Month: October 2010

GGood morning Friends!

What a beautiful day here in the Pacific NW.  Woke up to sunshine and super blue skies.  A great day to attend a football game ~ we are going to Lummi High School this afternoon to see our friends, Norm & Kristy Smith and their family. Their son, Zeke is playing in his first playoff game of the season ~ Good Luck Zeke!

Motor home update ~ the fire was caused by the same thing that happened last year.  An oil hose burst and dropped oil on the manifold catching the engine on fire.  Fortunately is not nearly as bad as last year.  It should only be about $3000 to fix the motor home (this time they are putting in a metal hose instead of rubber) and we should get it back next Friday if all goes well.  

Where we are ~ we are staying in Birch Bay at our friend’s Jim & Mei’s condo.  We are in the upstairs unit that has a tremendous view of the bay.  We are so grateful for dear friends + a great insurance agent.

View from the condo!  We just love this area and can’t wait to get in some walks while we are here.

 How long we will be here in the Blaine/Birch Bay area ~ we will be in the area till the 21st or 22nd of November.  If you want to get together give us a shout via phone or email.  We would love to see as many friends and family as possible while here.


Meeting new friends ~ Thursday afternoon we were able to get together with John & Judy who are from Michigan and live and travel in their motor home. 

Sorry the picture is so dark…not sure how to lighten it up.

Thanks FroggiDonna for lightening us up.  Can’t wait to try that other program out.

 We met through reading each other’s blogs.  When we found out they were in Anacortes and we were going to be back in Whatcom County we made plans to meet for lunch at Applebees.  As we were pulling into the parking lot Ron asked me “how would we know them.”  I laughed and said I didn’t know.  I had forgotten to check their blog to refresh my mind what they looked like.  Ron then asked, “where are they from?”  “I don’t know” was my reply while laughing some more.  He asked were they from South Dakota?  “I don’t know,.”  So we pulled into the parking spot and as we got out this guy in the Explorer next to us got out and said “Hi Ron” – it was John and Judy!  We had a lot of fun getting to know them, sharing about our families, our love for the Lord.  It’s funny how we had never met but we just started talking like we had seen each other just yesterday.  The wonders of blog writing/posting lets us know each other so we are able to renew our friendships from right where we are.  Safe travels John & Judy and hope to see you again down the road.

Renewing old friendships ~ in the evening we were able to visit with Jim & Mary (boy do we know a lot of Jim’s).  We laughed and shared about our time with the carnival, some thoughts about plans for the future, lots of stories of our time with the grandson’s and eating apple crisp and drinking some tea.  Sorry we stayed so late Mary & Jim…hope it wasn’t too hard getting up early Friday morning.  Looking forward to seeing you both again real soon.

Friday we  got the instrument panel fixed in the truck.  It had gone out right before we left last March to go join the carnival.  But since it was in storage for the summer we saw no need to get it fixed till now.  We sold our truck to Brandon & Danalyn so thought it should be fixed before they take possession of it.  We were pleasantly surprised when it was only $330 to get it fixed and not the $525 we had been quoted.  Brandon will be flying up here this coming Friday and staying till Sunday morning.  It will be fun to have him visit for a couple of days.


Prayer & Praise ~


~ for my friend Lynda and her family.  Her dad was just recently diagnosed with cancer and Lynda is flying to Alabama to be with him and other members of the family.  Please pray for safety as Lynda travels and for her dad to not be in much pain.


~ we are excited to have a job to go to in a few weeks.  We will be selling Christmas trees for Noel’s Christmas trees somewhere between Federal Way and Everett, WA.  Thank you Lord for employment, doing something that Ron wanted to try.


~ as we seek employment for next Spring/Summer.  We have not yet decided if we are going back to the carnival next year.  We are trusting the Lord to give us clear direction where he wants us to be.


Guess that’s all for now.  The laundry is calling my name and we need to get ready to go to some football.


Will write more in the next day or two.

We stopped at Smallwood’s Fruitstand and walked around there grounds.  This is the cow train and scarecrow keeping watch over the cow cars.

How about an upside down scarecrow?

What about these two horse tire swings.  Wish the grands had been with us ~ we are sure they would have had fun!

