and using twisty ties for other embellishments, ornaments are less likely to fall off. To prevent dust, all the decorations are either stored in plastic tubs or the Christmas trees are covered with plastic. The tubs are all stackable and labeled by room, making it easy to get everything distributed to the right place each year.

“Having the boxes labeled for the rooms is one of the best things I do,” Bobbi said.

Using the same ribbons each year and storing them on cardboard rolls keeps their vast array of bows preserved. However, Bobbi admits that her plush red bows often come out of the box a tad smushed, which she happens to appreciate. Modern bows that are perfectly symmetrical aren’t her taste. She prefers a more natural heir about them that she describes as “the Victorian look” and if they come out of the box a bit too pristine, she confesses to purposely smashing them up.

“I don’t like things to look too fixed,” Bobbi said. “I don’t want it to look like it was produced by a machine.”

By Heather Cravens
Photography by Tera Janelle Auch

My dear garden,
You taught me to slow down and rejoice in “All Things Bright and Beautiful”—foliage in lime- and blue-greens. And back-lit blossoms glowing in butter yellows, shocking pinks and fire-engine reds. You taught me to glory too in soft pastels, delicate ephemerals and peach and periwinkle sunsets that frame you. And, my garden, you taught me to revel in the infinite shapes, sizes and growth habits of the thousands of plants that grace you.

You taught me to inhale deeply and savor your aroma of freshly-turned soil, lavender and basil by the kitchen door. You taught me to be still and patient to recognize the distinct buzz of bees and hummingbirds and the chorus of songs of other wild birds and coyotes. Your buds and sprouts have roused me every spring from winter’s lethargy, and you taught me to understand what it means to live in the moment.

You preach peace and harmony, and I learned that the beauty and truth in every little flower inoculates me from infection of life’s ugliness, hate and heartache.

A 22-Year Love Affair
I jumped into our relationship with all I had—decked out in my son Reid’s decades-old ratty camp shorts and tees, brandishing shovel and trowel. Armed with dreams, passion and a previous taste of success from restoring a historic garden, I was ready to repurpose a half-acre or so of trampled-down former cow pasture of good old Bedford County red clay to stir you to life.

My secret weapons were a strong body and will and a propensity for playing in dirt and mud with zero pride in fancy fingernails. (Was it Dennis the Menace who said, “Gardens are a chance for grown-ups to dig in the dirt?”) I chiseled into the brick-hard earth for a makeover into what you are today, our beloved country cottage garden.

And my husband Tim co-shouldered my vision, thankfully taking on roles I most dislike: chemical application (the very idea made my hair stand on end) and dragging away to the compost bins or burn pile the mountains of weeds and debris I cleared from your beds so you could breathe and grow and not be strangled or starved by interlopers.

We poured gallons of sweat-equity into bringing you to life, and we even became Master Gardeners and learned more about pesticides and herbicides and other “how to” tips about soil and plant location and care to be sure we were treating you right. And you thrived and became our joy.

Yin Yang Gardeners
At first, Tim and I discovered we’re Yin Yang gardeners. He’s a turf and trees kind of guy. I’m a flowers and more flowers kind of gal. He’s a formal symmetry with matching halves and 90-degree-angles kind of guy. I’m an organic, free-flowing, inspired-by-the-land and heaven-knows-what-will-strike-my-artistic-fancy sort of gal.

This difference could have spelled trouble for you (and us), dear garden. But that didn’t happen. Tim and I each had our half, and the welfare of the whole became our common ground. Over time I grew to enjoy the simple, uncomplicated order of his front yard plan, while he admired the creativity and excitement of my design in your sinuous, flower-laden beds and ever-changing borders and off-beat garden art in the back.

And you became a family affair with sons and their families pitching in to spruce up for granddaughter Jessica’s garden wedding and other times when needed. Thank you, dear garden, for helping us to grow in our family love and relationships—and arbitration skills.

Mother Nature Rules
The most important horticulture lesson I’ve learned from you is not to fight Mother Nature. She rules. No matter what we gardeners do to thwart her, Mother Nature wins in the long run, and we need to heed her lessons. (If you’ll indulge me in religious digression, this is a “Lord God Who Made Them All” thing.)

I’ve learned that it takes more time and effort than I can muster to force some varieties of exotic plants into our habitat. I confess I’m done with energy-draining drama queens, whether people or plants. If they’re still not happy after I’ve cajoled and catered to them, I know I don’t have the right stuff to pull it off, and I’m happy to concede them to more amenable environments and formidable friends.

Hence, although I tried mightily to feature antique roses in your midst, many of them sadly succumbed to raw winters on our windy hill, derecho or rose rosette disease. The inverse of this pain was Mother Nature’s inspiration to replace lost roses with native plants that don’t require amended soil or even watering.

My eyes opened to the beauty of pasture and roadside wildflowers and other natives in local nurseries; and, dear garden, I became a believer that a plant is no longer a weed when it’s where you want it. So we became a happily blended family of common Virginia natives (including Tim and me) co-existing with high-brow exotics.

Credit Where Credit’s Due
Dear garden, you know how I demur whenever someone flatters me by saying I have a green thumb or some sort of gift for gardening. It just ain’t so. Well… maybe I could claim 10 percent of a green thumb by default (i.e., paying attention to The Laws of Nature and the lessons of horticulture experts), but the other 90 percent is a combo of trial-and-error and a long list of fails and discouraging moments for every success and glorious blossom.

You taught me that gardeners must be resilient and adaptable. We’ve learned that plants aren’t pieces of furniture perfectly arranged according to little circles on a designer’s template. The landscape changes. Trees grow and sunny spots become shady. Borders are engulfed by larger plants behind them.

You taught me the heartbreak of seeing plants eaten by predators, falling to disease or disaster or dying for unknown reasons despite our best efforts. Remember when our chocolate vine shot up like Jack’s beanstalk and grew so heavy it took down the Purple Martin house along with its concrete-embedded pole—and squashed you?

I’ve learned from you that gardeners simply can’t be perfectionists. We are humble workers who learn as we go along, and you reward us with your bounty. And your blooms and produce keep us hooked despite deer damage and fear of tick-borne human disease. As for me, I know my place: I’m not the real gardener, I’m just your keeper, as poet Anne Spencer so eloquently reminds us.

Vexation and Nightgown Gardening
We have made sweet music together despite occasionally hitting a few sour notes. We’ve shared successes and failures from show-stopping blooms to ludicrous bloopers, heartwarming family reunions to sunflower-devouring groundhogs, pollinator paradise to freeze-killed hydrangeas. Throughout it all, we’ve grown together, and you’ve fed us as much as we’ve fed you.

While singing your praises, a couple of our unforgettable fails come to mind. Such as when I was invited to show you off to a Garden Club of Virginia group and discovered the morning of the tour that black spot had overtaken your roses (sort of like discovering your kid has head lice on the first day of kindergarten). And, of course, most other plants I expected to bloom that week were still in tight buds and postponed their show until the following week. Repeat: Mother Nature Rules.

