A great day of seeing family!

We slept in this morning after several days of getting up early and going to bed late. We got dressed and had some errands to do. Hubby dropped me off at my sister Patty house while he went to work on the car. My sister Rosie and her hubby stopped by to see me as well. Then we headed to see the grand kids. They were excited to see us as we were them. We had a great afternoon and evening of visiting.

We watched them ride their new gator ..

Papa went to water the dog and little did he know what he started! Hailey put some water in Toby’s dump truck and said watch him .. he played for sometime and then it went from him playing to this

to Toby throwing water on Hailey and Papa …

Then it went to Toby and Papa throwing water on Hailey and Toby and Papa had a blast doing that.

Then it went to Toby getting himself wet and trying to get a drink .. it was so funny

Then it ended with Toby throwing water on Hailey .. it was a beautiful day to have a water fight and then it turned to where the kids decided Grandma needed to get wet so it was time to put up the camera!

Our daughter in law (Heather) bbq out and made us a wonderful dinner .. Thanks Heather it was great and so yummy .. after lots of playing, hugging and kissing. we finally said good bye and headed to Gabe’s around 7 pm. We are exhausted and ready to call it an early night. My back is aching from too much fun with my precious grandkids. We are glad to be here and see them. We have missed them so much! Today has been a great day!

Until next time …

Arrived in Illinois to Tornado Warnings!

We got up early and went to the salvage yard where Ms. Southwind is parked until the insurance decides what they will do about her. We got everything we could as directed by the insurance company.

Then it was time to hit the road and head to Illinois. The dolly and car are hooked on behind the truck. We arrived at Gabe’s house around 5.30 pm it’s been another long day. We got the car and truck unloaded in his shed for the time being and then we took the car to unload.

We stopped to see the grand kids and then headed back to Gabe’s. We hadn’t been there a half an hour when the tornado warnings went off. We would start to leave the basement and another would go off. This went on for almost 2 hours. We didn’t get to bed until around 1.30 am! 2 long days and nights of traumatic events. Ughhh

We are just glad we are safe and sound and things could have been a lot worse. Hope your Easter weekend was better then ours.

Ms Southwind caught on fire!

We got up and was on the road around 7.30 am. Our trip was going good and we were making good time. We made it through Texas and most of Arkansas and then our night mare began.

About 20 mins after our last gas fill up hubby radio me that i needed to get pulled over that Ms. Southwind had back fired and died. We were going up a pretty good steep and he was worried he couldn’t make it up it and there was no place to get off the side of the road. God let him make the steep but he couldn’t get off the road and it was a 4 lane highway and cars were going 70 mph and the bad part was until they were right on top of us they didn’t see us and all they could do was honk at us. I got inside and did what ever hubby told me to do to help him find out what the problem was. I also was on the phone to our tow service to get us a tow truck as soon as possible as we were in a very dangerous situation with the traffic and all. Hubby was worried that we were going to cause a wreck by being stranded there. Finally he figured out that if he kept something open he could get it running enough to get it pulled across the road in a empty parking lot. I got in the passenger seat and he got Ms. Southwind going. As we got in the middle of the road Ms. Southwind back fired and gasoline shot in the air and all of sudden flames started shooting. Hubby had to continue to drive and keep his hand in there to get us safely off the road. Once he got safely off the road he jumped up and grabbed the fire estingier and told me to get the dogs and get out. 3 of the dogs came outside with me and i told the tow service to get us a fire truck and threw my phone down. 2 dogs were inside and hubby came out to get air and said it was blazing. I told him Dixie and Lucy were inside. He took off his shirt and went back inside and tried to fight the fire with it. I grabbed Dixie but Lucy wouldn’t come out. So we started getting water from a water hole and throwing it on the fire. Hubby finally got the flames down enough he could get Lucy under the passenger seat and handed her to me and then he finished putting out the fire.

I called the tow company back but they wanted us to call our insurance to see where they wanted Ms. Southwind taken too. I called our insurance and they got the tow truck and took care of everything for us. I can not tell you how thankful i was to Geico for the quality service they gave us in a horrible situation.

