Storms of Life ~ Originally published 5/31/13

Wow!  Wow!

Is all I can say.

We have had some doozy storms lately.

Wednesday night, 5/29 we were sitting in the rig.  I was crocheting and Ron was reading RV Forum on the Ipad when the NOAA Weather Radio alarm went off startling both of us to say the least.  It had not been a stormy day so the alarm was definitely unexpected.  The calm voice on the other end said "Seek shelter now!  Severe Thunderstorms have been spotted in the Coffeyville, KS area."  So we started to gather our things and then the alarm went off again "Seek Immediate Shelter NOW!  Winds of 70 mph are rapidly approaching."  We couldn't move fast enough.  Got in the Jeep to head to the shelter.  It was raining hard, I called Debra the manager of the campground and we stopped by Jesse & Ryans.  Told them about the storm warnings.  And we continued to the shelter.  We were there from 8:28 p.m. till almost 10:00 p.m. ~ no one else came.  Made me wonder what people are thinking when NOAA  makes those announcements...its not a game...lives are in serious danger.  We stayed till the all clear.

We returned to the rig and got settled for the night.  Both said a prayer that the storms would pass us by and we would get a full nights rest.

Thursday morning was overcast.  We had a few errands to run so we made a quick trip to the Post Office and Country Mart.  One sweet older lady said to us as she was heading into the store and we were going to our car.  "Make sure you pick me up if I topple over :) "  We all chuckled and said we would.  We watched her safely get into the store while we loaded the groceries into the Jeep and before heading back home.

Shortly after we got home, Ron commented that the skies were sure getting dark.

(Sorry the first three pictures were taken from the rig looking outside through the window with our screen on it)

But you get the idea...the skies were not very pretty.

And then the alarm went off!  Severe Thunderstorms were on the way again.

Took the above picture just before the skies opened up.  And then it rained.  It hailed.  And rained some more!  The wind was blowing somewhat but never got above 50 mph.  Not only were we listening to the weather radio we also had the radar on our computer.  It helps to see what is coming

And then the rain stopped.  The clouds cleared up a little.

This is looking out from our rig towards 169.

This is right outside our door.  Yesterday, Mike the manager and Ron had worked on leveling out the big ruts in the yard with three loads of dirt.  

Our own little pond :)

Clear skies for a while.

And then dark clouds moved in once again.

After raining for about another 45 minutes to an hour the skies started to clear once more.

And the water started to recede from beside the rig.

And then the sun came out.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was nice, sunny and warm.

As we went to bed we both commented "wonder what tomorrow will bring?"

As I reflected on how the storms came rushing in along with the downpour and hail and then the beautiful sunshine I reflected on how  my life goes that way sometimes.  Things can be going along just fine and then out of nowhere WHAM!  Like a flat tire on the Jeep - comes unexpectedly.  Do I find myself panicking or preparing to deal with things.  I was told quite often a few years back "you need to reign in those wild horses.  So hard to do when they are running amok and the panic and anxiety soars.  But when I kept my eye on the horses, being prepared for their slightest rumblings made such a huge difference...sort of like us with the unexpected weather that hits this area...as long as my emergency bag is packed, I have the weather radio turned on I respond much calmer and handle the storm raging outside much calmer inside the rig or the shelter.

How do you handle the unexpected storms in your life?

Are you prepared to some degree or do you freak out a bit, finding yourself surrounded  chaos and panic?

Road Trip to Bethany, MO and back to Coffeyville, KS ~ Day 3 ~~ Originally Published 5/31/13

Friday ~ May 24th

Slept in and then made our way to breakfast...it was delicious and plentiful.  So nice to have good tasting food and a clean jovial place to enjoy our meal before heading out for the day.  We stayed at the Best Western just out of Kansas City.  And then we began our journey back to Coffeyville, KS.

The day started out overcast but slowly turned to blue skies and sunny.

One of the reasons Ron wanted to go to Leavenworth was to see the Federal Prison.  While he was stationed at McChord AFB, Tacoma, WA a few guys in his unit were arrested and court martialed for selling and promoting the use of a variety of drugs.  It is a huge prison.  They raise beef and buffalo and have a huge garden.  All behind fences with huge rolls of Constatina Wire.  All these pictures were taken from across the prison as there are lots of signs once you cross onto the federal prison property that say no pictures.  Across the street from the prison is a housing development with a huge park and ball fields - we wondered if that is where families of the prisoners stay when they come to visit the prisoners.

On a side note,

the picture of the blue bridge is for Ron's cousins who live in Pasco, WA

and have to cross a blue bridge into the Tri-cities :) .

Leavenworth Federal Prison

Leavenworth, KS

The above pictures are in Leavenworth, KS itself.  There is definitely the older part of town where the Air Force Base is located and the newer part of town where all the shopping malls and fast food restaurants are.

While at the hotel Ron found a brochure that talked about a museum that sounded interesting so after touring the area of the prison and the air base we made our way over to the two historical homes.  Alas, the museum was closed that day :(  We could only imagine the stories of those who had lived in the homes.  The one shown in the center was a private residence until 1964 when it was donated to the city of Leavenworth.

