Looking Up

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Diana

David has gone down in history as a man after God’s own heart. So naturally, our image of him is perfect, with him always responding to every circumstance the way God would want him to. But when we really take a good look at his life, we see a fallible man, who made mistakes, who responded sometimes through his emotions before turning them over to God. In 1 Samuel 27, we see one of these instances. David had been ruthlessly pursued by Saul, whose sole purpose was to kill David. David had a couple of opportunities to kill Saul, but trusted God to bring about Saul’s demise at the right time. You can imagine him thinking, “Ok, God, I’m doing everything your way, why won’t you get him off my tail?” David becomes despondent, probably wondering if God was even watching him anymore.

So David ran off to the land of the Philistines, reasoning that Saul would assume they had killed David and therefore wouldn’t pursue him. David lived a relatively peaceful life for a year and four months, occasionally raiding nearby towns and killing all the people, then lying to Achish about who it was he had raided. Why did David start acting like this? Because he is human. Humans have an innate desire to feel as if they are in control. David wasn’t in control over his situation with Saul. And as far as he could see, God wasn’t either. So he redirected his efforts towards controlling the people he had settled among.

How often we are like David in this chapter. We can’t see God working, so we become desperate. We get so overwhelmed by the battle around us that we assert our control in unnecessary and often unrelated ways. But the more we look around us to try to control the situation, the less we look up. And the less we look up, the less we see God working. Quite often, He works in ways that we just can’t comprehend when we are looking at the people and situations around us. But when we can lift our eyes to the one who is our stronghold, we will see that “He works all things together for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28. It is not our place to control every situation. It is our place to trust that God is in control of them and He will fulfill his promises and He will vindicate His faithful ones.

Posted in Connections | Leave a comment

Saturated With Jesus

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Diana

Over the past few weeks, Monty has been taking us through the timeline of Jesus’ ministry. As we begin to draw near to the end, we find Jesus anxious for his disciples to really get him – to understand what he is trying to tell them about who he is and what his mission is. But honestly, they were pretty slow to get it. This was so much not what they were expecting, and they kept trying to fit Jesus into what they know, but it just didn’t work.

In Luke chapter 9, verses 28-36, we find a story of Jesus inviting his inner circle of disciples to join him in his intimate time with God.

Luke 9 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)
While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.

As is often the case, we see several different attitudes in this story. It should not surprise us that Jesus humbled himself by going to the mountain to pray. This was his quiet time, away from the chatter of the world, to reconnect with his Father. The demands of his work and the people that surrounded him threatened to draw him away. That’s why we find so many times in Scripture that Jesus goes away by himself to pray.

And early in the morning, while it was still dark, He arose and went out and departed to a lonely place, and was praying there. (Mark 1:35)

And immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the multitude away. And after bidding them farewell, he departed to the mountain to pray. (Mark 6:45-46)

And they came to a place called Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.” And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground, and began praying. (Mark 14:32-34)

But He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. (Luke 5:16)

And it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. (Luke 6:12)

Jesus’ prayer time was a time when he humbled himself to his father’s will. And usually, this happened alone. This time, though, he humbled himself even more by inviting Peter, James and John.

These three were known as the inner circle, because these were the three disciples that Jesus invested a majority of his time and energy in. Though originally just ordinary fishermen, they answered Jesus’ call and followed him. They spent their days and nights with him, trying to understand how he did what he did. These are the three that Jesus is hanging his hopes of the ministry continuing on. He loves these three so much that he invites them to join him in one of his most private moments – his prayer time. He wanted to move them deeper. He wanted them to understand not only how he did what he did, but who he really was.

While Jesus was busy humbling himself in prayer and inviting his three beloved friends to join him in his private time, God began to exalt him. His true glory began to show, and his physical appearance was changed to reflect that glory. We are told that “his face changed and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.” This is a reminder to the disciples, as well as to us today, that Jesus was 100% God and 100% man. It baffles our human brains, but it’s the truth. We read in Colossians 2:9 “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”

So Jesus was now fully in his glory as Moses and Elijah appeared and he began a conversation with them. Out of all the great saints in heaven, why would Jesus be talking with Moses and Elijah? Because God was exalting Jesus by setting him higher even than these great men of old. Throughout Jewish history, because of the way God used him in getting the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, Moses has represented the Law. But God says Jesus is greater than the law. And Elijah was a dynamic prophet whose name came to represent all prophets, from the beginning even through the end in Revelation. But God says Jesus is greater than the prophets. God specifically chose Moses and Elijah so that he could exalt Jesus.