One of their chickens.

The winery up behind the fruitstand.

Ron checking out the maze.

Isn’t he the handsome one?  Love how his beard is growing back.  He will definitely be Santa material by December.

The Egg Factory

I really wanted a picture of the pig but Ron said I had to be in there too!

Ron checking out the tractor.

“Don’t I look cute?  I want one, no I need one!”

A chicken but not sure what type.

Aren’t these the handsome ones?

Chickens doing their job.  Look at all the boxes for laying eggs.

A pumpkin shooter.  Bet they go far!

Ron getting ready to try his hand at lasooing.

This is for Christopher!

White pumpkins, orange pumpkins and the ghosts watching over them.

Some more scarecrows on duty.

This is who greets you when you first arrive at Smallwoods.

Pretty good use of old pieces of machinery.

Heading into the fruitstand itself.

Thought these were interesting ~ don’t know if they are edible or not.

Gateway to the petting zoo.  We did not go inside, cost $1 and thought we have seen baby animals before.  Now if the grands were with us that would have been another story.

Giant sunflowers minus the seeds.

This guy tells a story, but alas I could not get the video to transfer over.

This is a Turban Squash.  The guy there said they are edible so we bought one.  Now to find a recipe and cook the darn thing.

A neat looking farm on the way to the campground.

An old barn.

Ron checking in at the ranger station at Leavenworth TT.

Getting directions to where the best site was to set up the satellite dish.  We parked where he told us and we had TV in less than 10 minutes!

The view out the side door of the motor home.

The only other people camping in the park and they are right out our front window.

The view to the left of us.

The sign to Mt. Springs Lodge

One of the many lodges at Mt. Spring.

Look who’s greeting you when you go in the door.

Saw this sign on the way into Leavenworth.  Almost stopped to see if she was a nice Granny or not.  But Ron said no.

Mural at entrance to Icicle Inn

Ron enjoying a mug of brew at Icicle Inn.  We stopped there for appetizers.

The murals in the dining room/lounge.

Us!

Us again…we keep trying to get a good shot of us together.  Next time I guess we had better ask the waitress/waiter to help us out.

Appetizers: cheese and crackers with a brew for Ron and a glass of Reisling for Alice.

Mural in the dining room/lounge.

Close up of murals.

Heading into the town square.

Raspberry turnover = scrumptious.  Pretzel = not so good.

I woke up early this morning (Wednesday, 10/27/10) and spent some time on the computer before heading out on our drive to Blaine.  Ron slept till almost 9:45 when his phone rang.  It was a friend of ours, Addy, who heard we were almost back home and wanted to make sure we got a date set to get together for dinner.  She was so excited that we are going to be back in Whatcom County for a few weeks.  She has a couple of plumbing jobs for Ron and she wanted to make sure to get on his work schedule.

This is the view that greeted me this morning ~

Looking out our side door of the motor home.  A beautiful day for driving.

Close up view of the same view.

We finally got on the road this morning about 10:30.  We had a beautiful drive over Stevens Pass, hit a little bit of traffic in the Everett/Marysville area.  But no complaints.

This is on Highway 207 heading away from the campground and the outskirts of Leavenworth.

This is heading east on Highway 2 towards Stevens Pass.  So glad we had a beautiful day of driving.  Yesterday it snowed off/on on the pass.

This is the crest of the mountain pass.  Isn’t it gorgeous?

And this is heading north on I5 just after crossing into Whatcom County.  We are almost home!

Once we got into Whatcom County I decided to drive ahead of Ron as I remembered I had forgotten to take any meat out of the freezer for dinner.  I had been thinking Hamburger Soup sounded pretty tasty.  I called Ron on the two-way radio and told him I would meet him at TT/NACO in Blaine after stopping at the store and then at Dee’s (our favorite personal mail lady) to pick up our mail.  So off I go.  About 5 minutes later I get a call from Ron on the two-way that he had a problem and was taking the Portal Way exit.  I had since past that exit so I called him back and said I would turn around at the Grandview Exit and come back.  I asked “what is wrong?”  He replied, “I have smoke coming out the back of the motor home.”  So I drove ahead to the Grandview Exit and turned around.  It took me about 10 minutes to get to the Portal Way exit.  I got off the freeway and did not see Ron.  I called him on the phone and asked him where he was ~ on the off ramp, there had been a fire!  I turned the car around and pulled up to the end of the off-ramp when I noticed a cop going backwards up the off-ramp with his lights/siren going.  I took off running (not a good thing for a woman my size to do~but I did it anyway).  I got to the rig just as the cop was coming out of the side door of the motor home and he hollered “everything is okay.”  So I slowed to a walk.  By the time I got to the door of the motor home a fire engine and an aid car was pulling up behind the motor home along with a DOT truck.  This is what it looked like:

