In the last 20 years, we have rarely had the privilege of voting in person. Although the days of pulling that lever to draw the curtain behind you, pushing down the little levers next to your candidates, and then pulling the lever back to open the curtain (IYKYK) have been replaced with touchscreens and scanners, it was still humbling to be able to cast our ballot in person this year. Today was the first day of early voting here in Texas, and the place was packed! I hope you don’t miss your chance to cast your vote!
Category Archives: RV Life
A Birthday, a Milestone, and an Anniversary
We have a lot of things going on this October! On the one hand, this month marks the 20th Anniversary of our very first SOWER project! When we set out in August of 2004 (for our one or two-year adventure) we had already joined SOWERs, planning to do one or maybe two projects as we traveled through the country. We only lasted about six weeks before Gary said to me “Let’s try doing one of those SOWER project things.” And so we signed up for a SOWER project at a small Christian School in the town of Vienna, Georgia.
It was during that first month of service, parked in the high grass behind this circa 1940 public school building, doing not our favorite jobs, where God convicted both of us that THIS was what our RV journey should be about. And so began our hard right (and unexpected) turn into full-time ministry.
Our first group picture –
Since that (dare I say) fateful October twenty years ago, the Lord has led us on an incredible journey. Folks often ask us “What’s your favorite project?” or “What’s your favorite place?” Let’s be honest – North America is a fabulously diverse and beautiful continent! Our travels have taken us to oceans and mountains, plains and valleys, deserts and glaciers. We’ve seen geysers and waterfalls, bison and antelope, architectural masterpieces and natural wonders. But without a moment’s hesitation, I can say that the most impactful and beautiful part of this entire journey has been seeing God at work! He’s working in international ministries (we’ve helped out a few) and He’s working at small camps with more faith than funds (and we’ve been blessed to serve there too!). But more important than that is to see His work in our hearts and in the hearts and lives of the beautiful people that we have been honored to meet and work alongside of and have come to love. Over these years we’ve worked with over 300 SOWER couples and countless other volunteers and ministry hosts that we now count as dear friends and co-workers of the Kingdom. How very blessed we have been!
Which brings me to our Milestone. During these 20 years of being a part of the SOWER Ministy, we have served at 136 different ministries. I believe we had only heard of (maybe) five of those ministries before we arrived to help. Seeing the depth and breadth of God’s kingdom through these ministries has enlarged our view of God – and just how active He is in the lives and hearts of His people! This month, as we celebrate our 20th Anniversary since our first SOWER project, we are also marking our 200th project month. We are so honored that we have been able to serve the Kingdom for so very many years – and at so very many different locations. We can only give God all the Glory for guiding our steps these many years!
Now that we have our little house in Lindale, many friends have asked if we are retiring from SOWERs. Don’t count us out just yet! We are certainly moving away from doing 10 project months a year, but aren’t quite ready to hang up those tools! We are signed up for project #201 in March – at another ‘new to us’ location! We don’t think that God is done with us, and we pray that we will continue to be used for His purposes wherever He may lead us!
But wait – the birthday!! Our littlest Texan turns FIVE today!
Not at all sure where those FIVE years have gone (but then again we feel that way about the last 20 too!) – but we sure want to wish this little cowboy the very happiest of birthdays!! We love you, Deacon!
Thanks for joining us as we celebrate Deacon – and a couple of SOWER milestones!
PS – We’ve been really bad about taking “Group Pictures” when it’s just the two of us on a project. But here is one from this summer – both of us a little grayer (and maybe plumper) but still carrying on!
A couple of glitches and some birthday wishes!
Just like any 20-year-old dwelling (whether it’s on wheels or not), things are bound to break. When we got Lizzie back from her spa treatment (and new turbo thingamajig), we noticed that the levelers were not working. It wasn’t a big deal at the moment since we were parked on a nice level concrete pad, but that is not usually the case. Gary did a bit of troubleshooting, contacted an RV tech, zeroed in on the problem, and while it took a bit of time, finally got the parts on order.
They have just now arrived and hopefully all will be well by the time the weekend is over! Our spot here at Forest Glen is level-ish, and I just have to chase after our wheeled chairs now and then. It’s all good!