Even in this time of God’s grace being bestowed on him, Luke tells us that Jesus was still completely focused on his mission, talking with Moses and Elijah about the departure from this world that was imminent on him. He knew his time is short, for he had just recently told his disciples clearly that he would be killed and raised on the third day. This was the primary thought on his mind and is what he was discussing with Moses and Elijah when the disciples woke up. When they realized what they were seeing, Peter didn’t want this to end and he really didn’t know what else to do, so he suggested that they build three dwellings. But God stepped in, for although Moses and Elijah were great men of God, Jesus is so different that God refuses to allow the impulsive Peter to unknowingly make them equal by building equal dwellings for them.

God doesn’t do things halfway, and so before this encounter was over, he had enveloped them all in his cloud. Many times in the Bible, we read of God being present among his people in a cloud. In Exodus 13, God guided the Israelites with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. In Exodus 24, God called Moses into the cloud on Mt. Sinai. In 2 Chronicles 5, the cloud of God’s presence covers the temple in response to the praise of his people. Even in the New Testament, we are told of the cloud of witness in Hebrews and Jesus is said to be coming again in the clouds. There is no doubt that this was the manifestation of God’s glory in this moment for the disciples.

And from that cloud, God exalted Jesus by speaking about him, saying, “This is my son, whom I have chosen.” We heard this before at Jesus’ baptism. There can be no doubt that Jesus is God’s son and that God has a special plan for him. God wanted to make sure these disciples really get it. Then he added, “Listen to him.” Three simple but powerful words. God was encouraging the disciples to pay close attention to what Jesus has to say, because he doesn’t always offer easy teachings, and his teachings are so different from the status quo that they are often misunderstood. But God certainly used this time to exalt Jesus.

In the meantime, we see through the disciples, a typical human attitude in reaction to this amazing encounter. To begin with, their physical needs trumped everything else, as they fell asleep while Jesus was praying. In their defense, I don’t think they felt this was another humdrum day with Jesus, with thoughts of, “Can you believe this guy? He takes so long to pray!” going through their heads. They simply didn’t know how to control their impulses. When they woke up to see Jesus shining and speaking with Moses and Elijah, they probably wondered if they were still dreaming. Because you see, even though these were the guys closest to Jesus, and even though he has been speaking very clearly with them, Jesus’ message was so out of the ordinary that the disciples were just beginning to comprehend it.

Realizing that they were in fact fully awake and witnessing a touch of God, Peter couldn’t resist. He just had to do something. So he said, “Let’s build some dwellings.” This word can also be translated “booths.” Peter here is probably hearkening back to the Feast of Booths, which was a festival set by God, when the Israelites commemorated their ancestors who should have died in the dessert, but were divinely saved and guided into the Promised Land. This festival also focused the Israelites on the need to trust God and on the future joy of God’s coming Kingdom. This seemed to Peter like an appropriate time to celebrate!

He wanted to honor these three great men of God, and didn’t think about the ramifications of what he proposed. He might not even have realized yet that Jesus was in fact greater than Moses and Elijah, for these two were touted in all the Jewish thought as the great prophets of old. But Jesus is more than just a prophet, which Peter was to see soon enough. Peter was trying to maintain some control over what seemed to human eyes to be an out of control experience.

Jesus had devoted himself to his disciples, especially to these three for almost three years at this point. He hoped that they could come to terms with this new revelation of his glory. Although they had been with him for years, he wanted them to be so saturated with his presence that they not only called his mission their own, but that they became like him. And when God enveloped them in his cloud – the God cloud that all good Jews knew about – then left along with Moses and Elijah, the disciples were stunned into silence. This was such a powerful encounter that they needed to contemplate it for a long time. It wasn’t until after the death and resurrection of Jesus that they began to tell others what happened.

You see, Jesus didn’t bring them with him so they could talk. He didn’t bring them with him so they could build. He simply wanted them to be with him.

Certainly, there is plenty of time to do for Jesus. In the early parts of this very chapter, we see Jesus sending the disciples out to “proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” In John chapter 21 we find Jesus telling the Simon Peter, “If you love me, feed my sheep.”