This is a view from the side of the motor home with the cop car in front.  The little car in front of the cop car belongs to a long time friend of ours who saw the smoke coming out of the motor home and called 911 before he even knew who it belonged to.  Thanks George for being a Good Samaritan.

And this is the back of the motor home.  The guy walking towards the motor home is the DOT incident report guy and behind his truck is the fire engine and the aid car.  So glad those vehicles and personnel were available but not needed this time.

After a few phone calls to the insurance company and our agent ~ so thankful we have good insurance and great roadside assistance ~ and the fireman checking out the rig, the DOT guy talking to Ron, the cop putting the red triangle thingy out ~ and everyone knowing the tow truck was on its way…everyone left.  We sat beside the freeway for just over an hour and a half.  During that time, our insurance agent, Jim, showed up.  We talked about our plans and decided that we would stay with the rig at Jerry Chambers Chevrolet for the night and then tomorrow we will move our stuff into one of the condo’s at Jim & Mei’s place.    It sure has come in handy having our insurance agent who is our friend who also has some pretty nifty condo’s in Birch Bay ~ thank you J & M for all your love, support and help during some times that could have been a lot harder to deal with. 

Shortly after Jim left, two friends from TT/NACO came walking up to the motor home.  They had seen us from the freeway and had gone up to the Grandview Exit, turned around and came to check on us ~ thanks Maria & Jill.  Shortly after Jill & Maria left, Kerry from Burke’s Towing showed up with this:

This is Kerry’s rig from Burke’s Towing.  We need the big guy to pull our home.

And then got busy to get us hooked up to his pretty white tow truck.  Ron helped him a little too.

Ron watching Kerry as he hooked up the truck to tow our vehicle.

This is the view you saw when you took the off ramp.  The cop put out our emergency triangle.  He said it was a good thing we carry that with us.  Boy don’t we know it.

A front side view of the tow truck, the motor home and the suburban all lined up.

Ron helping Kerry line the thingy up to hold the tires while being towed.

Already to get down the road.

While all this was going on , my friend and personal mail lady, Dee showed up.  She had been in Bellingham when I called, so she stopped on her way home.  She did bring us some good news ~ our unemployment benefits have been approved!  Thank you Lord for providing for us again!!  It was good to see her as I got some great hugs in while we stood and talked while the guys worked.  Shortly after that this is what we did:

Kerry leading the way with the tow truck and the motor home.  Ron says all total we are about 55 ft in length.

And then we drove back to Bellingham, following Kerry with our motor home in tow.  And yes, Kerry remembered us from last November when we had the fire in the motor home.  After arriving at Jerry Chambers Chevrolet Kerry got us tucked in here:

And our home for the night (probably a few more days for the rig while it gets repaired).

Once we were all settled, John came out and made sure we had power.  Ron and John talked for awhile and we are on the docket for first thing in the morning to find out why we had another fire when this was all supposed to be fixed last year when the motor home was here at Jerry Chambers Chevrolet for three weeks.

We just want to give thanks to the Lord that the fire was not any worse than it was.  That Ron was able to get the motor home safely off the road and that no one was hurt.  For the quick response of the emergency personnel and for the offers of help from our friends here at home.  We will keep you updated on what we find out and how long the motor home will be in the shop.

Oh, one more thing ~  found out yesterday we got a job selling Christmas trees and it is right here in Washington state.  We will be selling trees for Noel’s Christmas Trees at one of his lots somewhere between Federal Way and Everett.  Thank you all for praying for us as we sought employment.