And you seduced me into another embarrassing moment that’s indelibly stuck in my memory. Living on an isolated (or so I thought) farm without “drop-in company,” I fell into the habit of breakfast on the terrace in my nightgown, followed by a stroll around your beds over coffee to survey your beauty and weeding needs of the day. But, dear garden, once again you lured me under your spell as I leaned down to pluck an offending pokeberry, fell into the zone and weeded the whole bed. And then your next bed called my name.

Hours later, as my dirty hands swiped sweat from my brow and mud streaked across my face and gossamer gown, I looked up to see a mirage. Oh, no. It wasn’t. I locked eyes with two clean-cut young men in black suits, crisp white shirts and sincere ties with papers (religious tracts?) in their hands. With eyes big as saucers and mouths agape, even more mortified than I, they turned on their heels and ran back 100 yards to the end of our driveway and sped away. I’m sure our house now has a big “X–crazy lady” on their map. And I learned yet another lesson—to dress for al fresco breakfasts.

Everything in Its Season
Your lessons are both profound and mundane, dear garden, and we have learned them. We know full-well there’s a season for everything. And we know the time has come to prepare for your winter season as we move into town and prepare to face the winter of our lives. It’s now time to give someone else the privilege of being your keeper. I know you will once again bud up next spring and enrich their lives as brightly and beautifully as you have ours.

With joy, gratitude and a lump in my throat,
Susan

Words and Photos by Susan Timmons

Everything you need for a successful school year

Lit From Within: Heritage High Goes Back to School

Sunlight streams through the upper windows, flooding the central hallway. Appropriately dubbed “Main Street,” this corridor is the primary lifeline of the newly opened Heritage High School (HHS). It’s grand, expansive, and, most importantly, brand new.

“It looks new; it feels new; it smells new, and it sounds new,” Head Principal Tim Beatty said. “Because of the layout of the building and the technology that our students will be exposed to, the new building should be a game changer for our staff and school community.”

So, how much of a “game changer” can one building be, you may ask? That all depends on how the building came to be and why.

A HISTORY OF LIMITATIONS
“Poor lighting, leaking after rain storms, freezing or suffocating temperatures, narrow hallways, five [congested] floors—” these are “just a few” of the problems that plagued their old building according to Michele Wisskirchen, an alumna and now HHS teacher.

As teachers, “we worry about our students not being safe, not having the access to technology, or not being comfortable as they learn,” Wisskirchen explains. “It’s hard for them to take an SOL test with sweat pouring down their faces.”

“Limited” is how teacher and alumni Alex Drumheller describes education in the old building.

In fact, at Drumheller’s HHS graduation ceremony in 1987 the temperature was higher than 90 degrees when a storm broke and led to rain water pouring through the gymnasium roof.

Ben Copeland summarizes it this way: “This building is new, warm, inviting and bright versus what was old, dark, dingy and leaky.” As the Assistant Superintendent of Operations and Administration for Lynchburg City Schools, Copeland has been leading this project since August 2012.

To arrive at this fresh start, Herculean efforts were required. Input was gathered from “teachers, parents, students, community [members], City Council and the School Board,” Wisskirchen recalls. All of these people were “gathering together, throwing out ideas of what we wanted and needed on endless sticky notes.” Those ideas were distilled to trends then themes and—finally—a design.

Standing in the new building today, Copeland says, “It’s been my major project, and I’m thrilled. I think it could change the student culture.”

Perhaps, even be a game changer.

A CLEAN SLATE
Upon entering “Main Street,” you see soaring, open ceilings, wide walkways, and light, lots of natural light. In fact, “natural” describes the aesthetics all around. Brick, natural wood and burnished concrete floors compose the majority of spaces, creating a warm space more reminiscent of an attractive college campus than a traditional high school. But, after walking a bit, you start to notice the total absence of lockers.

Instead of lining the hallways, lockers are housed in four bays strategically placed around the building. Designed to prevent hallway congestion, they allow students to stop at their lockers without interrupting the flow of foot traffic because they’re anchored at three-way intersections with hallways leading off of them. The bays are also adjacent to staircases and entrances feeding in from the bus drop off zone.

The search for natural light—a priority for everyone—led to this unique building layout according to Copeland. Gone is the double-loaded corridor with classrooms on each side—a design of the past. This building is like “a big academic horseshoe with the main street hallway, an interior courtyard…support spaces in the middles of the hallways, [and] all the classrooms on the outside [where] we’ve got the courtyard in the middle, which allows you to get light to the interior classrooms.”

“Natural light’s proven to help education,” Copeland adds. “It helps learning, so we got as much light into the building as we can.”

When planning began, Copeland says ideas were simply crystallizing; they were asking The Big Questions, starting from the ground up. They needed to know: “What’s it need to look like? Is it going to be a two-story building? What departments need to be next to each other?”

These questions helped to identify “clusters” he says, which became building blocks for the structure and kicked off the process of preliminary design drafts, feedback, revision, more drafts, and so on. Purposeful attention to layout enhances student learning, teacher collaboration and overall efficiency.

Consider the “circulation in the building—the flow,” Copeland says. “You walk down hallways in this building, and every hallway brings you back to somewhere. There’s only one, true dead-end hallway. In the academic wing, if you turn consecutive lefts, you’ll come back to where you started.”

Nothing was done by accident; Copeland was very intentional about gleaning input for each space and function of the school. And it shows.

ENHANCED STUDENT EXPERIENCE
Here’s where things get particularly detailed, and the idea of a “game changer” seems especially apt. Inside each of these bright, window-flanked classrooms, you find an environment primed for learning: visibility is optimized; distraction is minimized. Beatty’s assertion that student engagement will look differently isn’t an exaggeration. Any teacher will tell you that distractions are the enemy of student engagement. A student neglecting to charge their Chromebook (a standard issue item for every HHS student) could lead to the loss of valuable time. However, with the addition of multiple, retractable power cords hanging from the ceilings and the inclusion of numerous wall outlets, Chromebooks can stay continuously powered. And with the implementation of desk clusters and the addition of three TV monitors in every classroom, Copeland says that from “whatever orientation you’re facing” in a classroom—you can see a screen.

Since the old building “wasn’t adequate for modern education [and] didn’t lend itself to education in the last 10 years,” as Copeland says, there had to be what Beatty calls a “mindset shift.”

And part of that mindset shift will be an ongoing challenge for teachers, albeit one they welcome with open arms.
Wisskirchen is in a collaboration room, meaning it has “five different team project-based workstations all linked together via technology, so students can work together in groups,” Copeland says, and then teachers can easily project information onto all of the work station screens at once.

“I have lots of new technology to learn,” Wisskirchen says. “But learning is an opportunity for growth, and new technology will help our students engage in instruction and will help teachers differentiate their instruction for all types of learners.”

Intentional teacher input also influenced particular departments—those “clusters” Copeland mentioned. Drumheller says, “The arrangement of the rooms will. . .provide optimal use of technology and collaboration between students and teacher” because prep rooms are placed between larger classroom labs. . .[and we have] updated lab equipment, [which] will allow us to impact the education of our students in a profound way [because] we have been limited” in the past. He adds, “Being an Environmental Science teacher, it was quite funny not to be able to see outside.” Of course, like many other classrooms, Drumheller’s now faces out to the courtyard from up on the second story.

