RV There Yet?

A while ago (like maybe my New Year’s Resolution?) I said I wanted to read more – and read better. Lately I’ve come across a couple of books that I thought I’d share with you – one I’ve read, one I’ve begun, and another was just received today as a gift.
The one I’ve read –
Do Hard Things – A Teenage Rebellion against Low Expectations by Alex & Brett Harris
This is a book written by teens for teens. Now, it goes without saying that I am neither a teenager or have a teenager (at the moment), but I found this book to be a huge encouragement. Alex and Brett Harris have a very popular (teen) website that has already impacted thousands of young people to walk away from the low expectations that our culture sets for teens. This book helped me look at the Hard Things in my life that I find, well, hard. It chronicled many stories of ordinary teens who took a big step outside of their comfort zones (and oh, don’t we love our comfort zones) and accomplished great things for their families, their communities, this nation, the world and most importantly, God. I think I need to get a copy of this book to our friends at Teen Challenge – and I’ll be sending the copy I have to one person I know who has a heart and passion for teens. Watch the mail, Josiah!
The one I’ve just started -
The Reason for God by Timothy Keller
OK, this book was definitely not written by teens , though teens could certainly benefit from it. It’s a book that looks at the serious questions that even ardent believers wrestle with today.
Why does God allow suffering in the world? Why isn’t Christianity more inclusive? Why have so many wars been fought in the name of God?
I’m only up to the second chapter, and I confess it is not an “easy” read. But it is a good one. I’m looking forward to digging deeper into these questions and others that the author poses. This first section is called “The Leap of Doubt” and the second part is “The Reasons for Faith”. It’s a very thought provoking book, and I know it will be a challenge to see it through to the end. I think it might be one of those Hard Things that leads to great encouragement.

The one we just got today – as a Thank-you from Woodland Acres Bible Camp

3:16 The Numbers of Hope
by Max Lucado
We have a shortened version of this book that I had read during my quiet time a couple of weeks ago, so I am really looking forward to diving into this one. Gary even said he was thinking about buying it – so maybe he’ll jump in before I get The Reason for God finished! The book includes a 40 day devotional – maybe I’ll get started there!

One more –
Year 4 - The Continuing Adventures of Gary and Stephanie Conrad – As we draw this fourth year on the road to a close, I put together a little picture book of this past year. If you’d like to take a look, you can check it out here!

Happy Page Turning!

The Weekend
We had a good weekend. We both put a little work time in on Saturday – Gary at the trailer and I was helping get cabins ready for the next group. Then on Saturday night we headed to Eureka Springs. We had spent a weekend in Eureka Springs over three years ago so we knew it was a neat little town. But this trip was to see The Great Passion Play. This play is put on in a outdoor 4000+ seat theatre and was quite impressive. Occasionally a little southern accent slipped in, but by and large it was an excellent production. An added bonus was that the camp director here (and his wife and four children (ages 2-12)) are all in the play! Aside for the delight of having free passes, it was very fun to see them perform. Here’s a shot of the theatre that I snagged from their website – you can see how large it is (even if the picture is small!).

Can you see the Christ of the Ozarks statue over on the right? Here’s a zoomed-in shot that I took–

It was neat to watch the clouds over the statue as the sun was setting. (But if they don’t keep those tree trimmed, He’ll be gone in a few years!)
We didn’t make many other stops while we were in Eureka Springs, but here is a photo taken at one of gardens surrounding one of the local springs.
Next to it is a photo that I took last time we were in town. I confess that it has always been one of my favorites!

New Endeavors
So, not only has our front TV bit the dust, but our old computer recently decided that we really didn’t need the display. If it hadn’t been for the fact that Gary was using that computer for his mapping programs (and solitaire when I was rudely hogging the new computer), we would have just trashed it. But, since it would occasionally work AND would work fine when we hooked it up to another monitor, Gary decided that he should take it apart to see if he could fix it.

Much to our amazement, after he had taken it all apart and then put it back together again (not really doing anything except cleaning out several large dust bunnies), it started working! Unfortunately, the mouse pad now wasn’t working. Now that he knew how to take it apart, he figured he’d take one more look and see if he couldn’t get that mouse pad to work (not that we don’t use a wireless mouse most of the time anyway….) You guessed it, he should have quit while he was ahead! Now we’re back to lovely colored lines on the monitor. Sigh. SO, his most recent endeavor is bidding on refurbished units on Ebay! (Maybe I should have been worried when he asked me what I wanted him to do with the extra screws!) Maybe we can sell this one for parts?

Camp Memories –Had I mentioned before what a good time I had working in the kitchen here at WABC? There was a great team – Bekah (who was about a week away from delivering her firstborn son!) and Nora were the adults in charge. But each week there was a crew of hardworking teenagers who manned the dish room and all aspects of “hospitality” – making sure everything was out and then after the meal making sure everything was cleaned up. It was a great group of girls – and by the end of the second week we were all having lots of fun together –

But my other task was being the Cabin Inspector. You know, checking for trash and neat beds and tidy bathrooms. The first week I was the mystery inspector – no one was supposed to know who I was or when I would show up to do the inspections. It was fun as I tried to come up with clever ways to present my findings! By the second week my cover was blown, so I decided to just go with the flow. I developed a thick French accent, and became Ze Inspectoor. By the end of the week I made a little “movie” of shots I had taken and had even figured out how to add music! Talk about taking on a life of it’s own! Here I am as Ze Inspectoor –

Ooh –la-la! Ze fun I had!

