Changes?

The last couple of days have been about getting Mama Trudy feeling better.  She's been having stomach pain and nausea.  As the time draws near for us to leave, she is realizing that she probably doesn't need to be alone nor wants to be alone, which presented a dilemma for us.  What do we do?  Oh, yes... I remember.... PRAY.

Today, praise the Lord, she feels much better after taking Zantac and is making plans to move to Waco with her granddaughter's mother-in-law, who is, by profession, a care-giver.  We love you, Billie! 

We really did not realize until today just how ready Mama is to go to Billie's.  Now, we just have to get organized or rather, we just have to keep up with Mama.  [insert smile]  Billie, we need to talk again!  Things are progressing faster than we expected.

I'm excited, too, that Mama will be able to read our blog with Billie, since Billie is a regular reader.

Jon was out front when we got to Mama's today, putting his shoes on?  I guessed it.  Just use your imagination.

  

Brother Jon rode out to the "Q" this afternoon to see our "home" and where we are parked.  I'm sure glad he's here for a few days.

OK, I've still got some 'processing' and catching up to do.  Things seem to be happening fast.  Still....

We are so blessed.

My brother arrives

Well, another fine Oklahoma severe thunderstorm came through during the night.  This "river" is now running right beside the "Q."

On our way to the airport to pick up my brother, Jon, this is what the sky looked like.

At the airport, we waiting for Jon's flight at the baggage claim.

Mama was happy to see her son.  I was tickled to see that she had felt like getting dressed.  Well, I'm not sure she felt like it, but she got out of her gown and robe, nonetheless.

Mama Trudy and her first born and her baby girl.

We are so blessed to have this lady as our mother.    

Praise the Lord!!!

Yeah God!!!  Leslie and Khalil have leased their house in Waco!!!  The tenants move in today!

Don't ever give up on prayer.  God's timing is perfect.  Since they stepped out in faith and Leslie took a job in Round Rock and she and the kids moved there to be with hubby/daddy, God has been faithfully blessing at just the right times.

Another thing that God has been faithful in was His leading them to a wonderful church.

We are so excited about going to visit them in a few weeks.

Praise You, LORD, for Your love, goodness, grace, mercy and provision.

Ron and GeorgeAnn

We got up early this morning and typed "Antlers, OK" in Gabby Gerty, our GPS, and took off.  Destination:  Rivers of Water Harvest worship service where Don's good friend, Ron Jarman, is pastor.

On our way, we crossed this bridge over the Muddy Boggy Creek.The Lord led Ron to an abandoned bar/dance hall on eight acres to convert to a church outreach center.  It's a work in progress, but the potential is tremendous. 

Ron also leads the music.  He's a very talented singer and songwriter.The drummer is very young and does a great job.  Ron said he's coming along fine.Ron introduced Don and allowed him to speak for about ten minutes about CRM and all the RV ministries.  It looks like they are singing a duet, but don't worry about that. The next two pictures will show the potential here.After going to lunch at the local Mexican restaurant, Ron and GeorgeAnn drove us out to their house in the country.  The first picture I took was a rooster up in a big tree.GeorgeAnn, Don and Ron.  (That's Yoda taking a bath.)It was great for me to finally meet Ron and GeorgeAnn.  And we enjoyed our time with them.

On our drive back home, we crossed over Lake Texoma.There were a few boaters out. Lake Texoma is a very large lake on the Oklahoma-Texas border.It was about 7:30 PM when we got home and we were thankful to be home.

We are so blessed.

Reunion

Today was just a lazy day.  We needed it.

Late this afternoon, I did drive in to Oklahoma City to meet up with a really good friend from about 15 years ago, in Texas.  Oh my goodness, it was good to see her and we just picked up where we left off and yack-yacked for about four hours.  That was fun.

1, 2, 3

1.  Wendy and Rick left this morning.  They're going to Ohio to see Rick's dad who is not doing very well; hospice has been brought in.  We took pictures, prayed with them, hugged, cried and then they were off.[Wendy called tonight from Effingham, Illinois.  They drove 630 miles today and will have a little over 400 miles to go tomorrow.  Rick talked to his dad today and he seems to be a little better; he's home and he's eaten a few noodles.  Keep them all in your prayers.]

2.  We went by to see grandkids, Lydia and Blaine.  Lydia has a new haircut for school and they both have new school clothes, which they wanted to show us.   Blaine brought his out and laid them in my lap; Lydia modeled almost every piece.  It's a girl thing. While she changed clothes, Blaine entertained us. Cute top, eh?Blaine loves playing with his legos.Is this shirt a warning?They begin school next Thursday and they're ready.

3.  Today is DDF (Date Day Friday).  After leaving the grandkids, we met Bill and Jane Sissons for lunch.  Bill is the gentleman that Don went to Iowa with.  It was great meeting his wife, June.  She's a sweetie.  After Bill helped me with the installation of a new program on the laptop, we came home.  It's strange to see the empty spot when we enter the park.  This afternoon, we went over to the Moore Warren Theatre to see the new movie, Julie & Julia.  Cute movie in which Meryl Streep did an outstanding job with the role of Julia Childs.

We drove near the airport today.