Lead art teacher Jon Roark is also excited about the windows and a direct doorway to the courtyard from his classroom.

Roark—whose collaborative work with students is visible all throughout the region from projects with the Academy Center of the Arts to published books—finally has facilities that match the talent he cultivates. The art suite is truly top of the line, equipped with 20 MacBooks, a pottery room with wheels and a large kiln, student work centers, ample storage, and, plenty of natural light.

“Now, we have the option to grow the program,” Copeland says.

FOCUS ON COMMUNITY
By Copeland’s estimation, and many others’, this new building will also finally reflect the community aspect and aspirations of the students who attend.

“My favorite memories are the interactions between teachers and students,” Wisskirchen says. “The school embraces the diversity of its students, and I always felt I was a part of something. . .It is a family atmosphere, and students are accepted for who they are.”

Appropriately, certain elements in the design emphasize this concept of community: the spacious courtyard; the cavernous gymnasium with basketball courts Beatty describes as “beautiful”; the keeping of the indoor track, which has long been Heritage’s claim to fame; the two-story media center with views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and ample seating for group or individual study.

Teachers will also benefit from improved opportunities for collaboration inside their five teacher work centers, all of which have conference tables, small kitchenette areas and flexible seating options.

Wisskirchen is looking forward to “seeing [students] congregate in the commons area, and for the community to see an example of what we can accomplish together.”

Now, at the end of this four-year project, Copeland says this is his favorite part, to see it all completed.

“To be given something like this, as much thought and effort went into it—students can now work to their highest level.”

By Jennifer Redmond | Photos by LaSHONDA Delivuk

The top three difficulties THAT can interrupt a positive “back to school” mindset

After being out of school for three months, it can be difficult to get back into the swing of things. Students often struggle with their new routines, anxiety about the new year, or returning to academics. But coming back from summer vacation doesn’t have to be a negative experience. Here are a few things to consider to help everyone keep a positive outlook and start the new school year with success.

Difficulty #1 – Adjusting back to the schedule
For most students, one of the primary challenges is returning to a routine after a relaxed summer schedule.
“Most parents and students have a much different schedule during the summer than the school year,” said Ashley Wallace, director of elementary education at Campbell County Public Schools.

After playing hard and sleeping in, the adjustment to waking up early and having to follow a detailed schedule can be exhausting and challenging for both parents and students. While the advice might come a little late for this school year, Wallace has some advice for parents in the future. “For a positive start to the school year, I encourage parents and students to begin to adjust back to the school schedule a couple weeks prior to school starting,” she said.

When approaching the issue with older students, the same advice applies. Mary Mays, supervisor of school counseling and assessment coordinator for Amherst County Public Schools, said it takes about a week for older students to fully adjust back to a more rigid schedule.

Kacey Crabbe, director of the Lynchburg City Schools’ Empowerment Academy, agrees and believes parents must play an active role in their child’s schedule.

“Families can best help their students have a positive return by preparing them early for the routines that they will encounter and begin to enforce this at home,” said Crabbe. “[Make sure] they are involved in their student’s school and have the same set of expectations of students both at home and in school. Students are most successful when we instill a wrap-around approach.”

Difficulty #2 – Dealing with anxiety
For elementary students, Wallace explained that “fear of the unknown” is often a struggle at the beginning of the school year, whereas older students, between the ages of 12 and 15, might struggle more with social anxiety.

Mays also believes involvement in school activities, such as clubs and sports, might help older students who have some trouble with anxiety. It will help them feel more like a part of the school community.

“I would encourage the [struggling] student to get involved with school activities such as sports, clubs or other youth activities,” Mays said. “I would also encourage students to build their strengths and seek out students with the same talents.”
Open communication between parents and student about the new year is also very important when dealing with anxiety.

“Parents should ask their child if they have any concerns or are nervous about anything specific and address any of their concerns,” Wallace said.

Particularly for younger students, separation from parents can be stressful. Parents who have children attending school for the first time might experience separation anxiety.

“Some parents, if their child has never been away from home and is going to kindergarten or pre-k for the first time, and they’re going to be gone all day long, may worry about how their child is going to be feeling that whole day,” said Cindy Babb, coordinator of Public Information at LCS, said.

To help both parent and student adjust, she encourages parents to not visit their child’s school for the first week, so students can learn to adjust to the new environment.

“That can be difficult for some parents who haven’t had their child stay at daycare or any other places before, and it’s the first time they’re letting go of them really for the whole day,” Babb said.

But Babb explains when parents are around too much at the beginning of the year, young students have a difficult time recognizing their authority figures.

“If your child is not used to learning from another adult, listening to another adult and trusting another adult, because it’s a new environment for them to be in school, they need to learn that teachers are in charge of them that day,” Babb said.
Wallace explained they have several techniques in Campbell County to help with separation anxiety. They try to build a connection between the teacher and student, communicate to the student what he/she will be doing that day before returning home, and sometimes have a staff member walk the student to class.

“It is harder when the parent walks to the class, to then separate,” Wallace said.

If you or your student is struggling with the new school year, feel free to contact your student’s school.

“We’re here to help,” Babb said.

Difficulty #3 – Returning to academics
Although many school officials, including Crabbe, believe middle school students are the most likely to struggle with academics after returning from summer break, all students might experience obstacles as they try to readjust to a heavy academic load.

“Some of our students do have some difficulties with academics and having that eight- through ten-week break takes away from some of that,” Mays said. She explained that Amherst County teachers take time at the beginning of the year to help students re-adjust to the classroom and also to review academics.

There are many things that parents can do to help their children get back into the books.

“Developing a schedule for their child that includes a healthy breakfast, at home or school, time to do homework and read, and get plenty of sleep (will help),” Wallace said.

It is also beneficial to start developing a relationship with the student’s teacher, keep communication open, and become familiar with the student’s schedule and teacher expectations.

“Parents can look for ways daily to celebrate success at home,” Wallace said. “Make education an important focus at home.”
If your student is still struggling, most schools offer some form of academic assistance.

“In Campbell County we have a built in ‘Intervention and Enrichment’ time in the school day to provide targeted interventions for students [who] struggle,” Wallace said. “In addition, in our elementary [schools], we have reading specialists who provide focused interventions 30 minutes a day for students who are struggling [with reading].”

LCS recognized that students were having a difficult time re-adjusting back to academics after summer break and decided to look “outside the box” into different learning models. Last year, they launched a two-year plan that adds a week onto the beginning and end of the school year, making summer vacation shorter. To compensate for the longer school year, they added two optional weeks during the school year.

“We’re offering something called Intersession in October and in February where students who need additional support and/or enrichment can attend for three days out of the week,” Crabbe said. Intersession, which will meet Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of each Intersession week, will provide individualized instruction and provide more personalized support for students who need it.

