Colossal Changes

Colossal changes?  Well, that may be a slight stretch, but not too far from it.  2017 has brought with it a tremendous amount of change in a very short time.  In December, our youngest made the decision to join the U.S. Marines.  We are so proud, and were happy to have the whole family together briefly in January.  Our oldest son also received a pretty impressive promotion in January, as well.

 I graduated from the District School of Ministry in January (and my hubby graduated in December with his Master's in Organizational Leadership).

 Our missions appointment has kept us so terribly busy that we decided it was best that I quit my job, so I could be on the road full time.  On my last day of work in January, I left straight from work to head to the airport.  I will really miss my job and friends, but I know I can't continue burning the candle at both ends.

 I  joined my hubby and the team on the ground in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where a major tornado had hit.  We were set up at Venue Church, where you could tell they loved their community.  We had some amazing volunteers that helped us get through the deployment.

 The day after we returned to the Dallas area, we were back on the streets feeding the homeless.  Without trying to sound like I'm whining, we have realized that we simply cannot keep up the pace we have been going.  Deployments are frequently 14-16 hour days, with no "weekend".  When the deployment is over, it is vital that we take time to rest.  With that thought and much prayer, we feel it is best to locate a local person who can head up the homeless outreaches for us.  

 After the outreach we said our goodbyes to our son before dropping him off at Dallas MEPS for the Marines.

 The next day he officially swore in and then flew to California for Basic Training.

 And then the packing began.  My hubby even helped label a few boxes.  :)  We have been planning this move for a few years, and are so happy to finally see it come to pass.  It took about 2 weeks to go through our entire house, and either get rid of stuff, move it into the RV, storage unit, shipping container, or Mercy Chefs storage. 

 Of course, we did more than just pack during those 2 weeks.  Homeless outreach continued.

 We also worked at a church for their Men's Ministries meeting.  They set up the parking lot to look like the homeless encampment.

 It was great to have the opportunity to speak to so many about our vision at one time.

 At the end of those 2 weeks, we left our house, moved into our RV, and got a first for us-a puppy!  Meet Dozer.  We sure hope he likes being on the road!

 In any given month, a minimum of at least 2 of those weeks are on the road.  We felt like we were paying rent to just live in hotels, and never home to do upkeep.  It just made sense to move into the RV. We will still build our dream house some day, but for now we just don't have the time to commit to a building project.

So full time in the RV means when we aren't deployed we can office from the RV anywhere we can get Wifi.  We decided to celebrate our change by spending a couple days in Surfside, Texas.  I cannot even begin to tell you how grateful I was for a beautiful 80 degree February day.  I felt renewed!  We even had a divine appointment with a stranger while we were there who prayed over us.  Even though it was just a couple days it was very refreshing both spiritually and mentally.

 On the ride home, we saw the Stephen F. Austin statue.  While we had been past the Sam Houston statue many times, I never knew this one even existed.  The grounds were closed the day we drove through, but the gardeners were great and let us go in to take a picture.

 Back "home" on our land near Dallas, we decided that the standard RV brown and beige had to go.  It was fine when we just took the RV on trips, but now that it was home, it needs to feel like home.  It will probably be a work in progress for a while, but this made a drastic difference!

 We spent a couple days at Lake Whitney State Park.  It is very freeing to know that we can work wherever there is Wifi!

 And then we headed to Virginia, home of the Mercy Chefs headquarters.  The drive there was an interesting one-after we got halfway there (a full day of driving) we thought we were going to be diverted back to respond to the wildfires.  We had to stop for multiple conference calls, but ultimately, we were not needed so we continued on our way to Virginia.

 We stayed at Davis Lakes RV Resort in Suffolk, Virginia, which was just a short drive fro our meetings.  The lake was beautiful, but it was much too cold to sit on the sand.  

 We arrived one day early, so we visited my hometown (John had to take a break for a conference call), and then enjoyed an afternoon with my grandma and aunt and uncle.

 The next day all the chefs came together and prepared dinner for an organization that has helped provide water purification around the world.