Wishing each of you a blessed day!

Alice & Ron

	We drove from Clarkston, WA to Crescent Bar, WA on Monday, October 25th.  It was a beautiful drive even though it was overcast most of the day.  We did hit a little rain but not enough to cause any problems.  Sure hope you enjoy traveling along with us.

The welcome star for Starbuck.  Ron kept saying that this is where Starbuck’s began BUT I kept telling him no, I don’t think so.  There were no stores of any kind in this little town that were open.  It was pretty dilapidated.

 

Some donkeys along the road.

Ron wanted to go to Palouse Falls State Park.  So we did.  It was the first time we ever took the motor home four wheeling ~ down a gravel/dirt road.  Which really was a muddy mess but we made it.

This is the suburban after driving into the park.  Boy is it dirty!

And look at the mud on the side of the motor home.  Guess Ron has a big job to do when we get back to Blaine.

Ron reading about the history of the Falls.

Aren’t they beautiful?  There was a sign that said “Do not throw stuff over fence.  People below.”  Ron kept asking how do we get down there.  We could see no trails.  I told him they must come up from the river.

Looking down the river from the Falls.

These rocks look sort of like a castle off in the distance.  They are across the river, near the Falls.

Another picture of the Falls, definitely a beautiful place made by God.

Learning to use the panoramic view of the camera.  There was only one walking trail but this picture makes it look like there are two.

See the mud on the step…yuck!

Following Ron along the muddy road out of the Falls.

Tried to show how the mud was flying as Ron was driving the motor home.  Can’t really believe we took the motor home down that road BUT we did.

Back on good ole pavement.

A beautiful grove of trees changing colors.

An orchard we were coming up to.  We passed many orchards along our drive today.

Just love the scenery.

And one of many cornfields we passed.  Sorry the picture is kinda cloudy…think it has something to do with the mud on my window.

Some murals painted on an old gas station.

Looking over Crescent Bar heading down the windy road to the campground.

We had a good day for driving and no problems with the motor home or suburban.  Two more days and we will be back in Blaine.  Hope you enjoyed traveling along with us from Clarkston to Crescent Bar.

We have had a busy weekend.  Full of fun and yet tinged with sadness.  This is our last weekend here in Clarkston/Lewiston.  Hard to believe it has been almost three weeks since we arrived here.  We have spent a lot of time with Brandon, Danalyn, Max & Christopher.  There has been soccer practices, soccer games, sleep overs, swimming, walks in the Fall crisp air, painting of pumpkins, good meals shared and lots of hugs & kisses.  Here is a peak of what we did this past weekend.  

First up Saturday morning we had breakfast.  Grammy always looking for a shortcut and easy things to fix to eat picked up this can of pancake mix.  You shake it up like whip cream and then put in the pan and voila pancakes.

Batter Blaster – looks easy enough.

Christopher chowing down.  His taste buds don’t know much because the rest of us decided these were not worth eating and this Grammy will not be buying Batter Blaster again.  Was fine for one time but never again.

Christopher mesmerized (like his Uncle Jamie used to do).  Just what was he mesmerized by…

Cartoons!!!  Max was busy getting dressed for soccer and Grammy & Grandpa were trying to clean up.

Saturday morning after breakfast found us at the Clarkston Boys & Girls Club soccer fields.  Max’s team (in the bright green, Max #7)  pulled out a win of 7 to 4.  For a little while though we thought the blue team was going to win.

Danalyn & Christopher watching Max out on the soccer field.

Max anticipating the ball coming at him.  FYI ~ it is hard to get a face on shot at a soccer game ~ go figure.

Max on his way to line up after the other team got a goal.

Funny faces at Grammy.

Brandon & Christopher having a serious discussion.  Believe it had to do with Christopher not being able to go out on the soccer field with brother.

Max behind the goalie getting ready to kick the ball in.

Max on the run, telling the kicker he was ready for the ball to come his way.

Max going after the ball ~ sorry Max for cutting off your head.

Getting ready to go after the ball.

After soccer we all came back to the motor home to do some cookie baking.  I was used to the slice and bake cookies but now they come in little tiny circles and you just put them on the cookie sheet and bake.  We made pumpkins and ghosts.  

