2015 Trip West - Day 5

Day 5:

Corbin had written in his itinerary that this would be our longest, but our most breath-taking day of our journey.  Our plan was to drive across Wyoming to Yellowstone National Park, drive the loop through Yellowstone, go to Grand Tetons National Park, and go through the mountain pass that used to trap people traveling the Oregon Trail.  We would end up in Pocatello, Idaho.  Other than the first couple of hours crossing Wyoming, this would be all new territory for Corbin, so he was excited for this day.  He had long wanted to go to Yellowstone, and today would be the day.

We had breakfast on this Tuesday morning at our motel, and left Gillette, Wyoming at 6:30 am to cram as much as we could into this day.  Passing through Buffalo, Wyoming, we stopped to get gas, and left I-90 to take the scenic route US 16 to Yellowstone.  We passed over Crazy Woman Creek.  I often tease Susan about being a Crazy Woman, so I particularly had to let her know by text where we were.  They named a creek after her.  

Our first scenic site to visit was in Cody, Wyoming.  We stopped to have lunch at Taco Johns (very good!), then drove through Cody to Old Trail Town on the western edge of Cody.  Cody City, as it was originally called, was named after Buffalo Bill Cody.  He was the one who laid out the original town site in 1895.  In 1967 western historian Bob Edgar wanted to preserve the lifestyle and history of the Frontier West.  He collected authentic structures and furnishings from across Wyoming and Montana to put together Old Trail Town.  Original cabins used by old west outlaws, such at Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, are located here.  There are 26 building total, and also grave sites of notable western figures.  

Old Trail Town exists as a memorial to the uniquely American experience known as The Old West.  I took pictures of every building, but have decided not to include them in this blog.

 Here is Cody, Wyoming, as it looks today.  

Just outside of Cody is Buffalo Bill Dam, where we stopped briefly.

 

Time to head on to Yellowstone.

We anticipated seeing wildlife on our drive through the Park, but this fellow almost jumped in front of us as we entered through the gates.  He changed his mind, as there was a whole long line of cars behind us, and his chances for crossing the road right then were slim.  I caught his picture as he was moving away from us.

We entered the Park at the East Gate and drove in to the Museum and Visitor Center on the north end of Yellowstone Lake.  It was so sad, nothing like I was expecting, as the trees and vegetation had been devastated by forest fires the summer before.  Every now and then we could see some pines, but most of it looked like the trees in the pictures above at water's edge.  We never saw any other wildlife during our southern loop drive.  I wonder if the fires and lack of vegetation chased them to other areas of the park.  There wasn't really much to take a picture of except burned out forests.

Realizing how mammoth Yellowstone National Park is, we opted to just drive the southern route around to Old Faithful.  That's an icon I wanted to see on this my first (perhaps my last) trip to Yellowstone.  We stopped at the Visitor Education Center and found out our timing was very good for seeing the geyser spout, so we headed out to get a seat.  We only had about a twenty minute wait until Old Faithful proved true to her name.  I'm including a video for you to watch...particularly those of you who have never seen this phenomenon before.

Road construction and road painters, repairing the roads from the fires from the year before, slowed our traveling time way down.  We probably lost two hours driving out of Yellowstone through the South Entrance.  We had hoped to go to the Grand Teton National Park, but all I could do was try to capture pictures from the distance.  Certainly Corbin and Susan will have to make a trip back to Yellowstone National Park and see this whole area more closely.  They like to hike, so this area just beckons them back.  

I'm a walker, but not a hiker.  I like to see my wildlife in cages at the zoo, not up close and personal.  Just the week before we were at Yellowstone, a hiker was killed by a grizzly bear.  This hiker was a former ranger for the Park, so he knew all the guidelines to follow.  However, he neglected to have bear spray with him.  Mama Grizzly was no doubt protecting her cubs.  After she killed the hiker, she partially consumed  him.  The DNA matched the bear to the hiker, and the bear had to be euthanized because she had been feeding on a person.  How sad...for the hiker and the grizzly bear.  This information was taken from the USA Today on August 11, 2015.  Just so you know, if you are planning to hike in bear country, be sure to have your bear spray with you!

The above picture is the best one I could get of the Grand Tetons, given the distance and the time of the day.  You can see snow in those mountains...in the middle of August.

