Sunday, May 24, 2009

Do I have it all?

I may not "have it all," but I have truly been blessed. Just in this brief trip through Colorado, I see how good I have it.

The views are fantastic, the family time has been great, the fellowship in churches has been good, and the Lord has used it to show me some very important things.

First of all, if you want to see our trip in pictures, see Sharon's blog. She's done an EXCELLENT job in capturing our trip mile by mile, adventure by adventure. I think it's great.

Until I can learn more about pictures, however, you are all stuck with words here!

I suppose the most important thing the Lord is teaching me right now is THANKFULNESS. It is always so easy to look on the dark side of things, when things go wrong (as they often do while we travel), and not to be thankful for the good things we DO have and for the opportunities we DO have. I can even be thankful when things go wrong, because the Lord can use it in my life to help me be a testimony of His goodness.

Many times, it is only when we meet someone who has less than we do, has it harder than we do, or struggles more than we do, that we come to understand how good we really have it. That has been the case with me lately.

Having spent the week in a very poor county in Colorado, where many people don't even have electricity or running water, I see how very blessed I am. My shower may run cold half the time, but I do have a shower! My air conditioner may not keep up with the heat very well, but I do have a/c! And I may not always have instant access to the people I love, but I do have a very loving family. God has been SO GOOD to me!

I pray that the Lord will help me always be content with such things as I have, for God is with me...

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Blowouts, Bedlam, and Being Blessed

Yesterday we had a trailer tire blow out on us as we were driving to Big Spring. After Kev checked it out, he came in and said, “OK, this is what we do in this situation. Since we have three more tires on the trailer, we will take off the Expedition and the bad tire and drive the rest of the way separately.” Soooo… I finished up making dinner while he took the tire off and then drove the Expedition the 35 miles into Big Spring (which, by the way, was Big SpringS at one time until the government decided to try to harness the springs and ended up blocking all but one…)

We got in to the church at 6:15, and discovered two very important things: 1) they had no suitable hookup, and 2) it was actually a MEETING!! By this time, it was 6:35, and they very kindly took us out to an RV park 9 minutes away from the church, and some of us weren’t even dressed yet! Needless to say, panic and bedlam ensued, but my husband did a great job of presenting the ministry and preaching. We sang “I’m blessed,” and “What Love.” It all was a bit hollow without the boys, though.

Anyway, my husband is on his way back from getting 4 new load-range E tires for the trailer. he Lord has been so good to us, to take care of us as He does.

I’ve spent most of today prepping and staining the door frames to the shower and toilet room. They look really nice, except…. Some of the stain got under the masking tape I put on the wallpaper! Ugh! I don’t know what I’m going to do about that. We'll hafta see.

Tomorrow we are planning on polyurethaning. I have several volunteers!

Monday, May 11, 2009

We're Off!

Well, we headed out on Saturday! We had some good services Sunday, and then Sunday night…
Jonathan called us at about midnight to say that he forgot his passport! He was leaving in the morning to go to Germany, and would we meet him halfway with it he wanted to know.

So Sharon and I saddled up and drove 1 1/2 hours to Brady TX, where we did NOT meet Jonathan! He had gotten a flat tire! Though there is a big blank area of no cell phone service, he had not entered it yet…but I did, and there was no way they could contact me to tell me! So I wandered around Brady for awhile looking for him, unsuccessfully.

Finally at around 2 am I went back to the original meeting place and parked.

“What should we do now?” Sharon asked.

“I really don’t know,” I replied. “There is no Plan B.”

“Why don’t we pray!” she suggested.

I know this doesn’t sound very spiritual, but I didn’t see how that could help (silly me! Sorry, Lord!) “Sure, I guess,” I said. We bowed our heads and began to pray that the Lord would show us what to do now, and to keep Jonathan safe.

“Mom, someone’s walking up to the car!” Sharon exclaimed. “He wants to talk to us!”

Who would be walking through a dimly lit parking lot at 2 am? I looked to see a man smiling, and I put the window down just a bit, enough to hear.

“Are you the folks who are supposed to meet your son? Well, he’s not coming. He got a flat tire. You’re supposed to call your husband.” With that, he handed his cell phone in to Sharon.

To make a long story short, within about 15 minutes, we found Jonathan, and gave him his much-needed passport! After bidding them goodbye – again – we headed back to the bus in San Angelo, arriving at about 3:45 am.

Did I mention that I am tired???

We sure know how to start a trip with excitement!

Please pray for the guys as they fly over to Germany. I hear it is a wicked place, especially the airports. Pray that the Lord will strengthen them and use them!
Thank you!

BTW, Jonathan, Stephen, and Sharon have the BEST blogs!! They are FULL of pics and videos, polls and neat stuff that I never have time to even think about, let alone post. Head on over to jonathanraub.blogspot.com, thebackporchview.blogspot.com, and mydelightfuldiary.blogspot.com. to find neat stuff!

Friday, May 1, 2009

COUNTDOWN

We are planning on leaving for our next ministry trip on May 9th, after a week of tent meetings and the church picnic. We’re planning on taking the bus to the church on the 8th, so that means we need to be in the bus by the 7th, since we’ll need to wrap up some last minute things here at home to prepare for being gone for 6 months or so.

It is coming up so fast! I have TONS of things to do, as I’m sure you can imagine. I should be making lists, lists, and more lists, if I can only get them started. Today I spent some time cleaning the bus, which I will do for the rest of the week. Next week we move in, hopefully piece by piece, and pull out the end of the week.

So, if you don’t hear from me until sometime after the 12th or so, you’ll know why!

*Please pray for us for the tent meetings, the strength to prepare for the trip, and for our first stop in stop in San Angelo on the 10th!
Thanks*