Christopher, in his Blaine sweatshirt, admiring the cookies as they were cooling.

See the first cookie in the second row…he was showing Grandpa the cookies were cooled.  Guess who got that one.

Christopher gave it to Grandpa.  Sorry for cutting of your head Grandpa.  (This Grammy thinks she needs lessons in taking pictures).

Christopher, not too sure about giving Grandpa the cookie.

But he finally got one!

Max ignoring Grammy who is trying to get their picture.  Christopher is too busy eating his cookie.

Today after taking the boys swimming we headed back to their house where Brandon & Danalyn were cooking up a delightful dinner.  We had spiraled ham, fresh green beans, mashed potatoes, fruit salad and bread sticks.  

Sorry for the blurry picture but I wanted you to see the delightful fruit salad that Brandon made.  This was the first time he had ever bought a fresh pineapple.  He cut it out and made a boat.  The salad was delicious with fresh pineapple, strawberries and grapes.

The bakes spiral ham before being sliced for serving.

Brandon and Danalyn putting the final touches on the table and dinner.

Brandon putting the ham on the cutting board.  First he had to figure how to get it out of the pan without it falling apart.  One large fork and a spatula worked just great.

Doesn’t that ham looked scrumptious?

Danalyn putting butter on the bread sticks.  This Grammy learned to use a cube of butter and just rub it over the bread sticks before serving.  Thanks Danalyn for teaching me something new.  And they were delicious too.

Brandon still working on getting that ham to the table.  Now if the plate just doesn’t fall off the stove.

And dinner was served!  Brandon said it was our Thanksgiving Dinner – we were together, they made a special meal, had a pretty tablecloth on the  table with beautiful place settings.  Ron and I are very thankful for the time we have had to spend with Brandon and his family these past few weeks.

Christopher and Grandpa playing after dinner.

Max checking out the architecture program he got for his birthday.  He was designing a house with Grandpa’s input.  Never can hurt to have a plumber help to show you where to put the bathrooms.

Brandon (a picture we need to just have right Danalyn?)

Max thinking about his house plans.

Grandpa reading to Christopher.  His favorite story is Twas the Night Before Christmas but Grandpa found a Dr. Seuss book to read instead.

Brandon and Danalyn.  Aren’t they the cutest?  Thanks for being such wonderful hosts these past three weeks.

 

 

The beginning of our scenic drive.  This is leaving Orofino and heading towards Elk River.

Looking down at the bridge we needed to cross.

Coming round the corner to actually get on the bridge.  We were going to stop right on the bridge to get a picture of the view from the bridge but we had a sheriff pull right behind us so we decided it was best to keep on moving.

Some deer in a yard on the road to the water.

Just love the colors of fall.

This was coming into Elk River.  Think this could be another background for my wallpaper.

Love the view this home has of the water.

This was in the town of Elk River.  Ron thinks it was a cookhouse for the logging camp.

On old truck and equipment.

A cute little cabin and storage unit in Elk River.

The general store in Elk River.

A beautiful church with stained glass windows.

The old school house.

And another farm and barn on the way.

Some neat looking old houses in a logging community.

Bovil Town Hall

An old boarding house.

The name of this place caught my eye.  Ron thought it would be a great place to eat.  (Northwood is the name of our home church in Blaine, WA)

Two little yellow cabins.  Reminded us of some small cabins that used to be in Birch Bay, WA along the beach.

The Gents room outside a little church.

The Ladies room outside the church.

Sign telling the story of Bethany Chapel.  A small Lutheran church and cemetery we found on our journey.

The front of Bethany Lutheran Church.  The church was settled by a group of Norwegian Lutheran’s.  They no longer meet regularly but do come together for a memorial service for the local families in the community.  It was founded in the late 1800’s.  It is in a beautiful setting.  The foundation is white rocks stacked together about 5 deep.

This headstone, in the cemetery next to the little Lutheran church,  caught my eye as my mother’s name was Margaret Jean Nelson (Joan is my little sister).  As we wandered through the cemetery there were lots of Nelson’s ~ wonder if any are long lost ancestors.

A marker of a little baby.