We had hoped to eat supper in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, but the town was packed, and the day was getting away from us.  We just got gas there and I took a few pictures while passing through.  It looks like a town that would be fun to visit.  It made me think of Gatlinburg, TN.  You can see the ski slopes that look like they come right into downtown.

Instead of trolleys, like Gatlinburg, they have stage coaches to transport people around.  Would have been fun to spend some time there!  However, we had a narrow mountain pass to get through, hopefully before dark.  We left Wyoming on State Route 22, and crossed over into Idaho on State Route 33.

We got on US 26 and drove over to I-15.  Would have loved to stop in Idaho Falls, Idaho, to see what the Falls are all about, but it was 10:30 at night as we passed through, so we just stopped at a truck stop Subway to get some sandwiches for supper after our long day of traveling.  From there we drove on down to Pocatello, Idaho, to our next motel reservation.  This was by far our latest night, and longest day!  So much to see, so little time, so far to go.

I have this AP on my phone called "History Here" which will let me know what all there is to see and do in the area I am in.  It mentioned that Pocatello had a Museum of Clean.  Corbin and I both got a chuckle out of that...like it was something that only people like us would choose to go see.  So the next morning, Wednesday, Day 6, of our trip, we drove by it.  It was still closed, too early in the morning, of course, so I snapped a couple of pictures.  Just in case you are curious.

This is a good place to end this segment of my blog on My Trip West.  Still more to come....

2015 Trip West - Day 4

Day 4:  Good Morning, Kearney, Nebraska!  A good night's sleep and we were ready to head out.  After breakfast at the motel and a gas-up we went out to see an arch that commemorated where the California Trail, the Oregon Trail, and the Mormon Trail all converged in Kearney.  Simply called "The Archway", it is a large arch of steel and wood spanning 310 feet over I-80.  The museum in the arch building presents 170 years of transportation history with detailed displays and stories of what it was like on the journey west to new lands.  

Originally named Great Platte River Road Archway Monument, you can Google it to find more information.  It happened that we were there before it opened, trying to get an early jump on our day's journey.  However, we did take time to walk around a bit and go through the maze.  Here are some of the sights:

I was a little surprised at the terrain in Nebraska.  I had always heard how flat it was and mile after mile of nothing.  I actually found the rolling hills to be pastoral and peaceful as we drove along. 

We drove up US 83 out of Nebraska as we crossed over into South Dakota, and took State Road 73 on the edge of the Badlands as we headed up to I-90.  We crossed over into Mountain Time Zone in Vetal, South Dakota.  

Once we got up on I-90 we began to see the signs for Wall Drugs.  I had learned about Wall Drugs through reading my favorite author, Richard Paul Evans.  He has a series out called "The Walk" series, and I absolutely love reading those five books.  It chronicles the walk a man took after losing his wife to cancer, his business to a crooked partner, and his house to the mortgage bank.  He wanted to end his life, but his wife had made him promise that he would live.  So he decided to walk as far away from his home in Seattle as he could.  His destination was Key West.  It takes five books to complete that journey, but I was fascinated with the story along the way.  All of the cities and places mentioned are real, so it was like taking a road trip with him.  He made me want to go see Wall Drugs.

 Wall, South Dakota, was like an old western town to me, and in fact, is an old western town.  The Drug Store was humongous.  We got lunch there in the 530 seat cafe, and Free Ice Water...the very thing they became famous for.

Weary travelers driving across a hot prairie were thirsty for a nice cold drink. The sign was posted in 1936 for Free Ice Water, and it was the turning point for the survival of Wall Drug Store.  It's a fascinating story, check it out some time!



We filled up with gas in Wall before heading into the Black Hills National Forest off  US 16 south and west of Rapid City, South Dakota.  We stopped in Keystone, South Dakota at Mount Rushmore National Memorial.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but after being to Atlanta Stone Mountain with its sculpture of the Civil War leaders of the Confederacy on the side of the mountain, I wasn't as awestruck as I thought I would be at Mount Rushmore.  Still, it was definitely a sight to behold, and worth the stop.  I was impressed with the flags from every state lining the walkway.  

The sculpture of the four presidents were carved from 1927-1941 with the help of over 400 workers and several influential politicians.  About three million visitors each year from this country and around the world visit this National Memorial.  

