Sensationally Six

Yesterday was hard. Yesterday was honoring, Yesterday was necessary, Yesterday is yesterday. 

Yesterday's memories are still fresh, raw. We will move forward. We will enjoy our memories and we will make new ones. We will make it...

Today we are truly thankful to wake to a new day. 

Sensatinally Six

 There are no words to put with my thoughts today...

So thankful we all made/took the time for this trip for her 80th birthday. She was a good one. Treated my as her own from 1983 on...those teenage years I wasn't always as appreciative for her parenting as I can now see was in my best interest. She grandmothered my daughter like no other. She loved hard and big. She will be missed. And it feels like a double whammy to have lost both her and my father just 8 weeks apart. I find such comfort in knowing they are together and we will also be together again in eternity. Doesn't lessen our grief that they are now both gone but we did not lose them as we are confident in seeing them again! 

1941-2022

The HANDFUL

So we did make it onto the Blue Ridge Parkway via Skyline Drive which was just beginning to pop with fall colors and another National Park. Ohio has a national park...who knew? Well, MiRV did, so we planned a stop. Stopping was not easy. This is NOT an RV friendly National Park. We were, thankfully, able to snag a spot to park at the Ledges area (though truth be told we took up three spaces and just prayed for the best). We hiked the 2.5 mile trail and enjoyed the scenery. We tried to get to some of the Falls in the park but there was NO parking to be had for an oversized vehicle. We even drove waaaaay out of way and still no joy; I call that a BIG party foul. We were able to get into the visitor center and see one of the neat bridges but it was a no go for most other areas.

Oh, and the update on our water tank is that we believe it is still leaking. Spoke with the dealership and we will just be without onboard water and address it with the RV repair shop when we return to MO. So there is that to contend with upon our return.

Alright, well today we are heading on to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park via Tsali Campground in the Cherokee National Forest. We have been in Tennessee the last couple days. 

So fun to get together with these people!

So driving Skyline Drive was neat in a lot of ways. Had some beuatiful views and swirly, curvy roads, though I feel like the Blue Ridge Parkway was even more swirlier, curvier, twisty turny. So the ride was at times notsomuch fun for me...but again, scenery was very pretty to look at with so many shades of yellow and green it was amazing to see. If you can take a look at the many beautiful landscapes and scenery without being able to belive in creation perhaps you need your eyes checked. God created such a beautiful world for us, it saddens me to think about how we are not being good stewards of all that He has so freely given to us.

We have decided to take a couple down days and wait out the weekend before moving on. It is fall break in this area and we have definitely noticed an increase in the crowds. Our plan is to just chillax until Monday before we head into GSMNP. I haven't been here since childhood and remember virtually nothing. MiRV was last here while on his AT ThruHike.

Happy Easter!

What a time we had yesterday hunting eggs and enjoying a nice afternoon and evening as we gathered at the farm. It's been a rough few weeks and it was nice to be together and just relax. The food was simple and we just were. The Littles had a an egg hunt and I think they enjoyed it very much!

She was an expert egg hunter this year and came away with A LOT of loot!

It seems like it is not often we are ALL in the picture! I'm so glad we got one of all of us.

HaPpY Easter...hope you are celebrating the Risen Savior!

UnFOURgettably 4 Friday!

Happy Early Birthday America! Let Freedom Ring...

And we have company! WOOHOO...and the Littlest Littles were very excited to see each other again. We also have a new Little little!

Easter

I cannot remember an Easter when we did not attend church service. Sometimes even a sunrise service. This year 'attending' church was not an option. Thank you Covid-19. However, thankfully, there were plenty of livestreams, youTubes or podcast to help still celebrate the day. So while the format and feel of our Easter was not like any other. I mean we had an awesome home cooked Italian meal that was very yummy but it was just the two of us. Never mind, the important point is that the message did not and will not ever change. The tomb was empty. Jesus IS alive.

Have hope friends, cling tight to the vine and pray. Pray for our nation, our leaders, our medical personnel. Pray for your family, your friends and neighbors.

Stay safe, stay home.

UnFOURgettably 4 Friday!

