Monday, February 23, 2015

Sometimes Trusting is HARD To Do...

...and right now is one of those times.

And, if you have read my most recent post under
Ali's Thoughts & Ramblings
you can imagine my first thought
was to get something to eat
so I grabbed a
Image result for banana
and enjoyed it!!!

As Ron was driving into Branson this morning
for my appointment with Dr. Steve the 

decided to stop,
just STOP!!!

The good thing it happened right in front of the 
auto repair shop.
So Ron got the Jeep into the parking lot.
Talked to a mechanic, who thankfully
gave Ron a ride into Branson to meet me at the clinic.

At that time, the mechanic thought it might be moisture in the gas.
If that was what was wrong it would be between $300 & $500 to repair it.
So Ron joined me at the clinic,
then dropped me back off at Norma's
(by the way she is doing okay, gets tired very easily
and is a great patient)

Ron made a few stops before returning to the auto repair shop
to find out the engine is 
TOAST!
Yep, dead in the water!

And all I wanted to do was 

Image result for baby girl crying

but when you are sitting in a friends living room
it is just not becoming to throw a temper tantrum.

The good thing is
we have a car which was a gift from some sweet friends last October.
And it is running good, even while having over 350,000 + miles
and for that we give thanks.

Now we have to decide what to do?
Is a 1990 Jeep Wrangler worth putting in 
a $2500 + engine and repairs
and who knows what we will find

Or do we junk it?
And who wants a Jeep that doesn't run?

So I ate my banana, 
said a few little prayers to the Lord,
talked to Ron,
he is going to do some checking on the price of a new engine,
talk to a friend who might be interested in it,
we may just tow it back out to GUMI 
and just take care of the things we need to take care of
such as work meetings, 
making work phone calls,
planning to go see the eye doctor on Wednesday
and give us time to pray
and see if the Lord leads us to a decision
or leads someone to us with a suggestion.

So if you think about me tonight,
I would appreciate a prayer
that I don't go on a binge eating frenzy
and instead just enjoy
my evening with Norma.

Friday, February 20, 2015

It's Been Mighty Cold!!!

Over the past week we have had cold, very cold
temperatures...yesterday morning we woke to 5'

Here are some pictures of the last few days

Valentine's Weekend found us in Branson
We stayed at the Branson Hilton Convention Center
(won a free night stay last December at the Branson Chamber event 
held at Silver Dollar City)

and had dinner at Level 2 Steak House.  
Probably the fanciest restaurant we have ever eaten in.

The food was good. But very EXPENSIVE.
We had a $100 gift card and we thought that would be plenty for the two of us to have dinner,
Never eaten at a fancy restaurant before where every item is separately priced.
And the prices are way more than we would ever pay to go out to eat.
But we were there, we had the $100 so we ordered.

 Pictured below is my crab salad. $9.95 to the left and their picture to the right.  
Mine was quite a bit smaller, at least the amount of crab.


 



Below is the Petit Filet Mignon for me...it sure looked pretty lonely all by itself on the plate.
$28

Image result for petite filet mignon

And Ron had the rib eye for $36, didn't get a picture of his.
And for $18.95 he got a three sides dish with asparagus, garlic mashed potatoes and egg noodles with cheese sauce.
And we both had water to drink.
As they say there is a first time for everything.  
We were quite shocked that you had to pay extra for a side, 
you would think that a steak would come with a baked potato.
The meal was good, glad we went but we know we won't be back...way too pricey for us.

And then we went to see
which is always a lot of fun.
The best part of the evening was hearing/seeing New South
singing How Great Thou Art

and they had a standing ovation!!!  
Can't wait till we can go and see their Gospel Show!!!

Sunday we went to Chateau on the Lake
for the Home Show
made a lot of connections for projects 
out here at GUMI Camp USA

And then we came back home to get ready for the snow storm

This is what we woke up to 
Monday morning

    

Made a big pot of ham, rice & beans for dinner 


and Tuesday morning

  

So for lunch I made
Aunt Joan's Pancake
(a Dutch pancake made in the oven in a cast iron skillet)
It is a little brown on top because of the cinnamon I sprinkled on it before baking) 

And we were running out of water
to do the most basic things
...you know like flushing the toilet  

So Ron got to work
and gathered some ice,
and we had lots of it


And so pieces from the 5 gallon bucket got heated on the stove.