We only traveled through a small portion of the southwestern corner of South Dakota, but it was loaded with scenic sights.  One could easily spend a week in that area. It was the only rain we experienced on our whole trip. Glad I had my umbrella with me.  

It was time to head to our next motel stop.  We had hoped to go to Devil's Tower up in northeast Wyoming, but Corbin had been there, and we decided it was better to go on to Gillette, Wyoming for a good night's rest.  We took the loop on US 16 back up to I-90.  We checked into the motel around 8 pm and I was ready to just relax.  Corbin went out to a Chinese restaurant, which didn't hurt my feelings!  Paul and I say we will go to any restaurant but Chinese.  That's just not our flavor.  I know it's supposed to be the most popular ethnic food, but not for us.  

I believe this is long enough for another post segment.  This is fun for me, reliving the trip, but I did not expect it to be this long!  I'm not sure when I will get back to my next blog post on my Trip West, but it will be next week.  See you then, Partner!

2015 Trip West - Days 1-3

This past August I was very privileged to join son Corbin on a trip west...something I had never really thought I would do, however he opened my horizons to new territories.  This was his third trip in the same summer, but each time he drove it, he went a different path.  He wanted to show his mom sights she had never seen, and he had a few on his bucket list to check off also.  

Corbin and Susan were moving from the mid-west to California for Susan to take a new job assignment.  His first trip out was for them to drive their packed car and find a place to live.  The car was left behind with Susan, and Corbin flew back.  The second trip was for his father to join him and drive a U-Haul truck, transporting their household goods across the country.  When the truck was unloaded and returned, Paul and Corbin flew back.  

After that trip my husband had to leave for a month long job assignment out of the country.  Rather than leaving me sitting home alone, Corbin asked me to join him on his third trip west, using a rental SUV and hauling the rest of their belongings out to California.  Corbin loves to travel, see the sights, see the states and their capitals, hike the trails, discover new things.  Therefore each trip he made, he took a different route.  He sent me an itinerary ahead of time so I knew what I had to look forward to.  We also discovered unexpected sights along the way.  

In preparing to write this blog, I went through over 500 pictures I had taken along the way.  What a wonderful reminder of our trip!  Don't worry, I'm not going to post all of them!!  But from here on out, there will be pictures.  The landscapes were too beautiful and magnificent to capture in a small picture.  Cameras/phones cannot do justice to God's awesome creation and His ever changing scenes He's painting on the canvas of our world.  I've often thought how the landscapes just across this one country of ours are so vastly different, and yet God has created a world, a universe, the whole of existence and punctuated all of it with beauty and awestruck wonders.  

Father God, I thank you.  I am humbled by your Supremacy over all creation.  Yet you honored me this past summer by giving me time alone with my firstborn on a road trip across this vast land to see the wonders of your hand.  The time we had together was precious to me, a mother.  That meant even more to me than all the sights and beauty I beheld.  However, you gave me both!  You are so worthy of my praise!

Now...here's the story of my trip west:


Day 1:  My friend Chris dropped me off at the Kalamazoo Amtrak station for the first leg of my journey.  It would be a three hour train ride into Chicago.  I had packed conservatively, knowing there was not much room in the rented SUV for luggage.  I also wanted to be able to handle my own luggage for the parts of the trip I would be alone.  When I got on the train, it was packed.  The only seat I could find, someone was taking up two seats snoozing...so I had to wake her up.  Nice way to start, disrupting someone's nap!

When the train pulled in I had to find my way up through Union Station and out to the curb where Corbin was waiting for me, and we were off!  We got on I-55 and headed south.  Our first stop was in Joliet, Illinois, for lunch.  Now, when I stop in Joliet for lunch there is only one place I want to go...RAX!!!  There are only about 3-4 of them left in the nation, and one of them is in Joliet.  I love their BBC (bacon, beef, and cheese).  Arby's just can't make them like RAX.  But, sadly, I don't know how much longer they will be in existence.  I have a friend who lives in Joliet whom I have asked to stock his freezer full of BBCs should RAX go out of business.  

We headed down to Missouri, crossing over into St. Louis.  Our family lived in that area until the boys graduated and went their own ways.  (Then Paul and I moved over into Highland, IL, and then up to Michigan a couple of years later.)  The first overnight stop, Friday night, Corbin and I stayed at my other son's house in Missouri.  The only picture I took at this stage of the trip was one of Corbin and Kevin in fierce competition in an electronic game of basketball on Xbox.  I remember the days when they used to play it outside in the driveway!  The good ol' days, right?