 We also had several days of training, and got to tour the new Mercy Chefs headquarters.  It was stunning!  It really is amazing the favor God has given in obtaining the building.

 Next on the agenda for a few days was repairs and outfitting one of the mobile kitchens.

 Have I mentioned that I am cold-natured?  We have a water hose that prevents the water from freezing despite the below freezing temps.  However, that doesn't stop the faucet itself from freezing.  John had to place a space heater to get it thawed.  Live and learn!  (And hopefully stay in warmer climates as much as possible!) 

 On our last day in Virginia, John had a meeting that I didn't need to attend, so I visited the home of Planter's Peanuts in downtown Suffolk.

 I also enjoyed the historic churches in town.

 And then it was time to head west back home.  This time we took the northern route through the beautiful mountains,

 John has family not too far from the halfway point, so we stopped to see them.  Isn't Jourdyn adorable?

 I finally gave up trying to take a selfie with my sister-in-law, and made her take it because apparently I'm too old to have acquired proper selfie-taking skills.  It was so good to visit!

 John with his grandparents.

 It was Spring Break in Arkansas while we were there, so we visited an Escape Room with some extended family.

 While there, we stayed at Craighead Forest Park, which is a city park in Jonesboro, Arkansas.  Through the trees you can see the lake.  It is a huge park, primarily for day use with a small RV area.  I absolutely loved this park!  I wish we could have stayed longer.

 Back home a few days later, maintenance as usual continues.

 We returned to the Village Oaks apartments, which we first served during our 17 Days of Christmas outreaches.  It is truly in a food desert-an area of Dallas with no grocery stores.  Once we arrived I needed to run out for a couple pounds of sugar-only to realize, there was nowhere to go.  I ended up at a dollar store.  What an opportunity to serve!

 We have received several letters from our son in Basic Training, and it has been great to hear from him.  One difference from when my husband went through Basic training 20 years ago is the fact that the recruit depot has a Facebook page where they post semi-frequent pictures and videos of what the recruits are doing.  It was so great to see this image (a still-shot from a video) of who I am 99% sure is our son sitting on the far right.

 It is now spring in Texas.  I'm loving my daily view on our land.  We are home this week, always watching the weather as tornado season is looming.  I'm excited for what adventure awaits in the coming months.

Fall is coming

Most people have a favorite season.  Mine is summer.  I love the warmth, the sun, the beach.  I love the ability to go outside barefooted late at night without getting cold.  Taking the top off the Jeep without having to look for a jacket.  Sand between my toes.

These days I am reminded frequently that fall is coming.  Morning dew has arrived back on the scene on a daily basis.  There have been a couple mornings where I didn't dare leave home without a jacket.  Fall allergies are, well, just that.  It is definitely the changing of a season.

And while my favorite season will be gone for a while, I take comfort in knowing some of my favorite things are about to go down in the upcoming months:  hot soups to bring warmth, pumpkin-flavored anything I can think of, cozy evenings by the fire, and the beauty of fall foliage that God created for us to see.  Even today on my walk, I have begun to see the pretty colors, and heard the sound of the leaves dancing in the breeze along the pavement.  Knowing the season is changing isn't always easy, but realizing it is just a season helps put things in perspective.

"To everything there is a season; a time for every purpose under heaven."  Ecclesiastes 3:1

A Day in the Life of a U.S. Missionary

About six years ago I taught a weekly discipleship Sunday School class to teenagers, and one of the things we did each week was pray for one of the missionaries our church supported.  I would email the missionaries in the week before their prayer emphasis to find out what their needs were.  During this time, I frequently found myself wondering, "What exactly does a missionaries day look like?"

Fast forward six years.  My husband, John, and I have now changed roles into U.S. Missionary Candidates with the Assemblies of God.  We work with an organization called Mercy Chefs.  In short, we respond when disaster strikes to feed the victims, volunteers, and first responders a restaurant quality meal in the midst of their hurting.  Today I found myself laughing when I had the same thought, "What exactly does a missionaries day look like?"  No two days are alike.  Today was unique, with its own set of challenges, but God had His own way of blessing us as always.