WOW...can you say day by day. This COVID-19 has certainly turned the world upside down. We are just going day by day and living "safer at home" I have been to the grocery store twice since the 12th of March. I have timed my visits early before the crowds hit. Thankfully, we are okay on most provisions that are out of stock (TP, flour, hand sanitizer, etc). I have been running in only for produce, dairy and bread. I have to say that on my first trip the produce section was sadly low and what they did have was not so fresh. On my most recent trip it was exactly opposite. Lots of good choices and fresh. However, I did notice that the paper goods aisle was still empty, along with most of the baking aisle. Come on you can only use so much TP and how much baking are you doing that all the flour, salt and sugar are GONE! There are people truly in need; don't be a hoarder or over buy needlessly.

I do know one thing, I AM THANKFUL for faith. I have hope. I know God has this. Is it tough? YES, but I know, I know the One in control. I have had anxious moments, mostly about my parents and granddaughter. But I know what I know and I know God has this. I don't need to be anxious and worry needlessly. I am staying educated, washing my hands more, social distancing and for sure staying at home much of the time. I will admit we do take an afternoon or evening drive every day or two but we do not interact with others. It's a nice distraction.

So stay safe out there... because it is not safe nor cool if you are not adhering to the guidance that has been put out. It's not safe for you or the others you might come into contact with. It isn't all about you, it's about anyone you may come in contact with, so play it safe, stay home! 

UnFOURgettably 4 Friday!

This is what as been consuming my time as of late...and with all that is going on a shopping trip is out. So it's been scrounging the house and a trip to the Dollar Tree when it appeared slow to complete this little project. Hopefully, it goes in the mail next week. I had planned to deliver in person but with this rampant virus thing we are not doing much travel.

If you have never heard of Resurrection Eggs just give it a Google and you will find out what they are very easily. We had a set when the Daughter was younger. Oh how I wish we would have kept it intact. But she grew out of them so the items I had gathered for them were returned to their original locations or gotten rid of all together. Sadly, they were pretty neat and now I regret not keeping them for future use. Who knew? We had the neatest little donkey and rooster from our time in Portugal. I made a crown of thorns, we had some awesome square head nails from our church in Oklahoma and so on. I do plan to make another crown of thorns, but this year we are going with what I could pull together with what I have or easily come up with. I plan to change out a few things as she gets older.

Stay safe out there! And stay home.

Thursday Thoughts - Lovecraft

The oldest and strongest

emotion of mankind is fear,

the oldest and strongest kind

of fear is fear of the unknown.

H.P. Lovecraft

The unknown used to really, really bother me, now, notsomuch...thank you Jesus, I finally was able to grasp there is nothing to fear when you are secure with who holds your future. Sure I can and still do have concerns but I am thankful it doesn't overwhelm me as it often did in the past.

Thursday Thoughts - Unknown

Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.

Mile Marker Thirty as in 3 - 0!

Another milestone...

 St Mark's Lighthouse - Florida...March 2015

MiRV and I started our journey over thirty years ago...we met in 1982. We weren't even friends. In 1983 that changed, in 1984 we were engaged and in 1986 married. And as they say the rest is history.  So here we are and it's 30 years later since that day. Can you say W-O-W?

I won't say I didn't think this day would come but really you don't give much thought to these milestones when you are saying "I do". Of course, I firmly believe in the "until death do us part" part. And certainly we have had our ups and downs, happiness and sadness, rewards and disappointments, we have had to work through issues, we still work hard at our marriage...every day. It is ongoing; it is a choice.  Marriage is not maintenance free, there is definitely upkeep, everyday really. If you do not keep up your marriage, I can promise you it will get away from you and there could be serious suffering.

I will be the first to tell you we are not always living the dream (GASP) or the happily ever after that you might think. Some would say that we tend to present that image. I would argue that you see what you choose to see. I also think we make a conscious choice to NOT air our dirty laundry so to speak. Have we discussed, in limited talk, our marriage with others? Sure, but I think we wisely guard our words. We were given good advice early on that spewing words of anger or disappointment to others is not something you should do with others...unless of course you rented their ears (professional counseling). Therefore, there are very, VERY few people you can or should confide in who will be able to let go of what you say when things have righted in your world. That person who you shared your moment of anger with just doesn't forget what you told them and sometimes there can be tension in the aftermath. It's just not a good idea to abundantly "share" about the your marital life so be careful who you chat with when you are spun up. For certain there might be a very good friend who can handle it but I still would be cautious and hesitant to recommend it.