Day 2:  Corbin and I took off first thing in the morning and drove down to southern Missouri to visit another family member, going down I-44 a portion of the way.  Part of this trip was Corbin's last opportunity to say good-bye to some relatives that he might not see again for a while after he moves to California.  

We arrived at "the ranch" at noon, just as Pam and Terri and gang were getting ready to go out canoeing.  They had forgotten we were coming, so I'm glad we didn't miss them!  Corbin decided to join them for the rest of the day on the river.  I opted to stay at the ranch, but I wasn't alone by any means!  They had four horses, two roosters, six hens, five dogs, three cats, and 3,000 flies.  I entertained myself with HGTV and read and took a nap.  In the picture below of the three of us, the one with the long hair is Pam, Paul's sister.  We spent Saturday night at Pam and Terri's house.  

Day 3:  Today we would begin our trip west, for sure.  This side trip south to visit relatives only made for a "fuller" trip.  We saw things we would not have seen otherwise!  For instance, we decided to drive by Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home in Mansfield, Missouri.  The "Little House on the Prairie" was my mother's favorite television show, so for her sake I wanted to see the place.  It was Sunday and the home was closed, but I took a few pictures from the distance.

I love looking at houses, so I'm sorry the home was not open that day.  Leaving there we gassed up in Springfield, Missouri, and then traveled north on US 71.  Our next surprise stop of the day was in Lamar, Missouri, the birth place of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States.  He succeeded to the presidency on the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt while in office.  Here are some of his quotes: 

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.

I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.

Currently America is under assault, and fear is no doubt very prevalent in the lives of many.  I found this third quote of Truman to be quite timely. (I am personally surrendering my fear to Jesus Christ in exchange for His peace and providential care.)

Corbin and I took time to walk through the house and grounds of Truman's birth place, even though he only lived there the first ten months of his life.  I found the home to be simplistically nice.

We stopped for lunch in Lamar at the Pizza Hut buffet.  It hit the spot for both of us!  Then we headed up toward Topeka, Kansas...our next stop...but there was a lot of construction around Kansas City on I-435, and even on a Sunday it took us quite a while to maneuver through the construction detours.  Felt sorry for those having to navigate that during the work week!!

The reason we wanted to stop in Topeka, Kansas, is because Corbin is trying to stop by every state capital building in the United States.  Nice goal to set for one who loves to travel!!

Topeka was also our next gas fill-up.  We stopped by a McDonalds so Corbin could get on Wi-Fi, and I could get a chocolate sundae!!  What's a Sunday without a sundae?  Ah...I hope I don't tell you all my weaknesses!

When we started out traveling together, Corbin told me that if I kept him talking, I would not have to drive.  That sounded like a win-win situation for me...as I don't like to drive that much, and I LOVE to be in conversation with someone...especially a SON!!!  We had one rule...we had to be honest with each other.  That is no problem for either of us...honesty being at the top of our ethical values. 

I decided I needed a back-up plan in case we ran out of things to talk about.  Therefore we made several stops at Walmarts looking for a Trivial Pursuit game.  I had forgotten to bring mine with me.  Since it appeared Walmart did not carry the game, I did a Google search and found out that Target carried them.  It was already after dark, and I didn't think the store would still be open on Sunday, but it was, and they had ONE game left!  This was in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Aha!  I had my "keep him talking tool"!  I would read the questions and I figured Corbin would know about 90% of the answers, and perhaps even the questions would create conversation for us...which they did.

We have now finished three days of our journey.  Our travels thus far have taken us through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and into Nebraska.  Corbin had already been to the capital building in Lincoln on a prior trip so we headed west from Lincoln over to Kearney on I-80, checking into our motel around 11 pm.  Long day, lots of stops.  We had so much pizza at lunch that we didn't need a supper stop.  We just wanted to climb into bed and get a good night's sleep.

I did not realize how long this blog would be, but I can see I will need to break it up into segments, more than one blog post on my trip west.  So this seems to be a good place to end the first segment, Days 1-3.