We also noticed when we set out from Kentucky to drive to Texas that our water pump wasn’t working. Really??? Well, a stop at Walmart to pick up several gallons of water and we were good to go. We’ve spent weeks and weeks at our Vermont cabin without running water, so we are well-trained in life without water coming out of the spigot. And the toilet still flushed with a little water rinse so no problem there. Now that we’re hooked up to ‘city water’, the pump isn’t necessary, but the part is in hand and hopefully is also on the “needs to be fixed” list for the weekend.
Meanwhile – a slightly bigger glitch appeared when we were at our Lindale house and Gary started working on the shed space that is destined to be my very own sewing studio. (Ok, it’s just a sewing room – but “studio” sounds pretty fancy, right?). First up was addressing those soft spots on the floor. His first thought was some water damage, so he was quite dismayed to discover that it wasn’t water damage, it was termites.
And they had been busy!
So what started as floor repair has turned into a floor rebuild – with a good termite treatment thrown in!
He cut back the drywall to make sure the wall studs weren’t damaged
and got to work doing the rebuild.
I failed to get a picture of his most recent progress, but when we get back to the house later this month, I think we’ll (let’s be real – he’ll) be ready to put down the subfloor. And then I will have to decide on flooring and paint colors (since we’ll want to paint before we put down the final flooring, right?). It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it!
So there you have it – just some of the Life that has come our way in the last couple of months. But even with those unfortunate (though manageable) glitches, we still have so very much to be thankful for! First of all, we’ve had our dear Lizzie for all these years and she has rarely given us any trouble. And now we have a house – and all the fun stuff that comes with it! While I’m trying to figure out what cupboard to put the peanut butter in, he’s out there fixing things – levelers, pumps, and yes – even floors! He truly is my superhero! And I thank God for him every day!
But wait – the Birthday wishes!! I cannot let the day go by without sending out special birthday wishes to our precious granddaughter Alex –
who turns 10 today on the 10th.
It’s her golden birthday – and her entrance into the double digits! Happy birthday, darlin’! We love you to the moon and back (with or without that crazy hat!)!!!
Getting an early start on October
We left our little house in Lindale Sunday after church, and arrived safely at Forest Glen Camp and Conference Center in Huntsville, TX by early evening. The GPS clocked it as a three hour drive, and I’m happy to report that even though it was in prime Sunday afternoon naptime, we only stopped once for a nap attack! We did it in a solid four!
This is our third time at Forest Glen (a little atypical for us), and although the last time was seven years ago, it still is nice to get reacquainted with the folks – and meet some new friends too! This project is also in our Area Rep group, so we do stop by about once a year just to check and see how things are going. Since we so often do new-to-us projects, it’s nice to occasionally be at some familiar stomping grounds!
As you can see by the map, it’s about 3 hours north to our little house in Lindale (the blue dot) and about 3 hours NW to the kids in Waco (the yellow star). So it’s a nice central location for us!
We’re looking forward to a quiet, but productive, three weeks here!
Meanwhile, back in Kentucky…
We might be enjoying a bit of respite here in Lindale before we move to our October project, but I didn’t want to forget to share about our time at Camp Nathanael in Eastern Kentucky!
It was an unusual project for us in several different ways. First, or course, was that we didn’t have our motor home with us for the first half of it following our breakdown as we made our way there from Ohio. The camp was so gracious, offering us housing and (as luck providence would have it) they were already preparing three meals a day during the week for their many volunteers, so our meals were provided as well. But perhaps even more memorable for me was that I was invited to work IN the ministry, as opposed to taking care of things (laundry/housekeeping/painting/etc.) in the background, enabling the ministry folks to do their ministry.
So each morning, after I would bake my quadruple batch of cornbread
and get the day’s batch of ‘gritty bread and butter’ ready for the day,
(That’s real homemade butter in the tub! The children learned how to make butter during their ‘Gritty (corn) bread and butter” class. I would use their butter (and the buttermilk for the cornbread) the next day as I prepared the day’s samples.)
I would don my pioneer gear and join the quilting station –
sometimes joining the teaching team
and sometimes helping to ‘unstitch’ the stitches from the class before.
I was a small part of a great team
and thoroughly enjoyed being part of the Pioneer Days at Camp Nathanael.
Meanwhile, Gary was doing his part, doing maintenance and repairs!
He tackled lots of different jobs, while I was busy baking and playing with the kids!
It was such a good month! There were new volunteers each week, so we got to meet many new friends. It was great fun to interact with the different children each day, and since I also love kitchen work, I enjoyed my morning cornbread extravaganza too!
How thankful I am that the LORD directed our steps to serve at Camp Nathanael in September!