We have been on Fall Tour the past two weeks-meetings with pastors, where we give a brief explanation of our ministry in hopes that they can help us reach one of our current goals:  becoming fully funded.  We have traveled all over North Texas during these two weeks.  I still have a full time job that I have been juggling-and am very blessed to have a boss who is understanding of our role and love for missions by allowing me to take vacation time!  Ultimately, I will join John full time on the field, but for now, I am working while we are raising our budget.  Today there were no Fall Tour stops, so I got up extra early, made sure to get my devotions in, and then headed to work to get caught up on what I have missed the past few days.  Part of the U.S. Missions process requires we meet with a coach every few weeks, and today happened to be a coaching day as well.  So I took a break from work for a conference call.  During this call I had a realization that I am still not sure how to handle, "Do I have time for my job?"  The one day I was able to work this week, and here I am still doing my missions job.  Please pray with me about this-I absolutely love my job, but I don't want to stay a moment longer than the Lord wants me to work.  Since we are not fully funded and my department is in the midst of a major transition, this decision is a difficult one to make!

After the coaching phone call, John left to pick up the mobile kitchen.  We drive a dually 5th wheel truck which tows the 37 foot mobile kitchen trailer to each disaster site.  It has been in the repair shop getting a new hot water heater, and some other repairs.  While towing it back home, one of the dually tires had a blow out, and hit the tire next to it, causing it to blow out as well.  Did I mention he was in a school zone while school was dismissing?   Praise the Lord, He kept John safe!  Yes, life is always interesting with large equipment involved.  We are no strangers to vehicle issues.  Nearly every trip we have been on we have experienced some sort of truck or trailer trouble.  He called me at work-thankfully I was just a few miles away and was able to bring him a better jack than he had on board.  Again I found myself questioning, "Do I have time for my job?"  Wow, twice in one day I had this thought.  What is going on?  Lord, I need you to provide! Trailer removed from the fifth wheel, two tires taken off the truck, one spare put on, trailer re-attached to the 5th wheel, and driven just a short distance to a local restaurant.  I was grateful today that we live in a small town where I knew the restaurant owner by name, and she had no problem with us leaving it there a while.

My boss happened to be away from the office when I left work for the tire incident, so I had texted him to let him know what was going on.  He asked if we were getting rained on, because where he was, less than 20 miles away, it was pouring rain so hard that he had to pull off the highway.  Wow!  The Lord was really watching over us!  Thank you Lord for holding off on the rain!

Fast forward four hours...all six tires on the truck are replaced, and I head back to work while John heads back to the restaurant to pick up the mobile kitchen.  I spent an hour at work, and meanwhile, John gets a call...there has been severe flooding in Arizona and New Mexico, and we need to respond.  He brings the Mercy Chefs trailer to the house to load it-when it was in the shop, we had pretty well emptied all the equipment out of the kitchen into our garage.  We began by pulling all the equipment out of the garage and into the driveway...speed racks, warmers, coolers, a grill (not usually taken on our trips, but the generator has been acting up, so we need an alternative method to cook in the event it wants to quit, and thus not allow us to use the stove), Cambros, 18 cases of to go boxes, 6 folding tables and chairs, 2 easy up tents, 2 boxes of t-shirts for our volunteers, and lots of other boxes.  John worked on repairing a wheel on one of the warmers, and then...the rain began.  Again, the Lord was watching out for us.  It never rained too hard, mostly just a light sprinkling, but the cool air that came with it was a welcome change.  About that time, our boys, 16 and 18 years old, got home from church.  We wanted to go to church tonight, but had been a little pre-occupied!  They helped us get the mobile kitchen loaded a lot quicker than we could have ourselves.  Again, a little miracle from God that he sent at just the right time!

Partially unloaded from the garage awaiting to be uploaded onto the trailer

The rest of the evening has been spent moving the truck to a large parking lot for deployment, getting necessary laundry done, ironing a chef coat, packing a bag, and making final plans.  Well, there it is..a day in the life of a U.S. Missionary.  A day unique to itself, with its own bit of challenges, but time and again God proving Himself to have it all taken care of.