As they begin the second year of this new schedule, LCS is looking forward to seeing the result and whether the shorter break helped with an easier academic transition.

by Megan L. House

A Time to Build
Some moments leave us breathless with joyful anticipation, yet others swallow us with an avalanche of emotion. Jessica Borah, along with her four children, Rebekah, 18, Scott, 17, Lizzy, 15 and Benn, 14, have learned through the years to live the message from Ecclesiastes 3, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”

More than 20 years ago, Jessica came to Liberty University as an elementary education major. During summer breaks, she would return home for Bible camp. That’s where she met her future husband from South Dakota, Chad Borah. Jessica’s father gave his blessing on their marriage but only if she finished her degree. So on August 5, 1995, the couple married and moved down to Lynchburg. Upon graduation they applied for jobs throughout the north Midwest but eventually landed jobs in Lynchburg. Jessica began teaching at New Covenant Schools, and Chad started working for Taylor Brothers Home Improvement.

As the young couple began to settle into Lynchburg living, they resolved that Virginia was becoming their home and knew they would be planted here for a while. So they began to hunt for property. After a year of searching and waiting, they discovered a piece of land in Amherst County that wasn’t graded for construction.

“We looked at other homes already built, but I grew up in a log home and was familiar with my dad building log homes,” Jessica said. “We waited for this property. We drove for over a year looking. Mountains were not something we were familiar with, but the Amherst Realty Company helped us get that spot to be able to see the mountains.”

Since the land had not been cleared, Chad climbed a tree to scope out the view ensuring they would have Virginia’s iconic mountains as part of their scenery.

“I was just worried about him falling,” Jessica said.

The property was very well priced at less than $1,000 per acre, so they planted their roots on that country hill.

Jessica grew up in Northern Michigan in a log home built by her Dad, so when it came time to build a house, her father was instrumental in the process. As a gift to their four children, her parents, Jack and Dolores Geers, offered Jack’s labor and time to build homes for each of Jessica’s siblings. Through an auction bid, her father won the rights to harvest as much cedar timber for three years as he wanted on a plot of land in Michigan, which enabled the Borahs to build their first house. In fact, it saved them so much money that hauling the logs to Virginia cost more than the actual logs themselves.

In Michigan, while much of the cedar timber resides in swamp, in the winter it freezes, making it easier to harvest logs. The couple traveled north that winter and helped Jessica’s siblings harvest logs for each of their homes. The Borahs had estimated they would need roughly 400 logs to build their now-five-bedroom, four-bathroom cabin, so with chainsaws, four wheelers and snow mobiles, they trudged through the swamp cutting down cedar. Then, they peeled off the bark and let the wood dry. It was a family project.

“Everyone helped each other,” Jessica said.

After several trips north to secure their wood, the Borahs came back to their life in Virginia. By the summer of 2000, a truck from Michigan hauled the wood to their new home. That fall they had their basement dug. Since a wood basement is not typical in Virginia, they had to convince building code inspectors that it was acceptable. Once the basement was approved, the pea stone gravel, plywood and sub-floors were installed. During Thanksgiving weekend that year, family, friends and church members pitched in and helped them put up walls. In log homes, it is ideal to thread for the electrical wiring while the exterior walls are being installed, so Jessica found herself making decisions on a whim to determine where outlets and switches should be placed. Since they were doing all the work themselves, they did not have a professional blueprint to work from—they simply relied on her father and brother’s knowledge and the graph paper they had sketched.

“We did everything ourselves,” Jessica said. “We learned how to wire with books from the Amherst County Library. I called him Edison—I was very proud of him for that.”

There are little oddities in the house that are now fun memories to Jessica. Since the couple literally touched every wall and stair, Jessica said any mistakes are also a part of the home’s story. There is one light switch in the house that is still a mystery.

“That one light may be turning on a light in China. I don’t know,” Jessica said in jest.

A Time to Embrace
In May 2001, the Borahs took a break from building because their third child Lizzy was born. Just two weeks after her birth, they packed up their rental house in Madison Heights and moved into their new log cabin. Every holiday Chad had off, he would invest his time into finishing the house. Memorial Day that year he laid hardwood floors. During the Fourth of July, he stained and finished those floors, and over Labor Day he worked on the deck outside. It was then that he came down with a bad case of what they thought was the flu. He backed off of working on the house for a while, but even so, his health got worse. By Thanksgiving he started to work on the home’s aesthetics, but he continued to feel bad and couldn’t even eat Thanksgiving dinner.

On December 16, 2001, he called Jessica from work and said he was going to the Emergency Room. He told her to stay home, and he would call her. (This was before cell phones were prominent, so it caused Jessica to worry while waiting.) By the next morning, they learned Chad had stomach cancer that had progressed significantly.

During that holiday season, the festivities were not their priority. After a brief hospital stay that ended December 23, they knew they were coming home with three young children to a house that wasn’t decorated for Christmas. But when they arrived, the family found a shower of blessings, thanks to Hyland Heights Baptist Church in Rustburg where they attended church and Taylor Brothers where Chad worked.

“Our home had the largest Christmas tree it’s ever had,” Jessica said. “Our home was taken care of.”

The tree that year stood nearly 22 feet tall in the loft area and was draped in decorations that Jessica still uses each Christmas. Friends took care of all the Borah’s physical needs that year and encouraged them both emotionally and spiritually. During that memorable Christmas, Chad’s family, including his two brothers and parents from South Dakota, also came into town as a surprise.

After the holidays, they threw all of their energies into Chad’s healing, focusing on possible surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. But by February 2002, outside of a miracle, they knew the prognosis was not good. By that point Chad could no longer work, and all of the details left in the house came to a screeching halt.

“He lived in the comfort of the house not worrying about unfinished projects but being thankful that he had a home for his family… while he was busy fighting to live longer with us,” Jessica said.

Since Jessica had been so focused on her husband’s health, she had not taken time to care for herself. She thought her body was reacting to stress and didn’t realize until she was five months along that she was pregnant with their fourth baby. It was during one of Chad’s oncologist appointments that she confided to the nurses her thoughts. They gave her an ultrasound in the adjoining office that day.

“I went into the x-ray rooms with Chad not knowing,” Jessica said.

“The Lord protected Benjamin. I knew the Lord was watching over him.”

The nurses recognized the sex of the baby but didn’t divulge the gender to Chad and Jessica upon their wishes. So Chad decided they should write both a boy’s name and a girl’s name on a piece of paper, let the nurse circle the correct gender and then fold the paper in case they ever wanted to know—but they never did.

“I carried that slip of paper from May until September as a symbol of hope, not needing to peek to find out in case Chad wasn’t around—he was going to get better,” Jessica said. They kept that little slip of paper to themselves until Chad passed away on September 16, 2002.

At his funeral, Jessica put that undisturbed piece of paper into his hand in the casket believing he knew what God had given them even before their baby boy was born. Their son Benjamin Jack was born October 4, 2002.

“It was so tender to bear a baby and Chad not be there, [but] what a joy when Benn was born,” Jessica said. “I knew that Chad knew and was with me.”
During that season, Jessica said she found comfort in scripture and felt very safe and protected on that country hill.

“I found solitude up on this ridge,” Jessica said. “It was very healing. I found the peace and serenity and protection of the Lord. Chad is a part of this home and his children’s home. It is a physical reminder their dad cared for them. He built this for them, and they can look and see what their Daddy in heaven has done for them.”

