On to Texas and the Ball

We believe that one of the most important and significant aspects of our motor home life is the ability we have to visit with our children and their families, and to facilitate those same visits between cousins.  Our married children are each blessed with living near their spouse's family, while none of them live close to each other.  (Oklahoma, Texas, Florida)  So, it's a real treat to be able to "ferry" some of them for visits from time to time.  After leaving Lincoln we were able to spend several days in Edmond, OK with Andrea and her family.  

Here's Ashley celebrating Ryan's 9th birthday with the extended family in Edmond, OK.  

 Ryan's happily opening presents from lots of folks!

We spent five nights in Edmond and played lots of games together, something our families really enjoy and which brings us all closer.  After that we headed the motor home for Texas and more fun.  Ashley spent several days in Kyle, Texas with Abey and his family.

Ashley has really learned to love Scottish country dancing and she worked hard to get herself ready for the Houston Workshop and Ball, her first!  And was she ever well-prepared!  She danced 13 of the 16 dances, and for a relatively inexperienced dancer, that's amazing!  (But then, we all have amazing grandchildren, don't we?)  She was truly the Belle of the Ball; I had to "take a number" just to dance a jig or two with her!

Here she is with Geri Simms and Meg, and standing with Jon Simms at the workshop.

The three of us

Here is the entire Bluebonnet dancer group from San Antonio attending the ball.
Great dancing, great friends!

After the ball we put Ashley on a plane back to Florida and got ready for the next event:
Roger's 50th high school reunion!

We had two evenings of fun, visiting with old friends from over a half-century ago!

Marylee Buchanan and Dick Sanders

This is the picture of my elementary school sixth grade class, yours truly with the sign on his desk.
Many of the friendships represented at the reunion had their beginnings right here!
Dick Sanders (above) is to my immediate right, with Marylee Buchanan just over his right shoulder.

I'm standing with Albert DeBarros and John Anderson-Hensley, still friends after so many years.

Meg's step-mom Marilyn Thurman was 89 in November and we joined her Daughter Nancy from Houston in celebrating at a quaint restaurant in Gruene, Texas: the River House Tea Room.

This year Roger did something not done before: I flew back to Lincoln a second time for a visit with my Brother Randy and our niece Shanna.  Meg stayed back in Texas to spend more time with her Dad, who will soon be 101 years old!



My flight to Lincoln took me through Denver where I had lunch at the airport with our BFF Bonnie Cline.

I stayed about 10 days, saw two more Husker games, played lots of family games and generally just had a good time.  Randy and I went out to eat at a fine local Mexican restaurant, Las Margaritas, the evening I arrived.  On entering the foyer I walked right into two of our oldest and dearest friends from Lincoln days: Sue and George Darlington!

He was a very successful football assistant coach to Tom Osborne for more than thirty years!  A nice reunion after many, many years and what a sweet serendipity!

I saw two more Husker games while there, and I was accompanied to one by our former pastor and good friend Dave Argue.  And it was the perfect time: it was Tom Osborne Appreciation Day!

Shanna has collected a lot of marbles during her life and wanted to see if they were worth anything and just how much.  So she and I made a quick trip to York, NE, home of  "The Marble Museum" where she was able to sit down with the owner, Lee, who evaluated them for her.

Lee is famous in the area, very friendly and informative. Drop by!

In December we headed for Arizona and Roger's teaching at Still University in Mesa.  Each year the university's School of Physician Assistant Studies brings Roger on staff as an adjunct professor to teach  urology and neurology.  The students are fun and avid learners, I love to teach the subjects and it seems a perfect fit.





Here are some of my students from this year's class:

 All have degrees already: most bachelors or masters, but an occacional PhD is in the mix, as well.



They are fun, inquisitive and share with me a love of learning!  In short, it's a joy to work with them year after year.

A fellow teacher Bob McMullen and his wife Amy host Meg and me when we are there, and they have become good friends.  We have many common interests, one of which is a new free community medical clinic they are opening.  We love geocaching and hiking the mountains and small towns of Arizona together; here we are at Globe, AZ, having just found a cache at this church.

I'll close this edition with another of those gorgeous Arizona sunsets. Wish you were here with us!

A Tale of Two Bloggers, Two Rallies and Football

This fall we turned the RV northward again, this time with a stop in Licking, Missouri. (That's right, Licking. I giggle every time I say it!) And I want to introduce you to some very special people, the Adams Family, who live there. We met through their blog Clan Chrisdean, where in their own words: "We love the Lord, reading the Puritans, Civil war reenacting and Scottish Country Dancing...and reading!" What's not to like?! We contacted them and told them of our plans to travel near them and they invited us to park on their farm for a night or two, which we did over the Labor Day weekend. They welcomed us to their home

and shared their time, friendship and meals with us. We attended their Scottish dancing class together in Lebanon, MO, and church with them on Sunday.