 MiRVs first look at our daughter - OKC...March 1991

Our greatest joy and challenge has been the birth and rearing of the Daughter. She holds our heart; she is amazing. She has blessed us with another incredible chapter in our lives as she became a mother earlier this year and gave us a granddaughter. This my friends is beyond words...we have never loved so deeply. We are in love with her and relish being BeBe and LaLa. There are just not enough words for our newest love. What an indescribable joy we are experiencing...

 Our first look at our granddaughter - NE...March 2016

It is good that our lives our enriched with additions. We are thrilled to have so many family and friends who play such a crucial role in our lives. We know it is much better living life with others and we have a wonderful groups of "others" who love and inspire us, who hold us accountable, who encourage and love on us. We are blessed no doubt. We pray that our daughter continues to grow roots in her community and finds those others to do and enjoy life with to team up with to make memories to get through the good, the bad and the ugly.

This child...

The other crucial KEY factor in reaching this mark, I believe, is our faith. I won't even be so bold as to say our "strong" faith because there were (still are) days we felt our faith waiver. We have had our moments of crisis (still do). However, if we would not have had what I call a solid foundation and relationship with Jesus I feel we could have been in trouble. He has sustained and encouraged us in hard times, sad times. He is faithful, even when we are not. We are Christ followers and know without a doubt this is an integral part of any part of our successful marriage. I would not even want to speculate where we would be without Jesus.  I am thrilled to have done life with MiRV these last 30 years and look forward to many more years together. Life is good, not easy, not perfect, not without struggles but it IS good!

 

Union Covered Bridge - Missouri back road...May 2016

#30yesreally30yearsofmarriage
#sustaininglove

Thursday Thoughts - Lewis

There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind. 

C.S. Lewis

#heavenawaits

Happy Easter!

What a fun day...actually, we did something a little different this year. We had our Easter family dinner yesterday. Little nontraditional but it seemed to work for everyone; so, whynot? The food this year was also not our normal fare, not sure I can buy off on that next year...I mean I like fried chicken and potato salad (traditional and loaded), mac n cheese, and orzo salad, I'm just not quite certain they are my choice for Easter. Can you say, HAM? Next year if I am here there WILL BE ham!

When her LaLa made a trip to Lincoln last month he came home with this little outfit. This could be proof that we really should not allow him to shop for her unsupervised, this is only one of several things that made its way home with him that day...

 

 There was even a bunny tail on the bum! Her mamma made the tutu and hair bow. It didn't phase her to be posed in the eggs...

Happy Easter!!!

This morning our little Trigger made it to her first church service...she slept through it just as her mother did some 25 years ago. We then enjoyed BBQ for lunch and an afternoon of basketball watching. She had the most awake time ever today. She also fought sleep afterwards.

 

Meeting church folks.

Wearing her Easter dress and relaxing with G-Pa while mamma and daddy napped.

#Trigger

Blessed

We were so blessed this weekend to have been able to re-connect with one of our high school classmates. She is joyfully serving Jesus with her talents alongside her husband. You might consider it a random coincidence that we were in our hometown and she and her husband were also here to perform for a local church anniversary celebration but I do not. It was a God thing.

I knew she was talented, I remember that from back in the day, but seeing her sing for Jesus, well that was a beautiful sight and sound. Maybe some of it had to do with the selection of songs, mostly hymns, which I dearly love, you know, the old ones, like I'll Fly Away and Washed in the Blood. It was incredible. I can't wait to listen to my CD!

She is an inspiration and she certainly encouraged me!

#LovelightInternationalMinistries

Wednesday Words - Wright

We're all starving for grace and at the same time, withholding that same grace from each other.

 

Christy Wright

Wednesday Words - Maxwell

God uses people who fail-

cause there aren't any other kind around.