Would you please pray for the victims of this terrible flood?  Would you please pray for John as he heads towards southwest to respond to this disaster?  Would you please pray for volunteers to help in the relief effort, not just with Mercy Chefs, but also for all the other relief organizations?  Would you please pray for us and we continue to raise funds?  Will you please pray for God to speak to us about His timing for me to be able to join John full time on the field?

The Second Week of Christmas

Last week I mentioned that our pastor refers to the month of December as the month of Christmas.  I like that-so much we do during the month of December corresponds with Christmas in so many ways!

At the end of the first week, we were enjoying an ice storm-very unusual in North Texas. Since our state rarely has these, we just wait it out until it all melts-there aren't very many snow plows/salt&sand trucks, and those that we do have are usually limited to their use on the highways.  So we began the second week of Christmas just waiting for everything to melt, since we had multiple days in a row where the temperature never got above freezing.  While we were out and about over the weekend, I got a few pictures of the ice.  Isn't the first picture neat?  No, it's not real snow.  My camera has some feature that added it automatically.

On the way to Arlington, the highways were at a near stop, so we took a back way past Dallas Baptist University.  I have always loved the DBU campus-it is just beautiful, so I was excited about the chance to see it covered in what looks like snow.

Here is the bridge by DBU when we first started over it.  It got worse the further we went.  I was surprised it was still open, but thankfully we did not see any wrecks while there.

On Wednesday my husband and I helped Bethel Temple in Fort Worth by cooking for their church Christmas Party.  Some of these pictures are my own, and some came from facebook from the pastors wife's page.

For our date this week, my hubby took me out to Buttons, an upscale soul food restaurant in Fort Worth.  My hubby had heard of Buttons before, but neither of us had ever visited.  Here is my silly hubby.

I had a hard time deciding what to order because it all sounded so good.  I changed my mind about a dozen times before the waiter took our order.  How do you decide between ribs, pot roast, chicken and waffles, and chicken fried steak?  Ultimately I ended up ordering the chicken fried steak-which proved to be a great choice-so good!  And the corn chowder side dish is not to be missed!  Somehow I got distracted and never took a picture of my food-which, by the way, would have been enough for me to share with someone.  I did, however, get a picture of my hubby's choice (and I am pretty sure his favorite food), (cat)fish, shrimp, and grits.  He also ordered a side of greens, which he said was the best he had ever tasted.  I asked for a to go box so I would have room for dessert.  We decided on the white chocolate/raspberry bread pudding.  Yum!  That was some of the best bread pudding I have ever tasted.

Another thing I loved about the restaurant was the live band.  That night, we were entertained by the Legacy 4 Band.  A very talented bunch, they sang jazz, r&b, motown, and even a little Christmas music thrown in.  We have definitely found a great restaurant to throw into our rotation!  One tip if you plan to visit-call ahead to reserve a table.

By the end of the week, almost all the ice was melted, and I have enjoyed the weather being a bit warmer.  I am looking forward to the week ahead-more Christmas parties, and our Christmas vacation will begin.

Fall of 2013

Has it really been four months since I posted a blog?  I think I had blogged so much for so long, that when I decided to start blogging sporadically, it just never really crossed my mind to write anything, plus I needed a break!

I don't think I will ever blog nearly as often as I have previously (40 blogs in a month!  What was I thinking?)  But recently someone asked about Christmas decorations, and I was able to pull up the page on my blog where I posted pictures and see them all over again.  And I enjoyed knowing I had a "record" so to speak, of different things I had done.  So, I do plan to start blogging semi-regularly again.

And just so I have my record...here is what happened in the fall this year (and late summer and early winter!)

July-Girls Camp for work-the theme "GEEK Girls" (Girls Equipped to Enlarge the Kingdom)

 July-Youth Camp with our students at church

 July-another GEEK Girl's Camp for work

July-A 2 day trip to Jackson, Tennessee (read: 2 days of driving, a night in a hotel, and about 2 hours of free time) to drop off my youngest for a vacation to Grandma's.  We met halfway.

