After much prayer, planning, and hard work, the van Vegten Family and the woodworking shop of Gathering Wood have moved from Southern California to the lovely Bluegrass region of Central Kentucky.

Well situated in Scott County, between Louisville, Lexington, Frankfort, Georgetown, and Cincinnati, Gathering Wood makes its home at 701 NE County Line Road in Sadieville, Kentucky.

Our home and woodworking shop are peacefully planted on ten acres along a country road off I-75. We are looking forward to exploring and learning about our new home-state of Kentucky.

The moving rig just left a few days ago and we are getting unpacked and settled into our new home and woodworking shop. Let us know if there is anything we can do for you; the shop is already carving out lovely accessories for your home.

Jim & Rebecca
The van Vegten Family

Our new Tool Tote will be available for purchase by the end of this week.

Jim & Rebecca
The van Vegten Family

It is time to offer a sneak peek into two upcoming Wall Arts.

This “There’s No Place Like Home” Wall Art will be released in two different styles to accommodate any budget.

The first of two – This version will be made from solid select Cherry and stained and finished. The lettering will be carved and hand-painted. This piece will be surrounded with an elegant Cherry frame.

The second of two – Priced to accommodate. This painted wooden plaque will feature carved and hand-painted lettering and an appealing routed edge.

There is indeed “No Place Like Home” ~

Jim & Rebecca

Our new Tool Tote will easily accommodate your horse grooming tools, gardening tools, or the essentials of your particular expertise.

The talented team over at AtticMag offers something new every day — home ideas, practical experience, design information, opinions, sources and inspirational photographs.

Our lovely Oval Serving Tray was chosen as a favorite by Shopping Editor Allison Arnett on Allison Shops.

Featuring the Traditional Construction of Dovetail Joinery
and the Elegance of a Fluted Handle

Happy Anniversary to My Dearest Rebecca

The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful wife for eighteen years now.

And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone;
I will make him an help meet for him. Genesis 2:18

Today, I rejoice as I reminisce about our years together. We have been given two beautiful children and have learned a lot during our journey together. I look forward with excitement to what our Lord has in store for us in the years to come.

Rebecca, thank you for always being at my side and being my perfect Help Meet.
I pray that your day is blessed.

I Love You,

JIM

Years ago my lovely wife, Rebecca, presented me with this meaningful piece of art as a means of encouraging me in my longtime dream of someday working with my son in our woodshop. I now enjoy the pleasure of occasionally having my son in the shop and I wouldn’t trade that time for anything.

As Jameson grows, so do his opportunities to learn woodworking skills. Below, we are working together on some blanks for one of our recent additions to Gathering Wood – Oval Serving Trays.

Jameson is learning that running stock over the jointer provides a true and crisp glue joint.

We use a high-grade wood glue yielding 4,000 psi.

Jameson is also learning the process that goes into the creation of Custom Carved Wall Art.

The planer enables us to mill stock to the necessary thickness.

Learning to make precise measurements is a necessity in the woodshop.

The fruit of his labor . . . Some of these pieces are destined to become Five Solas Wall Art.

We apply a vinyl mask prior to carving. We take this extra step to ensure crisp edges of our carved letters and images. Jameson removes the vinyl mask prior to the hand-painting process.

Here, Jameson is applying the second of three coats to a custom piece.

As I said before, I wouldn’t trade this time together for anything.

JIM

Look what I found inside this 8/4 slab of Cherry . . .

. . . this lovely Oval Serving Tray.

We are ready to offer our new Oval Serving Tray for purchase through our website.
Look for it to be released next week.

It is good to be back home. We just spent a little over a month exploring portions of Southern Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia . . . in search of our new home in the country. We just covered 7,591.9 miles.

Although the trip was primarily to learn more about a handful of states as we consider our future home, we did take the time to make a few stops along the way and create some wonderful memories.

The Meteor Crater in Winslow, Arizona was one of our first stops.

The children faithfully did their lessons while we traveled. Cody always wanted to be part of everything. Actually, he had no choice. They all shared the backseat.

Our first two nights were spent at rest areas along the way. We spent our third night at the Ladybug Campground in Cuba, Missouri. It is a beautiful campground.

We pulled into Bloomington, Indiana excited about spending some time with our dear friends, the Phillips, at Liberty Pastures. The Phillips’ hospitality was a true blessing.

Jim enjoyed spending time with Jake’s Deere.

Much of our trip was spent driving (and driving) around to learn more about different areas and to see some properties. Allison and Jameson were patient travelers; Cody did great, too.

After a week at Liberty Pastures, we headed south to research the southernmost portion of Indiana. A few days later we crossed the Ohio and camped at Indian Springs RV Park in South Bend, Ohio. This lovely place was our home-base for our two-day visit to the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky.

We had long dreamed of visiting the Creation Museum. This was a memorable treat for our family.

The Gardens outside the Museum are peaceful and lovely.

Gomer (the Camel) was surprisingly soft. Ever pet a Camel?

Every moment at the Museum was a blessing, but we especially enjoyed the opportunity to meet Buddy Davis; Speaker, Author, Illustrator, Singer/Songwriter, Adventurer & Dinosaur Sculptor. We also had the pleasure of meeting Buddy’s lovely wife; Kay.

Jameson quickly learned that whenever he opened his window on the drive to enjoy the outdoors, Cody would inevitably come over and stand on his lap and enjoy the great outdoors, as well.

We spent several days driving throughout Kentucky from our home-bases in Taylorsville and Lexington. Later, we went south to visit with a friend, Rick Eldridge of The Wood Shop in Middlesboro, Kentucky. We absolutely enjoyed our tour of Rick’s shop.

While visiting Southeastern Kentucky and Tennessee, we camped at The Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. What a beautiful place. We hope to spend more time at The Cumberland Gap in the future.

We had a couple of (all too brief) visits with The Tennessee Farmgirl, Cheri Shelnutt, and her sons. We left a piece of our hearts in Tennessee.

Our next home-base was at Lakeview RV Park in Bluff City, Tennessee. From here we covered portions of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. Absolutely lovely! An additional highlight of beautiful Virginia was our memorable visit to St. Peter Presbyterian Church in Mendota. We were warmly welcomed by all. We also had the pleasure of hearing Dr. RC Sproul Jr. preach.

After several weeks of research, it was time to head west. We stopped in Castle Rock, Colorado for a delightful visit with our dear friends, the Clapp Family. We enjoy every moment we spend with the Clapps. They do not know it yet, but they will be moving to wherever we settle.

We have a lot about which to pray. We have been planning and praying about this move for 2 1/2 years. Our California home goes on the market this Friday. We still do not know where we will end up or what the Lord has in store, but we are so excited about this season in our lives.

Jim & Rebecca
The van Vegten Family