John C. Maxwell

 

 

So true...we are all failures and yet God still uses us and more importantly loves us. Incredible... 

Wednesday Words - Saunders

Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans. 

Allen Saunders

Often times when people find out we are full time RVing and traveling around the USA they share they plan to do the same someday. Or they say that would be my dream come true to do that. It is the same thought we shared with others before we decided to do it ourselves. It is NOT as easy and glamorous as it sounds. I am not saying that I don't enjoy it, I do. However, it was not an easy decision for us to make. We are still relatively young. We decided to go ahead and make it happen now while we could. While we are still in good health, while we can. We knew that we didn't want to wait. 

It was a sacrifice and it still is in many respects. Even though most think it's not and that we are "loaded". LOL that is certainly not the case. We saved our money, we still save as we can, we live quite simply, we always have. I don't look for that to ever change. It IS our choice for this life. Certainly, MiRV did and still does explore the job market. Should the right opportunity present itself he would re-enter the workforce. So far nothing has appeared to make him want to do that.

I will say I personally think you can let yourself be so "busy" in life that you are not "living" life. Balance is key don't you think? I mean, really, when you have no balance then you find yourself stressed, tired, frazzled. Take time to live right now in the life you are in, no matter the circumstances. Don't dwell on the what ifs and whens, live now, live abundantly, don't get bogged down in when this happens, we will (fill in the blank), or when this is over I will (fill in the blank). It's easy to do, I know I fell into this mindset while MiRV was active duty because there was so much that was out of our control. But then I came to realize you still have to live life. Hard, you bet, nothing comes easy.

DIY AC seal replacement

Well, our plan was to head to the beach...that didn't quite work out but thankfully replacing an AC gasket ourselves did. Prayer is powerful, never forget that. We had a little bit of runoff way back last fall and thought it was a leveling issue, hasn't happened again until this week, again thought it was a leveling issue. Solved that still had some moisture so knew there was a deeper issue. MiRV felt the AC seal was in need of replacement. So we start googling and looking into it and find it's not too tough but I am anxious on things such as this so I am just praying for direction and confidence to do what we need to do.

A few phone calls to local RV shops and no go for getting us in to have it done. Another call to a good RV tech in LA gives us the encouragement we need to tackle it ourselves. Yep, it was definitely within our DIY comfort zone and saved us some BIG bucks. Thank you Lord, I love how we can see our God take care of even the little things like AC gaskets it's just amazing how powerful and amazing He is!

It was a super HOT day and we were sweating buckets but we both got down to business and got it done!

 Cleaning the opening was extremely important so the new seal would work to keep out the runoff. It was a pain but worth it. The old seal was hard to get off as was the sticky stuff it was stuck on there with and since we didn't think we should use googone (cause it's oily and might not allow the new seal to adhere well) we just used that good old fashioned elbow grease!

 It was soooooo HOT in the RV we did lunch outside, thankfully, the it was a not a breezy day and we were able to have the awning out. And lunch was already packed in the cooler since we had planned for a beach day! Love easy when it's so warm and you are HOT!

 Even after the seal was replaced and we got the AC running again it took quite awhile to cool back down so we did dinner outside too. It was nothing fancy just cheese, crackers, chips, salsa and a bit of bubbly grape juice. Just the ticket for such a day as this.

#BayouOutdoorSupercenter

Happy Birthday Daughter!

You brings us unmeasurable joy...we are so proud of you!

 You can be sooooo silly!

Happy, happy, happy birthday to our one and perfectly done! Hope you enjoy an awesome, good, funtastic day! Continue to seek God and join Him in the work you see Him doing around you, you will never regret it! And never, ever, never forget you are fearfully and wonderfully made and He has a plan for YOU!!

We so love you and as I said we are sooooo very proud you and the young woman you are! You have been a blessing to us and many, many others. We could not even begin to fathom our life without you in it. You bring such joy to those around you and we are extremely grateful God made us your parents.

If you are interested you can read about her arrival into this world right here! And another great birthday post is also here when she turned 21! What can I say, she IS an incredibly amazing girl young woman!

 Love you! 

Never EVER never forget...

You is kind. You is smart. You is important!