But just as important as doing for him is simply being with him. We sometimes don’t put as much value on the being with. After all, we’ve been told “quality time” – what you do with a person – more important than “quantity time” – being with another. I’m here to tell you, there is value in both. When I was in the emergency room awaiting an appendectomy, my poor husband desperately wanted to do something to make me feel better. I hope he understood that what really helped me feel better was the simple fact that he was there with me.

As Christians, we consider ourselves Jesus’ disciples. But a disciple is not one who sits in a classroom an hour a week, then goes out on his own, doing things his own way. A disciple is one who walks with the master, learning what drives him, what he is like when the crowds aren’t around and strives to be like him. God doesn’t want us to only do what Jesus did. He wants us to be who he is – the human Jesus, not the God Jesus, that is.

It is in those quiet times alone with God when he has called us out and said “come here. Just be with me for a little bit” that we are overwhelmed with his love and are refreshed and then able to go carry out his mission. Just as Peter needed to stop thinking about how he could make this better and simply enjoy his exclusive audience at Jesus’ time of glory realizing that as he did he was understanding Jesus that much better, so too we need to have regular times of being in Jesus’ presence, drawing close to him, seeing him more clearly, and being saturated in the love that is Jesus.

Posted in Sermons | Leave a comment

What A Difference A Year Makes

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Diana

A year ago, we were in the final push to get moved out of our 2800 square foot house and into our 400 square foot RV. Although I had it planned perfectly, going through a room each week, the house seemed to grow, life got in the way, and we came upon the last week before our planned departure for a new life as a full-time RVing family with a lot of work still to do. It was all hands on deck as we sorted and organized and resorted and made trip after trip to the RV to try to fit all of our most important stuff into the RV.

It was a lot harder than I expected to decide what stuff was really essential. It seemed even harder for us adults than for the children, probably because we thought more about long term consequences – what if we need that someday? The children worked harder that week than I had ever asked them to, as I kept giving them new projects, although I did try to give them some final play time with their friends.

Finally, our planned departure date arrived and we woke up to a thick layer of ice over everything. This, in addition to the bitter cold that just wouldn’t quit, made me want to head south quickly. But after pouring hot water over the RV steps to make it safe to walk up and down them, we decided to stay put another day. We wouldn’t have been able to pull the slides in anyway due to the ice.

The next day, after a farewell visit from family and asking my cousin to store some last minute items, we hit the road. We only knew for sure what our first two stops were. We chose a KOA about a day’s drive from Columbus so that we had full hookups while we adjusted to life on the road. Then onto Tallequah, Oklahoma to check out the western band of Cherokee Indians. Beyond that, we didn’t know where we were going, how long we would be there or even how long we would be on the road.

A year later, we still live in the RV full-time. But we are settled again in Muskogee, Oklahoma. We ended up here instead of Tallequah last year, and have since realized it was all part of God’s plan to get us to move here. We are fully involved with the awesome Church of the Nazarene down here, where I am the Children’s Director. I am loving working with the children and the adults here. The family here is exactly that, and there are lots of great ideas for fun stuff to do with the children as we show them how much Jesus loves them and wants them.

Meanwhile, I am staying busy with Scouts. I have started a multi-level Girl Scout Troop which involves 16 girls and is still growing. Did I mention it’s cookie time? I am the committee chair for Cub Scouts, and am helping to start a Boy Scout Troop.
Although we would appreciate a little more space, we like it here at Crossroads RV Park. Also, we are finally pretty stable financially, and are completely debt free! We’re not looking to change that by buying a house right now, and renting isn’t very affordable yet. Besides, it’s unlikely we’ll find a place that will rent to a family of 9. For now, we’ll stay right here. That is, until God tells us to move.

In retrospect, a year hasn’t made a lot of difference, since we started out excited and busy following God’s leading, and, although our circumstances are different, we are still excited and busy following God’s leading.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Home Again

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Diana

We left Kentucky for Ohio on June 22, giving us enough time to settle in at Marmon Valley Farm before heading off to a Cub Scout campout. It was fun to meet up with old friends again, and I am so proud of how the new leadership of the Pack has taken the reins and is keeping the Pack strong. The children enjoyed fishing, BB shooting, whittling, volleyball, and building a survival shelter. Eli got a bullseye with the BB gun, while Adam skipped the planned activities and kept a fire going most of the day Saturday.