Found a letterbox at a rest stop along the way

 Looked for a letterbox in Jackson before returning home that morning here (Casey Jones Village), but was unsuccessful. 

 In Texas I don't find too many indoor letterboxes, but this was a cool one!

 Stopped in Memphis to see the ghost of Elvis-just off Beale Street...name that tune.

Later that month my hubby and I took a long weekend trip to Port Aransas to celebrate our anniversary.  We did something we have never done before-we camped on the beach in a tent!  This was my view upon waking in the morning!

 Waiting for the ferry ride to the island

 Camp fire in the sand

 We spent our last night in a hotel in San Antonio-we had too much sand all over the place, and wanted real showers; we did a little sightseeing while there-including the Alamo.

August-Another quick overnight trip to Jackson, Tennessee to pick up my son.  This time I didn't have to work the morning of my trip, so I got an earlier start which meant-more time for sightseeing!  I even got to see the sunrise over Lake Ray Hubbard just east of Dallas.

 

 Crossing the Mississippi River in Memphis.  See the pyramid on the left? 

 Jackson is home to Rusty's TV and Movie Car Museum (with only a $5 entry fee!).  I highly recommend this stop!

Here is my son with Ricky Bobby's NASCAR suit from Talladega Nights.

 My favorite movie of all times-the Blues Brothers!

 Wayne's World

 In honor of Herbie, I planted a letterbox at this museum.

 We did a little letterboxing with my mom while we were there, too.  This park had a tribute to September 11, 2001.

 I really enjoy flipping through logbooks to see signature stamps of other letterboxers. 

 There was a letterbox at Pringles Park.

  Jackson is home to their own Statue of Liberty.

 And then the long drive home...passing the pyramid in Memphis again.

 We stopped in Little Rock at Ottenheimer Plaza on the Arkansas River; it has a pedestrian bridge that crosses the river.  We didn't cross it in entirety for times sake.  You can see the park below the city.  There was a neat letterbox here as well. 

 My son brought me back some great food from Ohio-Trail Bologna and yummy cheese!  I just love this stuff!

 August-while cleaning out our storage unit, I dropped a tow hitch on my foot (I was wearing flip flops).  OUCH!  I ended up with a fracture-not cool!

August work event-Celebration.  Every August, we honor girl's accomplishments for their hard work in a formal ceremony.  It is the one event of the year that I get to get dressed up for.

August-Random fun.  We saw a pink piano on the side of the road, so we had to stop and take a picture with it.

 Rangers Baseball!  And my hubby found some great seats!

 He and I also went out on a date to a neat little German Restaurant (Edelweiss) in Ft Worth.  An accordian player even came around to each of the tables playing music for us.

September-Back to school and routine...well, sort of!  Picture along our driveway when the hay was baled. 

 September-a conference for work

My oldest turned 16.  He doesn't like cake, so he got apple pie and ice cream with a sparkler.

With major flooding in Colorado, we had to get the Mercy Chefs truck ready for a long trip, so we pulled everything out, cleaned, and put it all back in. My hubby left a few days after this for Colorado for a couple weeks.

September-We went to the Twisted Root Burger.  We have been many times before, and I have never been too adventurous with my food choices.  (They always have a wild game option.)  This time I decided to try to camel burger.  Well, I can always say I tried it, but I won't be trying it again.  Yuck!  Very gamey tasting.

I made Zuppa Toscana in September-an Olive Garden soup recipe that I found on pinterest.  It was really good!

I also must have pumpkin pie soda every fall.  My hubby drove me about an hour and a half away to get me some!

 My youngest son and I did some letterboxing in September as well, while the weather was nice.

In late September, my husband and I had an appointment in Springfield, Missouri to meet with the Assemblies of God about partnering with them so that we can do Mercy Chefs trips more frequently.  Since my hubby was coming directly from Colorado in the Mercy Chefs truck, I drove to meet him there.  Along the way, he had a flat tire, so I used my time to do a little letterboxing while I waited.  I stopped in Diamond, Missouri in what appeared to be just a normal Country and Western Store.  But in the back was a museum of toasters, old and new, along with other small kitchen appliances.