Mealtimes are a family affair, taking turns with the prep.  The children milk the cow for fresh milk and home-churned butter, also providing fresh cream for the coffee every day.  Mmmmmmm!

 

They have eight children at home, and a more well-mannered and enjoyable group doesn't exist anywhere!  Pure delight to be around!

They're home-schooled and just as full of joy and fun as these pictures suggest:

   (I won't list all of their names, for privacy's sake.)

This was truly one of those Kingdom visits that make being children of the same Father such an ongoing joy in this world!





We went on to Anderson, Indiana for a visit with our good friends Bill and Bea. We camped two nights in the Mounds State Park and spent many hours together, reminiscing, eating (great steaks, Bill!) and geocaching.

Bill was Roger's predecessor in the Kenya hospital where we worked for four years; he taught Roger most of what he knows of missionary medicine and surgery.

Bill gave us a copy of the book, The Gospel Trumpet Years on the early days of the Church of God, since that was the church we went to Kenya under in the '60s.  Then they introduced us to one of the authors, Dale Stultz, who told us more about it and autographed our copy.



While in Indiana we visited Plymouth which was Roger's home for a year at age 10.  We looked for the old house where he lived but, sadly, it is no more: demolished for something else. (sigh!) But this was a beautiful pink house that we noticed while caching.

   This old bridge hid a tricky geocache from us (for a while.)

 Roger's Great-Grandmother Joiner is buried in Plymouth, having lived to the ripe old age of 97.  When Roger lived here in 1954, she lived with them also, and, being blind, would ask Roger to read the Bible to her each day.  Many happy memories from Plymouth!



 We walked through the town, geocaching and enjoying its parks.  A serendipity: a man we met was collecting edible mushrooms in the park, specifically Hen of the Woods, and offered to share them with us. They're found primarily in the north in the fall, usually at the base of oak trees. We took them home, sauteed them in butter and ate them for dinner: delicious! 


We came to Goshen, Indiana for the SMART National Muster. The area of Indiana surrounding Goshen is known for its Amish-Mennonite history and culture. We shopped in a little Amish food store and found great buys on pickeled beets, garlics and organic blueberries.











We visited the large flea market at Shipshewana, geocached our way over to Michigan, and enjoyed a banquet at an Amish home.  Home-cooked chicken, ham, whipped potatoes, vegetables and all finished up with your choice of apple, cherry or chocolate pie! Wow!

We met old friends there, like Rick and Jana Nunemaker, and made many new ones, as well.  Here's Meg visiting with James Heldt, the president of our local Alamo chapter.
                                                    

We're in front of the Elkhart County Courthouse in Goshen with Mike and Lorraine, new SMART friends and fulltime RVers.  It was a rainy day but no one seemed to mind.

 

 Here are Larry Sockwell and Dave Weis, the future and immediate past national presidents of S.M.A.R.T. 










Next year's national muster will be in Sedalia, Missouri and this year's Escapees National Rally was held there the week after our week in Goshen. Several of our chapters are responsible for hosting that muster next year so agreed to meet at Sedalia, attend the Escapees Rally and "scout" out the situation there.  We spent the week learning, enjoying the rally and meeting together to plan.  That's where we met another new friend, Donna, a lawyer from Chicago.  We had lots of fun together and hope to meet again.

The headline entertainment of the week was Yakov Smirnoff, of Russia and lately, Branson.  He is a very funny man and an inspirational speaker, as well.  Take any opportunity to hear him! You won't regret it!











Leaving Sedalia behind us we headed for Lincoln, stopping by the Kansas City airport just long enough to pick up Ashley, who had flown there to meet us.  She got her "game face" on and we went to the Cornhuskers game the next day.  We went to the pregame pep rally beforehand.

The following Saturday Linda Becher served us a magnificent brunch on her backyard patio, to
celebrate our 44th anniversary, and a publisher's acceptance of the first book by Lynn, her roommate.  Wow! What a day for a celebration!  And we topped it off that evening by watching Nebraska come from behind in the fourth quarter to beat Wisconsin!

While there we danced with the Lincoln Scottish Country Dance group and Roger taught both sessions, their previous regular teacher having recently moved to Nevada.  We spent a very nice dinner and evening in the home of our good friends, Barb and Ken Woodhead, who were hosting some of our missionaries, Rob and Sarah Malcolm.  It is always good to be with them. 

We spent a wonderful day with Dave and Jackie Argue, who are moving to Milford, NE.  Food and fellowship are always good with these dear friends!

We got reacquainted with some dear friends from our Germany years (1986-89), Ken and Jane Smith. They recently bought a fifth-wheel and were en route from Washington state to Ohio.  When we learned that we'd all be in Lincoln at the same time, we arranged to meet for an overnight visit.  Our hosts, Fred and Janet Smith, graciously invited them to park beside us on their property, hooked them up to electricity and made it all possible.  Another surprise treat along this wonderful journey!