Sunday morning, Adam, Ian, Owen and I packed up early to head to summer camp with their Boy Scout Troop. This was the first time I have been able to camp with the Boy Scouts, and it is most definitely different from camping with Cub Scouts. The boys are expected to be responsible for themselves, to include choosing the activities they participate in and when – an advantage of Chief Logan Reservation’s open program. CLR did an excellent job providing a mixture of fun and learning, especially considering they were over capacity the week we went. Sure, there were a few glitches, but things went relatively smoothly with the largest contingent Troop 148 has had in many years. While the older boys worked on Merit Badges and some worked on CLR’s Frontiersman program, we had four patrols of first year Scouts going through the Foothills program. This program has a two-fold purpose – to help the boys earn as many achievements as possible toward their Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class ranks, and to help them learn to work together as a patrol. The first couple of days, working together was a high priority for the group I was working with, but by the end of the week, many of them had come close to finishing their rank requirements, and one completed them all.

There was lots and lots of walking, and then we walked some more! On Thursday, two of the boys needed to go on the five mile hike, so I went with them. It was challenging, but fun, and we got to see a rock with the partial signature of Lewis Merriweather who lived in the area many years ago. Owen was excited to have been able to start a fire without a match, and I enjoyed learning more about some of the local plants, especially the edible ones. It was great to meet the members of Owen’s patrol for the first time, and both Owen and I are looking forward to participating in Troop activities over the next month that we are here in central Ohio.

After arriving back at Marmon Valley, showering to get rid of the mud from the mudslide that was the hill to our campsite and catching up on sleep, we went back to West Broad Church of the Nazarene on Sunday morning. It was a joyful homecoming! We have missed our church family, and were thrilled to be able to worship with them again.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Lexington, KY

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Diana

When we realized that we had about 5 weeks between the end of Bob’s conference in Pittsburgh and summer camps in Ohio, we let Erica pick a place in Kentucky for us to visit. She chose Lexington and we worked together to identify Georgetown as the best place for us. We found Whispering Hills RV Park, which had just opened earlier in the year. After letting them know what and who we had, they quoted us a price we could live with and we were thrilled to be going to a park with a playground and a pool that was open. It turned out to be a great decision, as we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. The owners were wonderful and even offered to keep an eye on the children while Bob & I went on date night. We managed to swim almost every day after the pool opened on Memorial Day weekend and the grounds were flat enough that even Abigail could ride her bike on the paved roads. Making lots of new friends is a perk of this lifestyle, and we met several great families during our stay in Georgetown, including our new friends who have 6 children and still invited us over for dinner.

We made it out to several local attractions, including the Thoroughbred Center, Thoroughbred Park, Old Kentucky Chocolates and Kentucky Horse Park, in addition to a few others. Although the Old Kentucky Chocolates tour was short, it was interesting to see how they make some of their candies, and we got samples. I loved it!

For Kentucky Horse Park, I only took Erica and Olivia, because we figured it would be a full day, and while the rest of the family enjoys horses, only my horse lovers would have wanted to stay all day. The Horse Park is a great value. I only paid $37 for the three of us, which covered admission for the whole day into all of the activities of the Park. We were able to view a movie about the history of horses, enjoy two different museums, take a horse drawn tour of the Park, and attend the Show of Champions and the Parade of Breeds twice. We found out that the Parade of Breeds is different each time, so we watched both of them the day we were there. Although I wouldn’t expect a non-horse lover to stay at the Kentucky Horse Park more than half a day, it is a paradise for a horse lover.

Posted in Places | Leave a comment

A Few Days With the Bears

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Diana

We arrived at Jellystone where Bob backed the rig into a tight spot seemingly effortlessly. While we started setting up, Bob packed up to leave for a few days, since he was going to stay at Matt’s apartment during his writing conference. Matt’s apartment was only 25 minutes from the conference, while Jellystone was about 1 hour 15 minutes. Initially, the children were disappointed to find out that we had come during off season, so many of the attractions were not open yet. However, with it being off season, we got half price. And this is one of the few campground in the country that doesn’t charge extra for more than 2 or 3 people. The children didn’t care about the pricing as much as I did, but Ian did perk up when I told him we could build a campfire.

Over the air reception for the TV was nonexistent, so I broke down and bought a cable to attach to the campsite’s cable connection. Then I spent the next several hours trying to get it working! Thank goodness for Forest River forums. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything we could do about the lack of cell phone reception.