Link to Biggest Loser preview and Abby

I am unable to retrieve the "Go Abby!!" post, so will added the link here.  I'm not sure you will be able to see the video from the blog, but you can from the link:

http://www.nbc.com/The_Biggest_Loser/video/clips/the-biggest-loser-preview/1142261/

Go Abby!!!

The girl here, who speaks of losing her husband, daughter and two week old son in a car accident, graduated from high school in 1992 with my daughter, LaNae.  Join us as we cheer Abby on, starting Sept. 15, NBC.

Remember to mute the playlist before starting the video.

Wonderful Wednesday Wanderings

We wonderfully wandered around Oklahoma today. 

So, here's the deal:  Wendy and Rick announced that they are retired and Don and I, semi-retired this summer, blissfully took the day off, so we all decided that we're in no hurry and we would just take our time going over and down to southeastern Oklahoma.  There's only one problem with that plan... we have to come home.  It was almost 10:00 last night when we got back.

But it was a good tired.  We saw a lot of beauty in this state.  There was one wrinkle in my day, however.  About twelve pictures into the day, my camera announced that it's internal memory was FULL.... TWELVE PICTURES?!!!  Surely I did not leave my SD card in the computer.... oh, surely I did.  Thank God, Wendy took her camera and got lots of pictures.  Here's what I did get after I erased my goof-off pictures and got ready for serious picture taking: 

Our first official stop was about 12:30 when we pulled into the Sardis Lake area for our picnic that we had prepared.  We were very hungry and enjoyed our picnic immensely under the shade of trees and on a nice, clean park picnic table.  After our picnic, the guys baited their hooks and went fishing.  Here's Rick in his new hat.

Don got a bite right off, but the fish took off with his worm and broke his line on a rock.Now, doesn't that look relaxing?  I don't know who this is (fingers crossed), but he looks cool.Don, again, after he got his line repaired.While the guys are fishing, Wendy and I are relaxing in our recliners.  We love our folding, portable recliners!  Wendy read a book and I.... well, it wasn't long before I was sawing logs ... zzzzz.  This dragon fly was perched on a small limb about eight feet above me. A bird pooped on Wendy's new chair... sorry, no picture. :-)  As we were leaving the lake park area, which was really nice with lots of RV parking sites, we saw this gaggle of geese.

We're now headed for the Talimena Scenic Drive, a national scenic byway.  Here are a few shots from the top of the ridge as we drove along the Talimena Scenic Drive.And just for me, a stately dead tree glistening in the sunshine.In the valley, the temperature was about 91.  Up here on the Drive, we saw 78 registered on the thermometer, with a nice breeze.  Such a beautiful day.A lake in the distance.  All of the mountains we saw today were part of the Ouachita (wah-che'-taw) Mountain Range.As we were driving along, all of a sudden, eagle-eyes Don said, "There's a sky-diver!"  We pulled in to the next vista point and found Matt sitting at the launch site talking to Ron way up in the sky flying his glider... not a sky-diver.  We all got to say "HI, RON!" in unison over the two-way radio.  Ron was way up there... this picture is zoomed in as much as I could zoom.From the launch site on the Talimena Scenic Drive at the Panorama Vista, you can see the landing site down in the valley below.  Sometimes the gliders land there, sometimes they land over in the Buffalo Mountain Valley area.  Matt, from Missouri, said today was a little windy for him, but he had been up earlier.  Ron, is his instructor.  It was very interesting and Don was wishing he was thirty years younger and heart-healthy. That was the end of my picture taking, but we drove on across the Arkansas state line, to the Queen Wilhelmina Lodge.  <<-- go to this site to see a beautiful aerial view of the lodge.  And this is the official site:  http://www.queenwilhelmina.com/      The history of this lodge is very interesting: http://www.queenwilhelmina.com/history/default.aspx

It's now getting late in the afternoon and we decide we need to turn our wheels toward "home."  Down the mountain we travel and head back west toward Heavener, OK, where we found the Southern Belle Restaurant:  a refurbished passenger train car converted into a restaurant with a well-known reputation for it's cuisine, especially the cream pies.  Don and Rick had the coconut cream, of course.  For pictures, you must visit Furys' Follies, Wendy and Rick's blog.  If she doesn't have today posted yet, just keep going back, she will get it posted soon.

You could spend and entire season (not including winter; too icy) in this area and not see everything.  The Fall is especially beautiful, also, with the turning leaves.  That's one thing about Oklahoma, you get to experience all four seasons in all their beauty.... and gusto.

Well, it was a great day.  We really appreciate Rick driving.  The back seat in their truck is more roomy than ours.  Don tries to drive our truck most of the time, because when Rick drives, he is such a good driver, he doesn't get to sight-see when he's driving, unless he stops, which we did a lot today.  We love sharing Oklahoma with them and I'm seeing parts of it that I've never seen, too.  We were even on one road today that Don had never been on. 

We are just so thankful for the RV ministry that God has called us to.  If not, we would never have met the Furys and experienced the love, friendship and happy times we've had with them.  Laughter abounds when we're together.

We are so blessed.

The Local RV Store

After lunch at Sante Fe Steakhouse in Norman and a trip to Wally World, we made an unsuccessful run to the local RV store, Floyd's, today to find a level for the "Q".  I did take a few pictures there.The water lilies were very pretty.About six inches long.Rick and Wendy looked at a really nice used Class A with a bath and 1/2.  Wendy really liked the floor plan on this one.