A Time to Heal
With the help of survivor benefits after Chad passed away, Jessica and the children lived for a season on the generosity of others.

“It met our needs and some of our wants,” Jessica said. “The amount of generosity from Taylor Brothers and Hyland Heights, those two bodies, sustained us. The first five Christmases I didn’t even need to buy my children a present. People gave monthly [to our family] for years because they wanted to — there are people that do that. We were never in want. It inspired me that I need to behave that same way.”

After time and distance began to heal, Jessica was able to get her wits about her and began making small but thrifty additions to the home. During that time, she also started to homeschool the children, which welcomed her into a new circle of friends. Due to the long distance drive, as well as the physical reminder that Chad’s presence was missing each Sunday, she made a change. With their blessing, she left her home at Hyland Heights Baptist Church in 2004 and started attending Providence Church in Lynchburg.

“I stepped from one family into another,” Jessica said.

In 2008, Jessica returned to New Covenant Schools as a part-time teacher, which also allowed the children to attend school there. She said the distance from their home became a blessing because the drive time provided them each a chance to exhale and clear their minds after school.

A Time to Plant
During the fall of 2009, Jessica attended the wedding of a friend from New Covenant Schools. At that wedding she sat on the bride’s side while a gentleman named Robert sat on the groom’s side. They began talking and formed a bond. In June 2010, they were married.

“I knew that if and when I ever married, it would have to be a very special man,” Jessica said.

She acknowledged that she didn’t want Robert to feel like Chad was always present and the family was comparing. But with his personality, he got to know her and the kids and completely stepped into his new role.

When Robert, along with his three sons, now ages 15, 19 and 22 joined the family, they added a new and fresh dynamic. With four young children, Jessica never had the time to focus on landscaping, but Robert took the liberty to add a huge vegetable garden, providing the family with an abundance of bounty, including blueberries, strawberries and blackberries, along with 20 different prospering fruit trees. He also introduced them to chickens that provide eggs. When it’s time to get fruit, all the kids climb trees to help out; the boys take care of the chickens. Throughout the fall, the boys are expected to get up and cut wood to help heat the home during the winter months. In turn, the girls help gather from the garden and have learned from their mom how to prepare and can vegetables.

“Robert had a vision,” Jessica shared. “He plants it, he waters it, he’s the voice and we try to keep up with it. It has helped everyone try new things that I may not buy in the grocery store. It is very satisfying.”

Robert also helped upgrade the log cabin’s heat source and finished the basement, adding one bedroom and one bathroom to accommodate his older boys when they are home.

“He picked up what Chad started and has carried on,” Jessica said. “Chad is their Daddy in heaven, but Robert is their flesh and blood Dad now.”

Photography by Tera Janelle Auch

In 1988, the Lynchburg community came together to fund and build a large wooden playground at Linkhorne Elementary School (LES), a location dubbed then as “Play At Linkhorne” or PAL. Since then, PAL has been a place for everyone to enjoy, not just students at the school.

“People will bring their grandchildren to PAL. People that go to other local elementary schools will come to play. It really is a neighborhood playground,” said Stacey Felmlee, former LES Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) president.

Unfortunately, about 10 years ago, the structure really started to show its age. Parts of the playground had to be removed due to rotting or splintered wood that was unsafe for children.

Fast forward to 2012—Felmlee decided it was past time to take action. “We knew the time had finally come to replace the beloved playground, which had far exceeded its original 15-year lifespan,” she said.

Felmlee and the PTO were excited to learn Lynchburg City Schools would put $50,000 toward a new playground. “But we were also shocked at how little $50,000 produced in playground equipment,” she said.

However, they didn’t let a steep price tag keep them from their goal. In early 2013, the LES PTO decided to begin a $100,000 fundraising campaign and fully replace PAL in two additional phases.

“We marketed it as a community project because it really benefits the whole community and not just the school children at LES,” said Felmlee.

Over the next three years, their efforts included grant writing, two Walk-a-Thons and grassroots efforts like classroom piggy banks. PTO members also secured donations from businesses like MH Masonry, who donated materials and labor to build a brick walkway leading up to the playground.

The most community involvement came from a campaign to sell engraved bricks for that walkway to LES families, community members and even individual classes.

The PTO also reached out to the community for sponsors, and donations of more than $500 are recognized on a new kiosk beside the playground equipment, marking the true completion of the project.

Aside from raising the funds, Felmlee and some other PTO members also played a big role in designing the new playground. They customized the features to ensure the equipment would accommodate children up to age 12 and encourages movement, balance, upper body strength and collaboration. Some of the biggest attractions for children are a climbing wall, numerous slides and swings, and a zip line.

“The new playground is so much bigger, and there are so many more things to do. You don’t know which one to go to first,” said Felmlee’s 9-year-old daughter Lexi.
The LES PTO also put a lot of thought into what the new playground would look like aesthetically.

“The original playground was all wood and had a natural look. When we moved to this material, we wanted to keep it as natural as possible so we chose mostly browns and greens,” said Felmlee.

And no one misses that original natural element, especially the kids.

“The wood was a pain in the butt!” said 9-year-old Cooper Payne, who enjoys spending time playing on the new equipment. “One time, I got a splinter in my palm, and my parents had to use a needle to get it out.”

Thanks to a generous community and a dedicated mom, parents are spending less time at home playing nurse and more time hearing about all of the fun things their kids get to do at the community’s newest playground.

“It was a long three-year endeavor for sure. But to see the kids play and have the positive feedback…it’s all very rewarding,” said Felmlee.

By Shelley Basinger | Photos by LaShonda Delivuk

A family’s intentional approach to generate authentic hospitality in their home

All in the Family
Rodney Foster grew up building homes alongside his dad and brother in and around the Lynchburg area. After he graduated high school from Liberty Christian Academy, he attended college at Liberty University, where he earned a business degree and married his high school sweetheart, Heidi, just four weeks after graduation.

Over the years, Foster continued to work in the family business, and, in 2000, he joined forces with his dad and became a partner. When his dad retired, Rodney took over Foster Builders.

“I picked up a tool belt and kept going,” Rodney said.

Most of what they build are custom homes, but they have done some commercial designs as well. With three guys on his crew, this small family-owned and -operated business gains a majority of its customers from grassroots marketing efforts, such as word-of-mouth recommendations from friends, church members and repeat customers.

“They call back because he’s honest and a hard worker,” Heidi, Rodney’s wife of 20 years and office manager, said. “He designs around the families’ needs. It’s part of Rodney’s ministry.”

Heidi has transitioned into the company’s office manager by handling all the bookkeeping and managing rental properties. By default, she has even become an interior designer for some of their clients’ houses. Having a lot of experience in her own home, sometimes by trial and error, she has gained the knowledge to assist homeowners with color choices and aesthetic finishes, trying to keep the style cohesive throughout the house by steering them in the right direction. In jest, Rodney said Heidi’s official title is “Boss Lady.”

“It’s one way I can help him,” Heidi said. “It gives me another purpose.”

The couple has two girls and one boy—Bailey, 14, Dalton, 12, and Emme Sue, 8.