Beautiful Mansions turned Museums

From the town of Leavenworth we made our way to the Veterans Hospital and Home where many of our veterans who have been injured over the years are treated and live.  We saw many veterans walking around the lawns...we say THANK YOU for serving and giving so much for us and our country.  In some of the pictures you can see where they are updating and making the dormitories/houses more habitable.

Veterans Hospital & Home

And then we continued on our drive.

We saw beautiful churches, a great looking motorhome and some cool looking barns

Driving through the countryside

And then we had a HICCUP.  The first flat tire we have had in our Jeep since we bought it in November 2010.  If you have been following our blog long, you know Ron loves to drive on the back roads and avoid the freeways as often as possible.  Ron started the process of changing the tire when our first big bump was that there was a locking lug nut and us with no tools to get it off.  After trying for about 15 minutes with what tools he had, Ron started trekking down the road to the nearest farmhome, no one was home so off to the second one.  I stayed at the Jeep, texting and praying, praying and texting watching three different trucks go speeding past with not a glance towards me or the Jeep :(  and then Ron came back carrying a couple of tools.  He got the lug nuts off and tried to pull the tire off the Jeep ~ no such luck...fortunately by this time, a young man stopped to see if we needed assistance.  After talking for a few minutes and both he and Ron pulling on a tire that would not budge, the young man grabbed his hammer and gave the tire a big hit...and voila, the tire came off.  And with that the tire was changed and we were off to give the lady down the road her tools...found out the young man that helped us was her son!  Giving thanks to God that she was home and her son had a hammer.

A BIG Hiccup in our day :)

We then made our way to Parsons, KS to pick up a few groceries

Almost back to Coffeyville, KS

And then we were home at our rig at the

Big Chief RV Park.

We had a great three days off and are excited to see how God continues to lead us.

God Speaking through a Little Bird

Yesterday as we were watching them harvest wheat we saw this little bird.

Not sure what kind of bird it is.

Ron said the way she was acting it was like she was trying to distract us from a nearby nest. 

She gave us quite a show before we drove way around her 

while she pretty much stayed right in that little area of space.

 

As we drove I thought about how she was protecting her young or a nest 

and the scripture

 

Matthew 6:26 came to mind:

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, 

and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

 

 

 

And I was reminded in my heart that I have no need to worry,

God has and always will provide for us.

 

 

Harvesting Wheat ~ Liberty, KS June 30, 2013

One of the things we have done since arriving in Kansas is to go on drives.  We have watched fields of wheat grow from little sprouts and have been waiting to watch them harvesting.

Yesterday was our day...

 Couldn't pass on getting a picture of Ron daydreaming of being out working in the fields.  

Maybe one of these days

Hope you have enjoyed watching the harvesting as much as we did.

Road Trip to Bethany, MO and Back to Coffeyville, KS ~ Day 2

Thursday, 5/23 ~ woke to grey skies and threats of rain.  Since our business with D & P was finished for the time being we decided to take a leisurely trip back to Coffeyville.

First stop was to get gas and look who was filling up across from us.

We love seeing old cars and how they travel.

We decided to take the roundabout way to get back to Coffeyville.

We both love to read books about the Amish and found a little Amish/Mennonite community that was sort of on our way home.  Well not really, but we were on a road trip right :)

We headed off to Jamesport, MO

These are the sights along the road to Jamesport.

We love all the purple flowers along the way, old barns and crazy bouncy roads.  Even ran into a little construction...the guy holding the sign was sitting in his truck when we pulled up.  We said hi as we were passing and he said it was too cold to be standing outside :)  One of the things we really enjoyed was seeing the different fields and corn coming up, the perfect rows and this amazingly huge tree that from a distance looked like a person checking out the happenings along the road.

And then we got into the outskirts of the Amish/Mennonite community of Jamesport.  Anytime we see a Paint we comment and think about our friends Al & Selma and the story of their little foal that was the paint that ain't.  Aren't the white barns and houses beautiful along the green of the fields and the blue skies.

We arrived at Jamesport around 11 a.m. so after walking around a bit we decided to grab some lunch at Gingerich Family Restaurant.  Jamesport has a sign (red one) with the annual yearly activities...we are hoping to attend one of their weekends in the future.  There is a sweet little hotel, Jamesport Inn that would be perfect to spend a weekend at and touring around the area.  We laughed when we saw the sign "No Hitching"  and we did see a few buggy's coming into town as we were leaving.

We saw lots of posters for a birding event coming up Memorial Day Weekend.  The farm pictured below was going to be lowering the bird houses/nests every hour on the hour so people could see the baby birds and the nests they call home.  During our drive we saw lots of gourd style bird houses.

More of the country side and Amish homesteads.  The picture in the middle was a home where the Amish were gathering for some type of meeting/event.  Must have been about 10 to 12 buggies there.  One thing we noticed as we were driving around the little Amish children would smile, wave and then quickly turn and hide their faces.