20 - My Story, God's Story - Transition to Tennessee

I am including this picture with this post...the same picture as I have chosen for the background on my blog introduction page.  I call this "Road to the Future", and that is how I see it in view of transitions in my life right now. This path leads into the unknown, but I am enticed to see where it will take me.  It's the next chapter in My Story, God's Story.

Just to satisfy your curiosity right up front, Paul and I are snow birds for the first time in our married life.  That means we leave Michigan for the winter months and head to a warmer climate.  However, as we still enjoy the change of seasons, we did not choose to head to Arizona or Florida.  We have chosen our beloved "home" state...Tennessee.  We raised our boys down in Cleveland, TN, and we know we will still get a taste of winter here, but we also know it doesn't last for months.  Snow and ice usually melt the next day or so.  We don't care about laying out in the sun, we just don't want to be stuck inside all winter looking at piled up snow that doesn't seem to go away.

Now to the background of this chapter of transitioning to Tennessee, coming off the last Story post of "Back to Michigan".  Back in the summer of 2013 Paul began to sense the need of some changes to occur in the camp he was serving and felt we should bathe our future in prayer.  We wanted God's perspective on what was ahead for us.  We took a weekend and traveled down to Mont Eagle Mountain, I-24 south of Nashville on the way to Chattanooga...a place we had passed through several times.  We took a lodge room in a retreat center and spent a couple of days asking God for directions.

By the time we left there to head back home, we had a sense of release from the camp, that our time there was complete.  A new board had been appointed and they needed the freedom to move the camp in the direction they chose.  We resigned our positions (Paul, Executive Director and me, Bookkeeper), effective August 1, 2013.  We had served ILNC for nine years, and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunities we had to work in the camping ministry.  It didn't make sense that God would take a chemical engineer out of the corporate world and place him in the camping world, but the expertise Paul brought to the table was able to save the camp in engineering fees and some legal feels.  

We had thought it would be simple to transition to another camping position in another state.  When those doors didn't open, Paul began looking back in the corporate world.  He had been gone for ten years and at 60 years of age, it seemed the corporate world wasn't too interested.  Since we had no income (other than my social security...500 a month), we closed up our Michigan house and moved to St. Louis to live with our son for the winter months while Paul researched jobs.  We took enough items with us to be able to set up house wherever the next job would be.

It was our journey to the desert, not really understanding we were on that journey.  We still had a mortgage to pay and other monthly bills, and we had to deplete any savings just to keep afloat.  Even that ran slim.  When we didn't know where the funds would come from, we were totally dependent on God.  We could not collect unemployment as we had been employed by a non-profit organization.  This situation lasted a year before Paul became employed as a consultant for safety and chemical engineering, working through a consultant who had his own company and serviced corporations world wide.  This person happened to be a co-employee of Paul back in his early days with Olin Chemical, so they already knew each other.  It was also a job where Paul could work from anywhere...a home office...except for the times he had to be on location.  During that year of no employment/income, God was so faithful to meet all of our needs.  His timing was perfect, not early, not late.  He saw us through in many ways only He could orchestrate, and our faith grew deeper.  We have truly learned He is all we need.

We moved back to Michigan for the summer, hoping to be able to sell our house and cottage so we could move south...back to TN or North Carolina.  Two summers later (2015) we still have not sold, so we figure God must have a reason for us to stay on the campgrounds for now.  Certainly our granddaughters love visiting there in the summer, and we don't want to take that privilege away from them.  Also, Paul's parents, who live in Michigan, are both elderly and have health concerns.  It is understandable why we need to still be present in Michigan, and you cannot beat the summer weather there! 

Because snow fall had been severe the previous two winters, we hoped we could at least escape Michigan during the winter months.  Last April we took a spring trip and stopped in Hendersonville, North Carolina to check out rental possibilities there.  Nothing really impressed us as being the right situation.  We then spent a few days back in Cleveland, TN where we raised our boys.  The town has grown so much, so many new subdivisions, and so much traffic.  Again, we didn't feel it calling us "home".  

Our last night in Cleveland we went out to eat with friends who happened to mention a place in middle TN where they might consider retiring.  So on our way back to Michigan, we decided to check out the area.  We became interested!  I spent the summer researching rentals in the area, and found a few that would rent for six months...most want a year's lease.  Also found some that could be rented fully furnished, including linens and kitchenware.  