Wrapping things up –
Right now we’re busy battening down the hatches (which really just means I’ve finally cleared my sewing stuff from the kitchen table!). We head out on Friday. We’re not going far, just about 75 miles west to Springdale, AR and Ecclesia College for our August project. Not too much of a change of scenery, but at least it’s a little farther West! After Ecclesia we head to Colorado Springs, CO! We’ll be posting the support letter for that fill-up!

Oh – one more thing!
Almost a year ago an online travel book (www.schmaps.com) asked if they could use one of my pictures in their Nashville Travel Book. I said yes at the time (does that make me a published photographer?), but just a couple of weeks ago I got another email letting me know that this “book” was now available on iPhones. Here’s the link -
http://www.schmap.com/?m=iphone#uid=nashville&sid=all_sights&p=68097&i=68097
of what it will look like on the phone.
And here’s the picture itself!

How cool is that!

I’m sure you’ve been wondering how that ‘ol trailer is coming along. Well, remember the kitchen area?

Well, I’m not sure where all those wires have gone, but here it how it looked by the end of today -

Of course, all of this rehab could not have been accomplished without a several trips to Home Depot. Since yesterday’s list was especially long, Gary and I met the boss at HD for a little shopping. I’ve been in many, many Home Depots, but this was a first for me!

Made me feel like I was at the Hank’s Hardward Store, instead of a huge “home improvement center”.

Bonus - since we were already in town, it solved the problem of what to cook for dinner. The good folks at that new little restaurant on the town square did just fine!
:-)

Over the last 14 months I have totally gotten out of the habit of cooking. Now, if you’ve traveled along with me this last year you know that that is about ALL I’ve doing! Hungry campers in Tennessee, hungry missionaries in Pennsylvania, hungry teenage boys in Florida, and hungry campers here in Arkansas. And if I wasn’t actually working in the kitchen at a project, we were still invited to join with the staff if meals were being cooked. It was an incredible blessing. Plus I got to develop a killer spaghetti sauce for 100! But, to just cook dinner for Gary and I, night after night - well, that hasn’t happened since May 2007! With no campers here at WABC, we have been left on our own. Yes, we must feed ourselves!!! So Sunday I made our standard favorite - grilled chicken over a big salad. Monday - Pasta with olive oil, garlic and fresh parmesan cheese. Another staple in my cooking for two repertoire. A little salad on the side, and we were good to go. Tuesday Gary offered to cook. Yep, hotdogs and sauerkraut (plus another salad). We seem to be sinking fast. I can’t remember what else I can cook. Or maybe the question is – Can I cook? But then I remembered a yummy recipe from a favorite website called Crash Hot Potatoes. Sounds pretty weird, but here’s the picture from the recipe on line –

Do these look good or WHAT!
Anyway, I did remember how things worked, and my final product turned out pretty darn yummy (though not quite as pretty as the one above!).

I’m encouraged – I think it’s coming back to me (the cooking-for-two thing).

It is terribly pitiful that I’m posting about cooking and sharing food pictures with you? It’s still part of the adventure, isn’t it?

Can you tell our TV has broken?

Oh - here’s a link to the recipe. Enjoy!

Ummm - any ideas for Thursday?

Good Question!
Gary is undertaking the task of totally remodeling a 30 ft. travel trailer. One that sat empty, with the slide out, for more than four (4!) years. It was donated to the camp and they really would like to have it available for visitors or maybe summer staff. Gary took one look at it and said (under his breath, I’m sure!), you want THIS to be lived in again? Well, there’s nothing that guy likes better than a challenge. Oh, and a director that says, do it however you’d like. Just tell me what you need. OK, then. This might just be doable!
So here’s the trailer, before any work started-

Not too bad from that angle, but it’s a little more of a challenge from this angle….

Hmmm….that slide has GOT to go. Let the demolition begin!

(Yes, his head was under there just moments before!)

And THAT’s how you get rid of a rotting slide.
Now, for that hole in the wall…..let’s get building!

and building…

Can’t forget the wiring - they might just want some lights over on this side of the room!

The walls are going up! I promise, he doesn’t forget the windows!

See…

On the inside (which had it’s own version of mess), he had torn out the bad sub-floor and put down all new sub-floor.

See the nice floor? Wait until you see what they have him putting down for tile!

WhoooHoo - Start your engines!!!!!

I think it’s pretty amazing all that he has accomplished in just two weeks (sweltering HOT weeks, at that!). The kitchen cabinets arrived today, so after he finishes up the floor and all the trim, he’ll put the kitchen back together,

get those windows put back in and finish up all the finishing up stuff. We’ll be here until August 1st, and something tells me that he’ll be busy right up until we leave!

I don’t know about you, but that guy really impresses me!