This group of pictures is of the Flory Creamery.  It is run by the Flory family, a Mennonite family.  We met a couple who were visiting the US from Russia inside the little store.  It was fun to talk with them as Ron shared about his father and his family escaping out of Siberia in 1928 near Harbin, China.  The gal said she knew exactly where Ron was talking about.  As we pulled in we saw the chicken house and where the calves are kept.  Ron enjoyed checking out some of their farm equipment.  I noticed the old fashioned merry-go-round in the front yard.  We enjoyed chatting with the young girl running the store, sampling about 12 different kinds of cheeses and of course buying a few packages.  The one thing they didn't have was curds :(  maybe next time.  I told Ron if we lived in a sticks n bricks home I would love one of the rocking chairs pictured in the bottom corner below.

As we continued on our drive we saw some interesting parks, an old cemetery began in the mid 1800's and drove over some roads that were nothing more than ruts in the ground :)  At one point we had to laugh as we had made a full circle and traveled only about 30 miles (if we had gone in a straight line) from where we crossed the day before in Cameron, MO but we had actually driven over 125 miles :)

And then it was time to find a place to stay for the night.  We had gone from Bethany, MO to Jamesport, MO through Cameron, MO, and St. Joseph's and crossed over into Kansas but backtracked about 10 miles to Platte City, MO and stayed at the Best Western where we had a much better stay than the night before.

Stay tuned for Day 3 of our Road Trip to Bethany, MO and back to Coffeyville, KS.

Road Trip to Bethany, MO and Back to Coffeyville, KS ~ Day 1 ~~ Originally Published May 29, 2013

Last week we made a road trip to Bethany, MO for both pleasure and work.

We have been approached about returning to Branson, MO as campground managers and the soon-to-be new owners, D & P, wanted to meet with us.  So off to Bethany, MO we went.

Wednesday, 5/22 we had planned to get up at 5 and hit the road by 6 but when that dang alarm went off we decided to set it to snooze till 6 a.m.  Because as everyone knows, days off should include a little sleeping in :)  By the time we got ourselves ready to go, got the Jeep loaded, made a

it was 7:30 a.m.  The day was beautiful and sunny!

Ron enjoying his breakfast shake!

Coming into one of the many small towns we drove through. The church shown was built in the 1880's.

More old buildings and glorious sunshine!

Love these old time lights.

And we wandered through the little town of Colony, KS ~ population 67 ~ Ron's kind of town.

And then we saw this sweet car ~ thinking our grandson Max wouldn't mind having one of these :)

And heading into Kansas City.

More of the skyline in Kansas City.

Approaching a bridge that looked quite interesting in design.

Close up of the bridge.  Ron thought Christmas lights would look cool on every one of the stringers.

And looking over the bridge and into the river...just magnificent.

Pulling into Bethany the skies had changed to dark and grey and the weather was cold.  And us in our shorts :)

After a delightful lunch at a little Mexican restaurant in Bethany with D & P and sharing many ideas, expectations and goals for a sweet little campground in Branson we parted feeling lots of peace and anxious to see where God will lead.  We parted ways till evening when we went to church with D & P.  We both felt the Lord speaking to us and you can read more about it all here: Road Trip Reflections.

After church we returned to the hotel and went for a swim.  We stayed at the Comfort Inn in Bethany.  We would not recommend this hotel for anyone...the rooms were dirty, don't know the last time the carpets had been vacuumed, the breakfast that they speak about was minimal at best...couldn't make a waffle that was edible and when asked if they had any yogurt (they had a fridge and a place marked for it) we were snappishly told No!

Though the hotel was not the best, our day's drive to Bethany was a nice drive.  Stay tuned for Day 2 of our mini-vacation/road trip.

What's Been Happening with the Wandering Workentins ~ Originally published May 21, 2013

Hi there...guess I have been AWOL for a little while.

One day we had to go to Walmart and this guy was parked next to us :)

Guess we must be in the country!!!

Our cousin Monica & her family are in the process of adopting a new little one into their family and so I told her I wanted to make blankets for any new little ones added to their family since her momma is no longer here on earth and able to do that.  This one is for Hiro (pronounced Hero)...can't wait to meet the little guy and see him with his new blanket.  It is going to be sent out on Tuesday next week :)

One morning shortly after Ron left for work and I was sitting on the couch having my quiet time, the sun started to peak up above Amazon so I snapped a picture through the window/screen.  The picture doesn't do it justice and next time I will venture out of the rig to take the picture :)

And our dinner one evening: soft tacos w/Tilapia and cheese and orzo with red, green, yellow bell peppers.  These are Ron's :)

And these are mine.  I use the small tortillas, Ron likes the burrito size ones.

And this is Malachi modeling one of the headbands I have recently made.  Hard to tell but the color is purple not the blue it looks like in the picture.

And looking at the camera.

Thanks Malachi for being such a good sport :)

And we spent a few hours in the tornado shelter on Sunday night and on Monday too.  Ron was under lock down at Amazon during Monday's storms.   He said the hardest thing was knowing I was away from him...I said God was good as I chatted with friends on Facebook, many people were praying for me and others in the middle of the storms.

Monday evening we spent

and all those affected by the tornadoes that touched down.

So many lives were lost and family's homes destroyed...makes me realize that my problems are not as bad as I thought.

Please keep praying for all the family's, first responder's and all those who are in Oklahoma helping those who are in need.