In September we made a trip to TN for Paul to attend a class, and scheduled a trip to check out the possible rentals for the winter months.  I prayed that God would close the doors on us coming to TN for the winter, if that was not in His plan for us.  But if He was willing for us to do so, would He please show us exactly where He wanted us.  He knows our future job income, our future expenses, our future period...and we can only live from day to day in faith.  We don't even want to flirt with something that would be out of His will for us.  

As it turned out we had seven places to look at, four of which were not furnished.  Of the three furnished places one had very heavy pet odor.  Now we are down to two, looking at one on Friday which could have worked well for us.  But we had one more to look at on Saturday morning before we made up our mind.  When we walked through the front door of the Saturday house, we knew we had found home.  The owners were up from Florida for the summer, and they wanted someone to rent it for the winter months.  It was pristine clean, and so very spacious compared to our house in Michigan.  Huge garage and it had a full basement...which none of the other houses had.  We sat down to chat with the owners, and ended up going out to lunch together.  We spent over three hours with them and felt like we had gained new friends.  They felt the same about us.  Turns out the house we had seen on Friday that would have worked was rented by people wanting a year lease, so that one was taken off the list.  We were down to one...just like I had asked God for.

We told them we needed to go back home and pray over the situation before making a commitment.  We looked at our budget, we looked at the jobs Paul had lined up ahead of us. And we asked God for confirmation if renting in TN for six months had His approval.  I will not give the details, but God answered that confirmation with two specific incidents, and we were given the confidence it was part of His plan for us.

When I think back on how God brought us through the desert during the winter of 2013, and provided for us during winter of 2014, and now look at where He has placed us for this winter, I am simply humbled and amazed.  There is no way I want to go back to being self-sufficient.  We have learned to live on little, and stick to the basics.  God has given the surplus in His time and in His way.  We are so blessed!!  I am going to close this blog with a picture of what we see out our back window...a dream come true for the golfer in us.

I am fully aware that I still need to do a blog on my trip west this past summer.  It was a very special event in my life and I want to make it part of this blog.  No doubt these winter months will give me time to blog my heart out.  

40th Anniversary

My husband had been out of the country on a four week work assignment.  He had made a 15 hour non-stop flight into Chicago O'Hare, taken the EL into Union Station, and then brought Amtrak to Kalamazoo...almost a 24 hour trip in which he slept very little.  When I picked him up at the Kalamazoo train station around 9:30 p.m., he was wiped out.  I told him since the next day was Saturday and we had no place to be, he could sleep in and catch up.  He responded, "Oh, no, we have to be somewhere at 10 a.m.."  I disagreed with him, saying we had no where we had to be, but he insisted we did, and that I should wake  him by 8 a.m.

He went straight to bed as soon as we got home, but I was still up for a while.  I was trying to figure out where we needed to be the next morning.  Then it dawned upon me that Sunday was our 40th anniversary.  This is the first year I totally forgot about our anniversary!  Paul is not a gift giver, not even a card, and so we did not make a big deal about birthdays and anniversaries.  Since he was out of the country, I guess I was just looking forward to him being home, and not considering the calendar date.  However, I thought, if he wants to get me flowers for our anniversary, he can do that any time...not at 10 in the morning.  He had me puzzled!

The next morning as we were preparing to go out to breakfast, I asked if we were meeting anyone somewhere that day.  No, we were not.  He took me into Kalamazoo for breakfast, which was unusual as we normally ate in Vicksburg or Portage.  It was a restaurant I had not been to before.  During breakfast I noticed that Animal Planet was on the television, and I thought perhaps he was taking me to a dog kennel to pick out a new pet...since we had to put our two dogs down in the last 3 years.  But I didn't say anything.

After breakfast we got in the vehicle and he told me I had to put a blindfold on, which I did.  He said some guys were watching us, and the police may pull us over, thinking he is kidnapping me.  Thank goodness that didn't happen!  He drove for about 15-20 minutes, and I had no clue where we were.  Then he parked the car and told me to wait.  

When he came back to the vehicle, he opened my door and told me to keep the blindfold on and to take his hand and trust him.  He told me when to step up for a curb so I didn't stumble.  Then we went through two doors...and for some reason I thought we must be at a hospital.  That for sure didn't make any sense!!