The children attend New Covenant Schools, where Bailey plays volleyball, Dalton plays lacrosse and all three play basketball. As a family, they all stay quite busy, but they are devoted in setting aside time for each other.

“We’re big into having family dinners,” Heidi said. “We have devotions after dinner.”

A Work in Progress
The Fosters have taken their business to heart and are now living in the sixth personal house that they’ve built for their own family, in essence creating a blank canvas to design and practice on. Though they say it’s a work in progress since there are still areas to be finished, they enjoy designing for themselves. Rodney jokingly said, “When the Lord takes us, there will be a ‘For Sale’ sign in our front yard.”

The most recent home the Fosters built is a 3,500-square-foot house in Forest that became a family endeavor with four bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms and a two car garage. On the main floor, they have one guest room.

Rodney and Heidi were purposeful to include all the children in the entire process. As they began to build, their son Dalton helped his dad pour the footings and add the trim to the house. He even got to help inside with some design elements, such as the reclaimed wood wall they added in their living room. The wood came from the flooring of a barn in Spout Spring that Rodney had previously torn down. They also allowed the children to help with decisions such as picking out paint colors. Each child has their own room, as well as a separate bathroom, which also gives them each a canvas to play with. With their growing ages, they felt it was necessary to have a lot of bathrooms in the house—an added perk to having a dad as a builder. Their son Dalton got an added bonus in his room with a loft area that has both a ladder and stairs leading up to its high ceiling for easy access. His loft bedroom is a unique space where he can lounge and hang out with friends, growing with him into his teenage years.

From a design standpoint, the Fosters say they are drawn to décor with a modern edge that has a mix of rustic. Everything in their home has a matte finish, including their floors, which are hand scraped, since they don’t care for polished finishes.

They purchased their floors from Piedmont Floor Design in Forest. They chose honed Brazilian marble counters for their kitchen, pantry and laundry room, while the bathrooms received a combination of granite, soapstone and marble from Spectrum Stone Designs, LLC in Concord. The kitchen is home to simple Design-Craft brand white Potter’s Mill Shaker style cabinetry from Pinnacle Cabinetry & Design in Wyndhurst. Their oversized island and Butler’s Pantry, a small service and storage room between a kitchen and a dining room, was given a rustic gray hue known as appaloosa—a specialty finish achieved by combining several elements like distressing, antique brushing and spatter, consisting of gray undertones and charcoal brushed highlights. The tile backsplash adorns a handmade subway tile, which was the only shiny element they incorporated as a way to balance all the matte finishes and reflect the under-mount lighting. The light fixtures they selected are all new from Timberlake Lighting but have a vintage industrial aesthetic. In the master bathroom, they incorporated a newer design element found in the marketplace by installing heated porcelain tile floors that are meant to look like wood. On the exterior of the house, Rodney built the home’s front porch beams and ceiling in all cedar and used tongue and groove pine ceilings on the screen porch and balcony off the master bedroom. Innovative Stoneworks LLC in Rustburg did the rock work on the exterior of the house along with the home’s fireplace.

“We don’t like fancy,” Heidi said.

“Our houses are not lavish or overdone. We like rustic, but not country. I like things that look old.”

Paying it Forward
For nearly nine years, the Fosters were heavily involved in an organization called Young Life—a program that connects middle school, high school and college students with adults that reach into their world and build bridges of authentic friendship. Before she was married, Heidi had a family who took her in and left an impact on her life. The Fosters have taken her life lesson and now use it as part of their ministry to others.

“During my last two years of college my parents moved to Indiana, and our neighbors, the Quesenberry family, offered for me to live with them,” Heidi said. “I lived there until I got married, which was four weeks after graduating college. They didn’t charge me anything and just treated me like family. I cooked for them occasionally and helped around the house, but I was in school full-time and working full-time. They really became my second family.”

Heidi recalls the family as being kind and generous not only to her and Rodney but to everyone in their Poplar Forest neighborhood.

“I watched them care for many around them in need. They have true servants’ hearts. So they are really the reason that we have opened our home to others. It has been such a joy to give kids a temporary home until they are able to get established on their own just like the Quesenberry family did for me. It was a gift I could never repay to them, but maybe we can just pay it forward to someone else.”

Over the years, they have housed nine young adults for an extended period of time, which they fondly refer to as their “cellar dwellers.” The young adults are usually associated with the Young Life programs at Randolph College, Lynchburg College or Liberty University. Typically, their “cellar dwellers” are nearing the end of college, getting their master’s degree or just in between seasons of life.

“We’ve been to so many weddings,” the couple said. “It’s a lot of fun. It keeps you young.”

“We open our house to people that need a home—a B&B,” Heidi said.

“We are intentional about making it a place where people feel at home. They’ve become family. We let God bring the ones that would be a good
fit for our family.”

Though they love to open their house, they say that their children come first so they take some safety precautions. They filter each tenant through a series of personal recommendations.

The Fosters also welcome out-of-town guests to stay at their house during big events, such as graduations. It’s not uncommon to find 70 to 80 people gathering in their home for a large party or devotional group. Currently, Heidi’s parents are living in their basement, exemplifying their desire to extend hospitality. As they fondly say, “We’re everyone’s Foster family.”

A unique element the couple included in the home is an area they refer to as the Butler’s Station. This area includes a beverage fridge and coffee makers. Across from that is a counter that becomes a prep space with a pocket door they can close off to hide clutter. As a builder, they have access to everything, but they wanted to keep things simple, yet efficient.

“We were intentional with all our sitting areas—give them a burger and talk about problems,” Rodney said. “It’s what we feel like we’ve been called to do.”
In all their hospitality, the Fosters are also very intentional about making sure the “cellar dwellers” contribute to the family during their stay. They don’t ask them to pay rent, but they set up guidelines and ground rules. They must keep their space clean and pitch in as a family member would. They ask the females to babysit or cook weekly and their male tenants often go out to work with Rodney. Heidi said she enjoys teaching some of the young women who don’t know much about the kitchen how to cook. The kids also seem to enjoy the additional guests and welcome each of them into the family. The Fosters say the older students often mentor their kids and become like much older siblings.

“The Lord has blessed,” Rodney said.

With the serene colors and wide open space, this soothing and tranquil home not only ushers in calm emotions aesthetically, but allows the Foster family to do their part by welcoming all guests with open arms and freely share their lives with all who enter.

For more information about Foster Builders, Inc., email Fosterbuilder@gmail.com or call 434-832-1116. You can also visit their office located at 115 B Tradewynd Drive in Wyndhurst.

Heather Cravens is a Lynchburg native with 10 years of experience in the interior design industry, including owning Becoming Designs. Heather is passionate about creating environments that inspire and build families through the hospitality of their home. She mirrors that passion with her own family by spending time with her husband and their one-year old son.

When steamy summer days settle in, the fun is over for some gardeners. It’s time to duck off to the beach or tuck into air-conditioned houses.

But not so for this gardener. Admittedly, it’s sticky business keeping up with watering, weeding, deadheading and clearing debris from spent perennials to make way for the succession of acts in summer’s spectacular flower show. Lady-like “glistening” doesn’t come close to capturing the sweaty, earthy look I sport after a few hours of summer garden labor. So if you join me as a summer gardener, remember to drink lots of water and pause for frequent cool-down breaks as you orchestrate the show.