This is the view from our living room window at Hells Canyon RV Resort.  Thinking of making this my wallpaper on my computer.

Metal sculptures of Lewis & Clark along the trail.

Looking towards the marina.

Isn’t he a beauty?

Another view of the marina and the mountain side.  While we were in the hot tub one evening we met a man who lives on his 37′ boat at the marina.  He is a geologist working in the area.  He does not own a car but rides his bike wherever he goes.

The ducks swimming in the area.

The fish on this end is hooped to the pole at the end of canoe.  Couldn’t figure out how to get the whole thing into one picture…got to keep playing with the camera.

Close up of the canoe.

Close up of the fish (there is a garbage can hidden inside the mouth).

More ducks.

An oil skimmer that is at the end of the resort.  Wonder if they have ever used it?

Close up of the skimmer.

The bridge just to the north of the RV park.  Once you cross the river you either turn right to Lewiston or left to Wilma.  Wilma did not have anything there that I could see.

Another view along the boardwalk of the RV park/marina.

And our home parked in spot 44 on Mermaid Drive.

Saw this sign while we were out walking one day.  Liked the mix of wire, metal and bricks.

We were following the road from Clarkston to Wilma and this is the first sign we came to.  We aren’t a truck so we kept going.

And then we saw this sign.  The weather was nice so we thought we would proceed.

Self-explanatory.

And then it turned into a gravel road.  We followed it a little…came to a house and the end of the road.

Turned around and continued on our journey.  This is one of many farms along the way.

We both love old barns.  This one is in pretty good shape.

Another pretty homestead.

And another one.  Hope you don’t get bored looking at them as we travel along.

Can’t remember the name of the town but the town hall sure looked quaint.

A cool store front.

On our way home from Pullman, passing an old high school.

Another barn…we thought of stopping and taking a close up pictures but Ron said we didn’t know them so we couldn’t stop.  I think it might be kinda cool to stop at someone’s cool home/farm, introduce ourselves and take a few more pictures.  Ron says no…what do you think?

Heading into Leweiston.

Another view heading into Lewiston.

A rose garden along the way.

This was on our way to Asotin (when the camera died).  Look at that tree house.  The place was for sale so thought maybe Brandon and Danalyn could buy the house and we could live in the tree house.  Probably isn’t much smaller than the motor home.  May have to go back and check it out further.

On to Orofino where Brandon is teaching High School English.

Close up of the sign above.,  All good characteristics for students to learn.

Orofino High School Mascot is the Maniac’s…love that picture.

This sign is in front of the gym.

Methodist church in Orofino.

Overlooking Orofino.  The Idaho Correctional Institution is right next door to the high school.    The school is to the right of the prison.  The Clearwater River is in the middle/top of the picture.  What a beautiful view.

Playing with the panoramic shot with the camera.

Another view over looking Orofino.  And that was our trip to Orofino.  Hope you enjoyed traveling along with us.

Sitting here reflecting on some things like life, children, friends, family.

You see yesterday we heard some sad news.  Two of our blogger friends were killed in a horrible accident.  Bruce & Margie, from Bruce & Margie’s Full Time Journey, were killed by a driver speeding down Highway 101 when he went off the embankment and plowed them down as they were out for their regular morning walk.  Their daughter, Stephanie, shared the news with all of their blog readers yesterday.


Margie was the writer of their blog.  They full-timed in the RV spending time traveling the USA as well as spending time in Tumwater a couple of times a year to be near family.  Family was very important to them.  This past summer they had the wonderful blessings of watching their grands, MacKenzie & Zoey, while mom and dad worked.  Margie shared their many trips, excursions and playing “restaurant” ~ their grands favorite game.  Whenever I read about them playing that game I thought of what beautiful memories for the girls ~ their grandparents were fun playmates.  It warms my heart to know the girls will always have those memories.


They also shared many pictures from their travels and time with family.  Another great keepsake for the family.  My heart aches for Stephanie, her brother, her immediate family and especially for the girls as they no longer have Bruce & Margie to spend time with.    It is just a reminder to me to enjoy each day and each moment that the Lord gives me.  Whether it is with Ron, my own grands, other family and friends.  They are what matters ~ people not things.