When we stopped walking, he said, "40 years ago I couldn't do this....but today I am."  I started crying, because then for sure I knew he was doing something for our anniversary.  That was totally out of character for him, especially to sacrifice sleeping in to get up and take me somewhere special.  He touched my heart.

Then he took my blindfold off and there I stood, facing three store clerks on the backside of a wedding band display case.  They were all smiling and I was crying, just totally amazed at what was happening.  It was hard to focus on wedding bands because I was still trying to adjust to this soft spot in my husband.  He obviously had spent time, while he was away for a month, thinking of me and our anniversary and how to celebrate it.  And I hadn't even thought about it at all!

Well, they took my old wedding band...a $99 band that we had purchased at Service Merchandise 40 years earlier...he had a matching one...and cleaned it while I was trying to pick out a new wedding band with diamonds.  I said I wanted some plain and simple, did not want to draw attention to my hand...nothing big and gaudy.  The first one they put on me stayed on while they put others on to compare.  I liked the first one the best, and so did Paul.  He had already told them what price range to focus on, as I was worried about spending too much money...the bookkeeper in me.

They were going to need to re-size the band so they would need it for about a week.  As we were wrapping up, I said to them "You must have surprises like this all the time."  They said I was the first one to come in with a blindfold on!!  They were totally tickled over what was happening.  They even gave me a free pearl pendant necklace to honor our anniversary.

Now...if you go back to an entry I made a year ago in August you will read my blog about our 39th anniversary.  Paul was out of the country at that time also, but I had received a gift card from this same jewelry store (Helzberg Diamonds) to come in for a free pearl necklace.  I told them that it was my anniversary and that my husband was out of the country, but that God was using them to give me an anniversary gift on Paul's behalf.  I thanked them for allowing God to use them to gift me as we could not afford such gifts.  Paul had been unemployed for a year, and was on his first job.  God was intervening on our special day, even though we were apart.  You can read about it in the archives.  It's a good story.

Every time I look at the ring on my finger, it isn't the beauty of the ring (and it is simply beautiful), it is the remembrance of what my husband did for me...the love he put into that gift...the time he took to think of me and plan such an event.  I will forever cherish him in my heart!

People change.  Circumstances change.  You just never know what is around the next bend.  Just keep going forward, trusting God, holding onto His hand, and live each day in surrender to His will.  He has some surprises ahead for each of us!!  Of course, the ultimate will be the day we meet Him face to face!!!  Meanwhile, enjoy the journey by practicing His presence!!

Mountain View, California

Who do I know in Mountain View, California?  I just completed a trip west, from home to San Francisco, with a son.  The road trip west took six days, as we stopped to see family and many sites on the way.  The sites we saw were amazing, as it was my first real road trip west, but it was the precious time I had with my son that I hold dear...a very rare gift.  I plan to post a blog about the trip at some point, when life is not quite so full.  I have close to 500 pictures to sort through first.

Meanwhile, I keep wondering...who do I know in Mountain View, California?  I wish this faithful reader of my blog would leave me a comment, or send me an email.  I wish I was a little more faithful to blog, since you check in from time to time.  Please know I do appreciate someone is following my blog.  I just made a rare post to my "Living Simple, Finishing Well" blog.  I hope many read that post, for I made myself quite vulnerable.

19 - My Story, God's Story - Back to Michigan

My story began in Hastings, Michigan, where I was born.  Even though I spent several winters of my younger years in Florida with my parents when I was growing up, we still ended up in Michigan for the summer.  Honestly, you cannot beat Michigan during the summer.  There is normally a nice breeze blowing, and everything is green, and the lakes sparkle.  Average temperatures are high 70's, low 80's.  Granted, it can get hot and humid at times, or even extra cool, but it never lasts.  

When Paul and I were married, after a year of living in the upper peninsula of Michigan, he took his first job in Tennessee.  That is where we made our home for most of the years we raised our sons.  We had a brief job stint in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and then four years in Joliet, Illinois, but Cleveland, Tennessee is where we called home.  We loved it there.  Then Paul changed companies and we live in the St. Louis, Missouri area for about 10 years...living across the Mississippi River in Highland, Illinois for two years, as talked about in my last blog post.