 After being reunited, my husband and I had dinner at Lambert's-home of "throwed rolls".  I have heard about this place for years, and finally got to try it.  It was great food, and if we ever go back to Springfield, we will definitely go again!

 We also had to meet someone in Branson, so we drove that way and enjoyed the views.

 I also fell in love with Culver's.  Apparently there are some Culver's in the metroplex, but none I had ever been to.

 More views in Springfield-Pythian Castle

 Part of a unique bicycle fence.

October was another busy month.  I did a work event-Campout-where girls get to go camping in primitive campsites.

 October-Our first fire of the season.

 My hubby and I did a catering.

 October-the government even shut down.  No pictures needed for that one, but I still thought it was worth mentioning.
The State Fair of Texas!  Our first stop is always to get a Fletcher's corndog.  

 We enjoyed some bands,

 the new Big Tex,

 and the rides.

 I attended a Women's Retreat with a friend.  The speaker was Sam Evans, the pastor's wife of Planet Shakers in Melbourne, Australia.  It was a really great event!

October is Pastor's Appreciation Month.  (Here is a picture of our pastor.)  Our church honored us, and took us out to eat as well.  We are so blessed at our church, and I just love it there so much!

Boss's Day is also in October, so I bought breakfast for my boss.

 We made a quick trip to Waco to see my adorable niece.

There was also a horse obstacle training this month.  It taught horses to not get spooked so easily.

My husband and I tried a new (to us) restaurant called Cowboy Chicken.  It serves rotisserie chicken-and it was very tasty!  Since then, we have heard there are some moving closer to our area, so I am looking forward to that!

 Foodie find:  Reginald's Applesin Peanut Butter!  YUM!  Go to Central Market and TRY THIS!

Also in October, Fossil Creek Community Church held a fundraising gala, and the special guests of the evening were Mercy Chefs!  We enjoyed a nice meal, and then one of the board members of Mercy Chefs spoke and then did a demonstration.  Here are several Mercy Chefs (including my hubby) preparing for the demonstration.

Random October highlight-working on the sound system at our church's second campus.  After watching, I got to go up in the lift as well.  It was a long ways up!

Rodeo Fest-Each year our church hosts Redeofest-essentially our cowboy church alternative to a Halloween party.  Here is one little girl getting ready to go mutton busting, and then some photos of the other fun events.

The Sherman Mountain Boys even came out for our Family Fun Night later in the week.

Then on Halloween, Mercy Chefs, along with an enormous group of volunteers from our church, served hot meals to those attending Christ Church-Ft Worth's Halloween event, which helped Ft Worth Metro raise money for a new trailer.

November-here is my oldest son working hard at the drive-thru at work.

  Cute kiddos one day when I got to help in Kids Church.

 November-we are starting have to defrost the car many mornings now.

I got to tag along with my hubby one day at work while he recorded the video announcements.

Another day, the church got a new sound system, so we stuck around to help while they dug a trench in the sanctuary "floor".

We also attended Minister's Retreat in Dallas.  Our way was paid, which was a huge blessing!  Since the earthquake and typhoon had just happened in the Philippines, we were able to meet with Sheree Moon, missionary to the Philippines, while we were there.  This helped my husband in planning for his Mercy Chefs trip there.

 We walked around the mall while there.  I have never seen one of the big trees at the mall being constructed before.  This was a neat thing to see-I counted over 30 people working on this project.

November-Mercy Chefs helped with another event in Keller, and we drove through downtown Ft Worth on the way home.  So pretty!

Erik Estrada also visited our church this month, to promo a movie he is in called "Finding Faith".  The movie had a wonderful theme about safety online.  Click this link to read more.  

One day this month I also took my youngest son to the CR Smith Museum, which a museum about flight, specifically through the eyes of American Airlines.  Here he is aboard the DC-3.

And here he is on a flight simulator.  He promptly told me he wants to get his pilot's license after trying this out.

Afterwards, we went to locate a couple of letterboxes.  We were very close to the airport, as you can see from this picture.

Wow!  What a busy past few months!  I will do a better job of keeping up with blogging from here on out!