Although we battled the rain all weekend, we did manage to get some bike riding, fishing, and a couple of bonfires in. On Friday, when Matt came to visit, since we got in too late to go see him on Wednesday, we were going to have a bonfire and S’mores after dinner. Well, Matt needed to leave to finish packing for a trip, so we started the bonfire early. Then, I allowed the children to start making S’mores as soon as they finished eating dinner, hoping to beat the rain. We almost did. We discovered that night that if you have a good, strong fire going, even a downpour won’t put it out very quickly. Thankfully, it wasn’t very windy, so some of us sat under the awning watching the others play in the rain.

There were some weekend activities, and I think my children managed to do every free activity the campground offered, from hay wagon rides to carousel rides to mini golf with Yogi Bear. The highlight of the weekend was waking up the bears from their hibernation. The interesting thing is that we were at the Jellystone in Cherokee, North Carolina when the bears went into hibernation in the fall of 2010. Naturally, on this weekend, when there were three wagons and the campground’s altered fire truck full of people ready to wake up the bears, the sky opened up and it poured on us! Despite the rain, though, Yogi, Cindy and Boo Boo are awake and ready for another season. And we have moved on to flatter land in Kentucky.

Posted in Life on the Road, Places | Leave a comment

Texas to Pennsylvania

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Diana

Saturday, getting ready to travel proved to be more work than expected when we found out that parts of I40 were closed due to flooding, so we had to decide on an alternate route and figure out the best places for us to stay. And we lost Erica to the TV when coverage of the Kentucky Derby started. All of us took a break to watch from the posting of the colors to the race itself, except for Bob who was trying to get an oil change on the van. Unfortunately for Erica, none of her top three picks ranked in the top three.

As it turns out, the best alternate route took us right back through Muskogee, so we stopped back in Crossroads RV Park. They had gotten very busy in the past five weeks, but still had a spot for us overnight. Once we got settled, Ian made dinner, with the help of a few others, to try to give me a little relaxation on Mother’s Day. And the children all tried very hard to be helpful and considerate even when everybody was tired from traveling all day. We may have our occasional (daily is occasional, right?) frustrations, but I do love being a mother, and am glad God chose the children he blessed us with.

Monday was another long day of driving. In the future, I think we’ll stick to one day jumps when possible! Erica apparently decided that counting cows was too boring for her, so instead, she counted dead armadillo. We got to 57. I am now fairly skilled at telling when roadkill is an armadillo or not, even if only the tail is still in tact.. I never knew armadillo were present even up into Missouri. I don’t think she ever spotted any of the dead turtles.

I was struck today by how our lives are like the road. Many times today, it seemed someone missed something. I missed the ostrich. We missed many license plates for the game. Abigail missed the roadkill. Yes, this was a disappointment to her. How many times do we miss opportunities in life? How many times do we look back and realize that God was giving us a chance to make a difference in someone’s life, but we were going too fast to see it? Being on the road has already showed us that we can live and enjoy a simpler life, with more time for people and less time needed for stuff.

We intended to boondock at a WalMart, but the one we intended to stop at was fairly small and the manager didn’t seem all that thrilled about us staying, so we headed in the direction of another WalMart. We spotted a Cracker Barrel first and stayed there. It was much more difficult to sleep than the last time we boondocked because it was warm enough that we slept with the windows open. I don’t sleep well with so many unusual noises.

Tuesday was just another long day of driving, but we were rewarded by staying overnight at the sticks house we still own. It is in contract, so hopefully we will close soon. The children got to spend a little time playing with friends from the old neighborhood, including jumping on the trampoline which was in the driveway, on its way to the neighbor’s house. Apparently, the children have adapted to RV life, because they had three bedrooms from which to choose for sleeping, they all slept in the same room.

Wednesday morning, we visited with some friends, then headed out for Pittsburgh. Driving through small towns up and down hills was horrendous. I am quickly deciding that I prefer flatlands. As we drew close to the campground, there was a low clearance sign stating 12’ 7” ahead. We’re 13’ 6”, so that wasn’t going to work. The local shop owner and the campground staff that Bob called said, “Oh, you’ll be fine.” We went on, with Bob going slowly and carefully up to the bridge. The low clearance must just be on the sides, because he made it through the center with no problem. We got set up and Bob headed out to stay at Matt’s house, closer to his conference.

It was a long ride here. It feels good to be able to set up in place for a few days. The Jellystone we’re at is nice, but I still don’t think I could bring myself to pay full price. It’s offseason until Memorial Day, so we are staying for half price now. Unfortunately, that means the children get to see all these neat things and get frustrated because many are not open yet. There is enough available to keep them occupied, though, and best of all, they get to build a fire.