We have been blessed to have these few weeks to be here in Lewiston.  We offered to Brandon & Danalyn to keep the boys for the weekend so they could have a weekend away.  We have had a wonderful time (I shared yesterday about our day at soccer & the Pumpkin Palooza).  Hearing the news about Bruce & Margie made me extra thankful for the memories we made yest  day with the boys and using pictures to keep those memories alive.  This morning Max, Christopher and Ron let me sleep in.  Because of that we have changed our plans for the day ~ I woke up too late to go to church so we are just relaxing this morning while Ron & Max watch the Seahawks, eating left over mac & cheese and then we are going to go grocery shopping ~ beef stroganoff is on the menu for dinner as well as some cookie making for Max, Christopher and me.  The sun is shining and so after grocery shopping we are going to go for a little drive and then back to the motor home to make the cookies.   Christopher keeps asking about going swimming so that will be on the agenda after he takes a nap.  Brandon & Danalyn will be home around dinner time so we will all eat together before they head for home to get ready for the week.


I’ve been thinking about our life and how good it is.  Even though we have faced many different struggles and climbed out of many valleys God has always been faithful ~ even when we were not.  I am thankful for a Lord who loves us in spite of our failings.  I am thankful for the family and friends who have joined with us on this journey we call life.  And I think of what I shared with Charles just a few weeks ago ~ you never know what you have till you don’t have it any more. 

I am thinking about our time with the carnival.  We met many new people, some we call our friends.  We saw a lot of the state of Washington and parts of Oregon ~ not always reveling in God’s beauty, especially on the dark and rainy days.  One thing we admitted time and time again ~ we so enjoy being together.  Sharing our most inner thoughts, things we saw and people we met.  We realized we like working together and missed it the last few weeks when Ron was working in rides and I was in customer service.  Seeing each other for a half hour in the mornings, if that, and maybe that much in the evenings just is not what we like.


We confirmed to ourselves that we like the coziness of our home.  We like being able to sit across from each other in the living room and reach out to touch each other on the leg or tickle the others feet.  We thank God for our little home that we take with us wherever we go.  In thinking about the fire we had last November and wondering if we were going to have to find a new rig ~ we are glad that the insurance company paid to repair our home.  

We have been richly blessed with lots of friends and a great family.  As many of you know I faced many difficult issues while the boys were younger.  I am thankful for a Lord who guided me with great Christian counselors and doctors who worked with me in finding the right medication and identifying the many blessings in my life.  Helping me to recognize that being a victim is not how the Lord sees me but as His daughter.  The daughter of a King!  That even though I had things happen to me that no one should have to deal with I am a strong person because of those things.  I have learned how to persevere, to challenge things that don’t seem right and find things that are pleasant and enjoyable.  

This last year has been a year of learning.  Learning new things about myself, about what it means to be a daughter of the King, learning new job responsibilities, learning to trust God to provide in ways that I could not imagine.  To trust Him when things were happening that were uncomfortable or embarrassing.  For recognizing His hand not only in the big things (like the motor home dropping the drive shaft near a great Christian mechanic, who had no problems with us staying in the motor home while it was being repaired and it costing $651 when we only had $645 in the bank) and in the little things like finding lost money (it was dropped right outside the door of the motor home one night after work and was still there in the morning) but then again, finding money that we thought we had then lost then found again really is a big thing when you are counting on that money to buy groceries for the week.  Realizing that the things we take for granted are the things we should be most appreciative of ~ family who we have good relationships with, friends who we share the good, the bad, the fun and difficult times, having a place to rest our weary bodies and snuggle in when it’s cold outside and most importantly for being loved and able to love back.

I have also learned that things happen that are beyond our control but the Lord is in control and is able to handle them.  For that I am truly thankful.

In closing I want to say thanks for following our blog and keeping up with our little family.  I count you all friends and am thankful for each of you.  Some of you I have never met in “real life” but only through the cyber world.  Some of you have been a part of my life for many years and some just a few short months.  For all of you I thank you for your friendship and love, your support and encouragement, for the laughs and tears ~ you all have helped me to become who I am today.

May God bless you as He has blessed me.  

Alice