And the glorious show is well worth the work! Summer gardens boast a breathtaking array of blooms in a riot of exuberant colors, sizes and shapes, as well as abundant edible yield.

But before getting carried away by summer’s bounty, let’s backtrack and start with the garden’s bones. The key to a successful landscape isn’t simply lush greens and colorful flowers to catch the eye. It’s the structural framework that organizes our plant material and transforms it into a cohesive visual delight. Some structural elements are natural—large trees or rocks, a pond or steep slope; some are constructed—walls, fences, terraces, pools, pathways, gazebos, arbors and seating groups. Some pre-exist and define garden options; some are added.

So how do we go about creating good, strong “bones” for an effective garden design?

Purpose of the Garden
First, our design must meet our needs and goals—what we want from our garden. Looking back through time, we recall simple and functional layouts of kitchen gardens for culinary and medicinal purposes.

Polar opposite goals were boasted by majestic Renaissance gardens of European castles and palaces, such as the Boboli Gardens in Florence and Sudeley Castle in England. And modern-day gardens may seek to fulfill multiple purposes: aesthetic pleasure, personal enjoyment, respite, environmental sustainability and more.

Climate, Terrain and Horticultural Requirements
Whatever the purpose, garden structure is dictated by what we can actually grow in our climate and the size and topography of the space—whether it’s flat or hilly, sunny or shady, wet or dry, windy or sheltered. And we need to amend the soil to suit our plant choices.

We also want to look at how our terrain relates to the surrounding landscape. If it offers the borrowed beauty of a breathtaking vista of mountains or a neighbor’s garden, we’ll certainly want our layout to take best advantage of these attributes. Or a fence or “green screen” can hide a less appealing view.

Boundaries and Surfaces
Property lines, location of the house, other structures and driveways establish garden boundaries. We may also install fences or walls to protect our property from interlopers, winds, or unsightly views, to create microclimates, or purely for aesthetic reasons.
Within our parameters, we can design new shapes and spaces and modify existing ones by subdividing into several smaller gardens. In my backyard, I have a gazebo garden, sunbather sculpture garden, barn garden, St. Francis garden, kitchen garden, and…well, you get the point. Garden boundaries beg to be changed. Every year, I add a new garden or expand an old one in search of more sun or shade, for new plant varieties, or by redesigning a border curve or pathway.

Lawns remain a staple in Central Virginia, although the current national trend is toward more naturalistic planting design with native plants or wildflowers in lieu of expanses of turf. Other trends include using wood chips, gravel or pebbles to create breathing spaces between heavily planted areas and installing permeable surfaces for driveways and terraces to eliminate excess surface water runoff into our storm sewers, streams and rivers. If you’re not already a convert, you may want to explore these trends and become part of the fast-growing “sustainable landscapes” movement.

Culture, Style and Taste
The next step is to consider basic historic garden designs and choose your own personal style. Your preference may be a Persian or Islamic garden divided into a perfectly symmetrical pattern of four equal sectors with channeled water as a critical element for both irrigation and aesthetics. Or you may be drawn to Chinese and Japanese garden designs that are no less controlled, but offer a more organic, curvy and naturalistic asymmetrical design—or the Zen garden with rocks, moss and raked stones.

Other design choices, influenced by the Renaissance period in Europe, also feature geometrical, rectilinear and axial plans.
The backbone of the classical Italian garden is a central axis with cross-axes leading to sculptural focal points, and evergreen plants are used to form patterned knots or parterres. These, as with Persian gardens, may be filled with flowering plants, such as roses, or left open.

Perhaps you’d even like to try your hand at creating a human-scale version of a grand and formal French Renaissance or Baroque garden with elaborate highly-stylized parterres, topiaries, and espaliered trees and shrubs pruned into improbable shapes and sizes that defy nature.

But a less rigid, more relaxed approach seems to be the mainstay of our local aesthetic. Most local gardens tend to take their cues from the English landscape garden style popularized by Lancelot “Capability” Brown, Gertrude Jekyll’s “garden rooms” with overflowing herbaceous borders, and noted Southern landscape architect Charles Gillette.

Should you prefer a more modern, minimalist garden style featuring little more than sleek lines of hardscaping in stone, hardwood or rendered walls, the planting style is simple with a few drifts of one or two plants, such as interesting ornamental grasses, to highlight summer bounty.
For today’s gardener, anything goes. We are free to choose formal or informal, traditional or modern designs—or an eclectic style. Taste is personal, so we home gardeners can design what feels right for us.

Putting It All Together
Experts advise developing a long-term plan and detailed strategy and then placing plant “bones”—trees, evergreen hedges, anchor plants. We can create our own design and plant it ourselves or hire professional landscapers for challenging areas. I’ve done both.
If we are unsure of soil conditions or what to plant, we can always seek free advice from the Hill City Master Gardener Association (434-455-3740; www.hcmga.com).

When planning, we want to define circulation patterns and areas for living, playing and other functions—some practical and some purely sensory. We’ll want to select materials complementary to our homes and embrace principles of design for scale, proportion, repetition, sequence, variety and balance. And, of course, we don’t want to forget the garden view from inside the house!

If you love formal gardens, a simple design could be a trimmed evergreen hedge of geometric shape enclosing a flowerbed filled with summer-blooming flowers. Or, if you prefer, you could define borders and beds by trenching edges between beds and grass, outlining with edging plants or hardscaping.
You may even wish to create a Shakespeare garden, memorial garden, white or red garden or any other creative theme that lights your fire! Have fun and add a secret garden or other elements of surprise!

When putting soft flesh on those garden bones, for a more abundant, bountiful look, choose plants with a variety of texture and form. Mix low, medium, and high; spire, creeping, mounding; and create focal points to draw and hold the eye. Envision how the succession of bloom, scale and speed of growth, and combinations of plants will affect the appearance of the garden. Oh, and don’t forget to consider how maintenance requirements relate to available time and funds.

Finally, add garden furniture that suits your lifestyle—tables and chairs for entertaining, play places for the little ones, and serene spots for meditation. If you enjoy garden art, go for your style—whether classical statuary, contemporary sculptures, or whimsical rust art. (I love them all in my garden.) And don’t forget the value of safety lighting and spotlighting.

Bounty!
Some gardeners, including myself (I confess), start digging with a general vision, but without a formal game plan and will always find a home for any plant that’s a gift or strikes our fancy. The important thing is that your garden is YOURS, reflecting your personality with plant material that makes you happy. If you love a plant, even if others call it a weed, go ahead and enjoy it in your garden, as I do.

The “Country Cottage Garden” concept sparked my flame and has been right for me and our colonial-style house. My summer garden is filled with blooming roses and countless varieties of perennials, most conspicuously hundreds of daylilies—robust perennials, easy to grow and boasting a variety of bold, cheerful colors.

And all came from 10 original plants gifted by a neighbor.