When Paul's job came to an end in St. Louis, we decided to give God time to show us His direction for the next part of our journey.  Paul took a sabbatical from the corporate world and we decided to move into a small cottage in Michigan that we had inherited from my parents.  It was not heated, and it was only about 350 square feet, but with space heaters and wrapped pipes and two little furry doggies, we survived our first winter while we rehabbed the cottage.  During the spring, summer, and fall we doubled our square footage because of the large screen porch attached to the cottage.  It was my favorite place to be.  

While we were rehabbing the cottage, Paul ended up volunteering his time with Indian Lake Nazarene Camp, the Michigan District Church of the Nazarene campground.  They had some major projects that needed a hands on, daily operations manager to over see the work.  Paul's engineering background had prepared him to give expertise to such projects as a mile long new paved entrance road, a 28 boat slip marina, and a new swimming beach for campers.  

There was a lot of excitement in the air with the changes coming to the campground.  There were already approximately 150 RV camping spots, and about 180 house/cottage properties.  Some people lived here seasonally, but many were year round residents.  Some were snow birds...here for most of the year, but spending winters in Florida or Arizona.  ILNC is basically a little village of its own.  It has three motels, a dining hall and snack bar, two tabernacles, and several bath houses and other buildings used by staff, maintenance, and guests.  

It was originally purchased in 1926 and became the place for the annual camp-meeting of the Michigan District.  Today there is a museum in the old youth tabernacle that holds many artifacts, pieces of furniture, pictures, and books from across the years.  ILNC is a very special place where during the youth camps many youth and children came to accept Jesus in their hearts, and God has called many people into full time ministry.  The old stone altar in the tabernacle is a precious memory in the lives of many.

It was to this ministry that God called Paul when He closed the doors in the corporate world.  After volunteering in the summer of 2004, he was hired on as the Executive Director in September of that year.  We had been nine months without employment or income, but God provided during that time.  Many changes occurred in those first years due to the increase in crowds.  Staff was hired, and I was given the position as the bookkeeper for ILNC.  Right down my alley!!!  I loved my job because it was only part time, and it gave me plenty of opportunities to interact with the people...the residents, RVers, and guests.

We still had our house in Highland, IL that we were trying to sell, so we continued to live in the small little cottage.  We were there for 18 months, two winters, until our house finally sold.  We had to take a loss on the house, but that was okay...we felt we were exactly where God wanted us.  Moving from a 2,800 sf house with a 2,800 sf walkout basement, into a 350 sf cottage (700 sf when we could use the screen porch), was definitely a big adjustment...but we were pleased.  After the house did sell, we didn't have any equity to buy a place on the campground, so we went into Portage, eight miles away, and rented a condo for a year.  We missed living right on the campground and having our golf carts to run around in during the non-snow seasons.

When the house next door to our cottage came up for sale, we used our cottage for collateral and bought the 1,200 sf house, with a partial basement and single garage.  We stayed in the cottage while we rehabbed the house to make it more our style.  We continued to keep the cottage for family and friends to stay in when they came to visit during the summers.  In the winter the pipes were drained and it was closed up since it had to heat.  

Downsizing was the name of the game for us as we moved from the big house in Highland, to a condo in Portage, and then to our "new" home on the campground.  Even today I continue to unload the stuff.  I want to live simply and finish well...as my one blog talks about (side bar).  Things that used to be so important to me no longer have a hold on me.  I wrote about some of my downsizing in a previous blog post in this Journal Pie blog...in case you want more details.  There is freedom in not having so much stuff!!!!  If we do move again, I want it to be the easiest, lightest move we have made in our 40 years of marriage.  We have lived in 19 different places, so we have obviously moved quite a bit.  Living here on the campground since 2004 has been the longest stint in my whole life.  Even when I was growing up, Mom and Dad moved a lot.  I like changes, I like moving...but only when I know God is in charge.  

We are trying to sell our house now so we can move back to a milder climate in the winter.  Paul's position as Executive Director and mine as ILNC Bookkeeper ended two summers ago.  But thus far He has not given us the freedom to move away, so we wait on His timing, and His leading.  Meanwhile we have some wonderful memories surrounding our time at Indian Lake Nazarene Camp.  We are blessed!!  And you can't beat Michigan for the summer!!!  We intend to keep the cottage to come back to in the summers, should we ever move away.  It's our granddaughters' favorite place to be...right here at ILNC.  They usually visit us a few weeks each summer, and some day they hope to inherit Grandpa and Grandma's cottage and continue to make memories!!