And then the water went back into the bucket


And so we keep 
plugging along

and through it all
we got this great picture
of our son,
Jamie.

Thanks Jamie for wearing the GUMI Camp USA
t-shirt.


Doesn't he look smashing!
Can't wait to see him in May
at the Grand Opening of 

Have a great day!!!

And pray we get some sunshine and warmer temps!!!

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Moved and Settled Once Again

Yesterday morning I left and headed into Branson
for the day and to spend the night 
with a friend

and hoping and praying that Ron could get the
leaning motor home moved and leveled.

Ran all my errands,
went to 
 and had a great meeting,
lots of sharing and time spent in prayer.

Then ran some errands,
made reservations for the 
Grand Jubilee
for Saturday,
Valentine's Day 
and then went to a 
friends' home for our
Ladies Fun Night
and to do some laundry.

After a fun evening and great food
called it a night and went to bed.
Woke up to beautiful sunshine
streaming in thru the upper windows

sort of like this one
Image result for square and oval window
the sun streamed in through the half circle 
part of the window...the rectangle part had shades.

And after a stop at Wal-mart I headed out to
GUMI Camp USA
and see my hubby.

And this is what I found


Our home on wheels had a new home.


The motor home had been right here yesterday, 
the back of the rig towards the
A-Frame and between the 
port-a-potty and the cabin.

And I felt sort of closed in
with the row of trees
along the side of the motor home.


And here is our home on wheels again.
I love the openness
and it is level.
No more leaning to the left.

Thank you Ron for moving
and getting our home all set up.
and making it level!!!

Now time to get ready 
to get busy with 
GUMI Camp USA!!!

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Our Home on Wheels


We love our home on wheels
and feel so blessed how it came to be ours
and that we enjoy living in it.

One of the best things about our home on wheels
is that we can move it when we want
(well most of the time)
and where we want
(well most of the time)

This morning as I was getting ready for church
I mentioned to Ron that we need to see 
about getting it leveled a bit more.
Since we parked it on 1.13.15
it has sort of settled in and is leaning a bit to the left.


Not quite as bad as this one is...but you get the point.

Once we were home from church 
I noticed Ron walking around outside and pondering.

I called him inside for lunch
and he said he was checking things out
and he thinks we could move the motor home 
around and facing up this way
Facing North towards Mo-Ark Road

But after walking and stopping,
looking and thinking
and realizing we would have a difference of
12 1/2" between the front and back of the rig

It was time to walk around 
and do some more thinking.

And we realized
this general area is probably the most level area
within reach of the power to plug 
our rig in


After much walking, talking, 
thinking, plotting
the decision has been made to move 
our home on wheels
over to the area where the back four wheels 
and our bedroom is in this picture
angled toward the drive-way (loosely spoken)
goes toward the main entrance

And so tomorrow
when Ali is off running errands,
going to Forever Friends,
doing some much needed laundry
(can't wait till the laundry room is built and finished)
and then enjoying our FF Ladies Fun Night

This great guy

will move our home on wheels!!!

Stay tuned for pictures of our new location
(actually only about 40 feet from where we are now)
to show up sometime on Tuesday!!

Hope y'all have a great day!!!

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Just Flying By!

JUST


and to let you know that I will be working on my blog
and changing things up a bit.

I will be adding Pages 
for 
Specific Things

Here are a few of them:
Home ~ What's going on with us at any given moment in time!
Us ~ Who we are
Places We Have Worked ~ snippets about the many jobs we have had and where they have been!
Crafts by Ali ~ check it out and if you see something you like, give me a shout and let's see if we can make a deal!
Ali's Thoughts ~ posts about things I have been reading, studying, learning
GUMI Camp USA ~ where we are currently at and what's going on there!

And who knows what else...you will just have to stay tuned to see what's up!

And like I say, a post should never go without a picture
and preferably one of our grands...
...this one is more of what Treyson was doing!!


This baby doll is one that Ron bought for me many years ago when we were 
in Leavenworth, WA...I always wanted a black baby and he got me one :)

I ended up giving this baby to Brandon and his family
and the other evening
Treyson, age 3, decided she needed to be covered up
and protected!!!

If you look in the mirror you get a small glimpse of Brandon!!!

Blog Address Change!!!!

Well I took the plunge and moved my blog over to WordPress! Below is the link to my blog. All of the blog posts I have written sinc...