My latest craze for summer bounty is tough care-free native plants that thrive on summer heat and survive drought—butterfly weed, milkweed, Joe Pye weed (that “weed” word again), summer phlox, Rudbeckia, and so many more. Borders and beds overflow with an abundance of flowers successively blooming from June into fall. They speak to me not of formal grandeur but of grace and casual charm.

Then as one cluster of blooms drifts into another, creating a natural summer lushness, they sing the word “bounty” to me.

And at the end of the day, I sit on the terrace with my glass of wine and savor their beauty.

Words & Photos by Susan Timmons

A Glimpse into a Studio Apartment, a Downtown Condo & Rental Townhouse

Learning to maximize the space in a small home can present challenges and force decisions. Which couch to keep? How many coffee mugs are really necessary? For each of the three families featured, they enjoy the clarity resulting from limited space and have found creative ways to still reflect their passions.

Downtown Studio Apartment: Bringing Community Into a Young Couple’s Space
For Timothy and Brittannie Moroz, living in a downtown studio is both an economical choice and a way to build community.
“We love the downtown Lynchburg area,” Tim said. “We wanted a space that could fit a large amount of people and feel more connected with downtown [because] we really value community.”

When they were dating, Tim lived downtown, but once married, they moved to Forest. After a job change, however, the young couple began looking for something less expensive. Since they are heavily involved in their church and host a community group that meets in their home weekly, they needed a space that could entertain a larger group of people. Most of the downtown spaces were either too small or too expensive for their price point, until they discovered Red Star Flats, modern industrial studios next to Farmers Seed & Supply Co. Inc.

“We weren’t seriously looking at studios until we saw this one,” Brittannie said. “The kitchen was our biggest selling point.
It’s just beautiful.”

“The space is really nice,” Tim said. “They did a really good job of renovating. It felt like home right away.”

This past summer the couple traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark and then on to Sweden—known for good design—and so the trip provided a crash course in Scandinavian style. While traveling, they read a quote that has since been adopted for their home: “If something is not both beautiful and functional, it doesn’t belong in your home.”

Both of them echo that having this mindset makes it easier to live in such an open layout.

“We like our stuff, [so] we didn’t mind having it out for everyone to see,” Brittannie said. “[I was] surprised how easy it’s been to get to the bare necessities.”

“In our space, it’s all on display,” Tim said. “We liked the idea of paring down. It’s nice to go backwards a little bit. It’s not a long term solution, but it’s a lot of fun.”

Together, the Morozes have enjoyed designing a space that brings some challenges. They are not allowed to drill new holes into the original wood paneling or brick due to its historic value, so the couple has to work with the holes that already exist—which creates a random art gallery that somehow works. “We love the random mix,” Tim said. “We have to be careful about our visual real estate.”

On the one small patch of drywall they do have, they installed shelving, which houses baking supplies and cereals.

A sentimental design element the couple incorporated is a world map painted from coffee.

“We love sharing a cup of coffee with people, and we love to travel,” Brittannie said, describing the piece her sister painted.

“We try to see as much of the world as we can. It was a sweet gift she gave us.”

Downsizing from a two-bedroom apartment to a studio was a challenge, but because there are no walls dividing the home, it feels very open and is a good reminder to keep stuff clean.

“It’s been good for us to recognize we don’t have to look perfect,” Brittannie said. “It’s a good exercise for us, and we get to invite people into that. It blesses us and keeps us humble when it’s messy.”

One aspect of open-concept living the couple has embraced is how welcoming the space is. As a couple, the Morozes have tried to reflect their values and passions in the way they live, which they describe as: Jesus, family and mission. One way they emulate what they believe is by inviting people to engage as a family. Since they have many visitors in their home every week, they welcome guests to share in their most intimate spaces.

“It feels like a great big family in a tiny little box,” Brittannie said. “You get real close, real fast.”

“It has helped develop really meaningful relationships,” Tim said.

Downtown Condominium: Downsizing from an Empty Nest
Libby and Paul Fitzgerald loved their home in Boonsboro, but since none of their three adult children or six grandchildren live locally, they no longer needed all of the space with five bedrooms. So they began the two-year process of downsizing and selling their home.

Though they have lived in Lynchburg for 45 years, the family is originally from New York, and so they are more accustomed to urban living. As they began to downsize, they felt a strong draw towards the new downtown James River Place condominiums.

“We have kind of come full circle,” Libby said. “It was very freeing to get down to what we really loved, and the rest we shed. We loved [our home] all those years, but I marvel at how I have not looked back with any nostalgia. It was a great decision—a perfect fit.”

Since moving two years ago from a 5,400-sqare-foot home to a 2,200-square-foot condominium, the Fitzgeralds found downsizing to be an unburdening.

“The idea of downsizing is daunting,” Libby said. “We came to terms with the likelihood that the taste of our children is different.”

She recommends that one approach downsizing by focusing on the “essentials and [not] surrounded with a lot of stuff you don’t need. It’s a tough and tedious job, but at some point you have to do it.”

In her words, to downsize removes a burden from your children; if you sift through the artifacts of decades’ worth of stuff then “you’ve done your children [favors] with the biggest job in the world. Don’t leave that for them to do. Spare your children,” Libby said.

She added that their new home on Jefferson Street is not radically different in style but rather a variation of what they had before. As they designed their new space, Libby was tasked with the challenge of incorporating years of collections into a much smaller area than she was accustomed to. Many of their paintings and pottery have come from both their worldwide travels and from local artists. A number of paintings are from trips they took to Ireland, Venice and France. The couple has also taken bike trips to Tuscany, Italy and Provence, France, as well as Quebec and the Canadian Rockies, where they added to their very storied and traveled collection. The Fitzgeralds also appreciate local talent, including a prized piece hanging over their living room fireplace from The Little Gallery at Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta, Va.

“We love collecting art,” Libby said. “We [also] love pottery, from away and local.”

With three bedrooms in their condo, they utilize the extra two rooms as office space for each of them, giving them individual, private areas to call their own.

“It’s important to have your own space in a small [home],” Libby said.

When family comes to visit, grandchildren stay on roll-out beds and adult children enjoy nights at the Craddock Terry Hotel—easily accessible from the condo.

After moving, the Fitzgeralds found a slower pace of life. In fact by living in such close proximity to everything downtown, Libby said she tries to group all her errands into just one day so she can enjoy all the benefits that downtown Lynchburg offers.

“We feel like we’re on vacation,” Libby said. “The thing I love the most is I walk everywhere—to the YMCA and to church, everything I need is down here, except [a] grocery. I try very hard not to have to leave downtown in my car.”

Heather’s Takeaway Tips:

1. Downsizing: Prioritize what is most important. Keep what you really like but be selective. It can be a daunting process, so steady your pace and realize it will benefit your children not to have to make those decisions one day.
2. Use What You Already Own: After years of collecting, don’t try to start over buying new. Use what you already own in creative new ways. Reupholster furniture, group artwork in a gallery manner and utilize vertical storage to maximize space.
3. Think Before You Buy: Small spaces can cause you to stop and think before buying. Do you have room for it? Will it add to the ambience or distract from what’s most important in the room? Be selective with where you invest. Think quality not quantity.

Photography by Tera Janelle Auch