Posted in Life on the Road, Places | Leave a comment

The Last Splash

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Diana

We tend to do our school and house work Monday through Thursday, leaving Friday for trips. Knowing that this would be our last Friday in Austin, I finally made good on a promise I made to the boys to try to take them and the kayak the park’s owner told us we could use. Since they knew they were going to have the opportunity to swim at our cousins’ house later, only three of the children ended up going to the beach with me, but we had a good time. Owen discovered that controlling that boat against the steady 15 mph wind was harder than it looked. And Ian, ever the doting big brother, agreed to have Olivia sit in front of him while he rowed her out and back, again and again. I’m not sure which one enjoyed it more.

Later on Friday, we went out to Georgetown to visit with cousins from Bob’s side, Bill and Robin. The children had fun playing in the pool. They had really missed playing and swimming in water that you could see through to the bottom. Then, after cousin Matthew and his girlfriend Kerry arrived, we ate dinner. The children did manage to watch the final episode of one of their favorite shows while we adults visited. After dinner, we saw pictures and videos from Bill and Robin’s recent trip to Argentina. Such a different culture, and yet, our needs are so similar. Robin is an excellent photographer, and even caught an iceberg calving. It was such a joy to be with family again, and it seemed that 9:30 and the resulting tiredness came much too quickly.

Posted in Life on the Road | Leave a comment

Ohio weather in Texas?

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Diana

The weather for the past couple of days has been way too reminiscent of Ohio weather. On Sunday, when we got home from church, the temperature was 92. By the time I got home from the grocery four hours later, it had dropped to 63. Nice cold front, unfortunately, no rain. Last week, we saw something we have never seen in Ohio, though. We watched a thundercloud form and travel over south Austin. It was neat to see in real life what I’ve only seen in textbooks.

We discovered that the three plugs that we plugged the electric heaters into on Sunday night were all on the same circuit, as they popped the breaker in the middle of the night. I decided it wasn’t cold enough for me to get up and do something about it when I discovered this in the early morning hours.

By Monday, it was still cold, but misted a majority of the day. Most of us kept out of the cold, misty weather by helping at the church’s clothes closet work day. Fun, but tiring, and of course, the children brought home several pieces of clothing. I’m impressed that the younger girls only had a small box each! The weather is warming up fairly quickly. Hopefully, it will be nice enough by Friday for us to hit the beach one last time before we head to Pittsburgh.

Posted in Life on the Road | Leave a comment

Enjoying Texas

Posted on April 30, 2011 by Diana

Friday – Sunburns in April! The week before, we had tried to go to a beach that one of the staff here told us about. However, as we drove and drove along the road, it seemed as if maybe we had misunderstood the directions. We ended up at a different beach which was nice enough, but lots of mud. We enjoyed it for a couple of hours to include the time spent playing on the playground and watching a little lizard. This week, we found that we had been on the right road and had turned around when we were almost to the beach. The beaches here are very rocky and not very busy, at least on weekdays. There was a nice wide, shallow area for us to play in, and there was even a small section of sand where the children built castles, moats, and other unidentifiable objects. The best part about the whole thing is that it is only April and it is warm enough for us to comfortably spend time playing in the water.

Sunday – Had a wonderful worship service with Hill Country Church of the Nazarene in Cedar Park, Texas, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, who took our sins away and conquered death so we could really live. Afterwards, there was an Easter Egg hunt for the children and a family from church invited us over for Easter dinner. The food was delicious and we really enjoyed visiting with a like minded family.

Monday – Pack 151 in Georgetown, Texas has allowed Eli and me to join their meetings for the past month and awarded Eli the gold and silver arrow points that he has earned. They were a very welcoming group and we will miss them. Troop 155 has also accepted the older boys at their Troop meetings.

Friday – Thanks to an Eversave buy in March, we were able to go to Pioneer Farms for half price. This was a neat place to see what some of the early settlers lives were like, including a cotton plantation, a German immigrant farm, an early Texan farm, and an Indian settlement. Although the children got tired out pretty early, it was still a fun day, and I came back even more thankful for the amenities we have now. I do so enjoy my electricity and indoor plumbing. And not having to grow or butcher my own food is nice. I suppose if my life depended on it, I could, but I’ve tried growing a garden, and wasn’t very successful! Besides, it would be a little difficult to find a place for a cow or chickens in the RV.

Posted in Life on the Road, Places | Leave a comment