Tomorrow is the last day of our time here at Life for Youth Camp in Vero Beach, FL. We’ve been enjoying the “Southeast Sower Reunion” - which is really just a wonderful excuse to get together with about 60 other Sower couples and have a grand time. We’ve been able to connect with friends we’ve made over the 2 1/2 years we’ve been doing Sower projects, plus we’ve been meeting lots of new couples. These folks really do become family, and it’s been a refreshing couple of days - lots of laughter, sharing, praying and praise. We’re very glad we came! Tonight there was some special entertainment - the Rivoli Revue. They were VERY funny - probably because most of their songs and jokes related to the RV lifestyle. They mixed in some heartfelt gospel along with the lighthearted songs (”Bury me at Walmart”), and it was a very enjoyable evening.
Tomorrow we begin the drive north. We’ll pick up 95 right here in Vero Beach and drive and drive and drive and drive and drive up 95 until we hit Philadelphia. The prize at the end (friends in Doylestown and then family in Lancaster) will make the trip worth it and we have a couple of books on tape to pass the time so it shouldn’t be too bad. Hopefully the weather will cooperate!
It was 85 here today - we’ll try to bring some of the warmth north with us!
OK, so it wasn’t the most exciting drive (Get on I10 and Stay on I10), but today we traveled from Bonifay, FL to Mobile, AL to Pascagoula, MS all to pick up some A/C equipment (Mobile) and 400 “high-hat” lights that had been donated to Teen Challenge (Pascagoula). We took 2 cadets with us - and kept them busy with our Superplexus game (”an electronic hand-held game where players maneuver a ball through a 3-dimensional labyrinth suspended inside a transparent spheroid.”). It would get very quiet, we’d hear the ball hit the plastic, and then an “oh MAN”. They almost mastered it (which is more than we can say about our prowess with the game!). Here is Matt - deep in concentration!
It was a long day - we left at 6AM and returned at 6PM - but it was good to get to know our two helpers a little better, and despite the rain we had a good trip.
We leave at the end of the week for our two week “vacation” that culminates with our son Josiah’s wedding on March 9th. To hold us over until we get to actually hug family, Tammy sent us a couple of new pictures of Ellie & Hayley. And if I get them to enjoy them, dear friends, so do you!
I’m not sure they are always such loving sisters, but it’s pretty cute when it works!
Can’t wait for the real thing!
144 eggs
3 gallons milk
15 lbs. sausage
6 steam table pans of last week’s crusts
10# grated cheese
All together it made for 66 smiling faces on this Sunday morning.
Oh, and the warm sticky buns were a big hit too - even though they came right out of the “tube”!
Tomorrow I think they’re back to cheese grits! :-/
So, just what have we been up to the last couple of weeks?
Life here in Bonifay has developed into a peaceful routine. We’ve made some good friends, both among the volunteers and also among the staff. The fellow in charge of maintenance is Joe Hardy, and he’s a real cowboy at heart. He invited Gary and I to join he and his wife Diane for a trail ride this last weekend. Sure – sounds like fun! Saturday dawned bright and clear – just a little chilly. But not to worry, we loaded up the horses and headed to Pine Log State Forest to join several others in their riding club. Gary & I were definitely the beginners in the bunch! I should have worried when no one seemed to know just how long the ride was going to be. The ride was lots of fun – only it was about 2 hours too long! I was riding Dakota, who would walk along slowly (bounce, bounce, bounce) and then break into a trot to catch up with his buddies (bbbooouuunnce, bbbbbouuunnce, bbbbbouuucnnnce…). Over and over again. This horse needed a cruise control! The fellowship was great – but yikes, did I hurt by the time we finished the ride. Sunday it hurt to sit, and then after that it just hurt to walk.
Here’s a shot of Gary on the trail (just before we trotted up to join him!)…..
And here we are at the end of the ride. Phew, we made it!
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One of the fun little parts of this adventure is our quest for interesting quilt shops (OK, so it’s not the most interesting part to everyone on this adventure, but then again there are all those trips to Home Depot!). We’ve been to great big stores, like Keepsake Quilting in NH, and Mary Jo’s in Gastonia, NC and we’ve been to little shops like the “Fabric by the Pound” (no web link here!) shop we stumbled upon in Maine. Trust me, I have the “fat quarters” to prove each and every stop! I’ve even found a little fabric store in the town just down the road in Graceville, FL. It’s called Crafty Cats Quilt Shop and Tanning Salon. Honest.
But here’s a little shop (Quilts N More) that we drive by each time we head to Dothan, AL
I’m just a little concerned about the “more”…………