We ended up getting a motel room in Bald Knob AR for the night. It felt so good to get a hot shower and get off the smoke filled clothes. I had several phone calls to make and it was a late night. We are thankful no one was hurt and we didn’t cause a major wreck.

Tomorrow we are heading out!

Today i cleaned the camper up and did all our laundry. This way when we return to get the fifth wheel it will be all cleaned up!

Yesterday i went and bought a GPS .. yes we finally decided to get one esp since we will be traveling in separate vehicles this trip. We purchases the tomtom 330. I will let you know how it works out.

We had one last pot luck together with the volunteers as when we return to get the fifth wheel several will be gone. We had a last supper type meal with communion, then we praised and sang songs. It was an awesome night .. the Lord’s presences was with us all. It’s been a wonderful way to spend good friday before Easter. Please remember what the true meaning of this holiday is and all that our Savior has given to all of us. I will post pictures later.

Now it’s time to pack those last minute things so we can be ready to roll early in the morning.

I am not sure when i will be posting again but we are planning to head out very early in the morning.

Hope you all have a great Easter!

April Fool's Day!

Tuesday .. was spent packing and trying to figure out what i wanted to move back into Ms. Southwind .

Wednesday .. was a very busy day .. got up early and we went to get Ms. Southwind. Then we filled up Ms. Southwind to get her ready for her trip. Hubby left with Ms. Southwind and i headed back to the tire place to get the beast oil changed. Then it was off to radio shack to pick up some things and then to Wal-mart.

I got home around 2 pm and the converter box would not work, so it was back to radio shack! Once i got back home it was almost time for dinner .. after dinner was church services and then home to shower and head to bed. It’s been an exhausting day!

Thursday … April Fool's Day! No jokes being played today, to many things to get done .. I got up and moved some more stuff into Ms. Southwind and then it was time for devotionals. I got home got some lunch together and after lunch i packed the rest of our clothes were taking with us. Then it was back to Wal-mart, i forgot to get a cooler. Grrrr I got home and then we needed to go through hubby’s tools and decide what we needed to take and what we needed to leave.

We loaded the car on Ms. Southwind and as we got it on the dolly, we blew a break line .. grrrr hubby got it to stop leaking and hopefully we still get the car off the dolly and fix the line when we get back. After getting everything done it was dark and we both are exhausted.

Hope your all having a great week .. until next time

It’s Monday!

I got up early today, Ms. Southwind was scheduled to be in at the tire shop at 8 am! I followed behind in the truck and we dropped off Ms. Southwind and was back home by 9 am!

Then it was time to get started cleaning. It’s amazing how fast things can clutter and get messy. I vacuumed the entire place, scrubbed the bathroom floor, washed the shower, vanity and toilet and did the dirty dishes. I also did 6 loads of laundry! It took me most of the day to get all this done. I have to work awhile, then rest and go back.

Later they called to ask if they could keep Ms. Southwind over night as they have been really busy today and hadn’t even gotten to her yet. I told them it was fine.

After dinner i went over to work on varnishing cabinets. Worked a few hours and then it was getting late and i was tired so headed home. It was another exhausting day but it felt good to be able to do some volunteer work again. I haven’t really done much volunteering since getting my new home. I’ve been busy working on it and it doesn’t take much to wear me out with my disability.

That is what is so good about doing volunteer work, you work at your own pace for example after i varnish a bit, i sit down and rest when my back starts telling me it needs to rest. Also you are not required to do such and such amount of time, you help out when you feel like it. If your having a bad day and don’t feel like doing anything you don’t have too. It’s not like a job where you are expected to be at work regardless weather your sick or not. You are not expected to get such and such done, you just work at what ever pace you are able to and what ever you get done to help is appreciated. If you can only work an hr that day that is fine. Being a volunteer has given me so much back in life. I don’t feel like I'm useless or there is no meaning to my life. It feels great to do something for someone else and especially feels great to know that there is still a life out there for me. It’s amazing how horrible i felt when all i could do was lay in a bed and think about how miserable i was and how much i hated my life. Now i don’t do that. Sure i have my bad days, but i also have my days that have meaning and give me self-esteem that there is still something i can do out there to help. I am thankful to God for blessing me with my good days and i ask his strength to get me through my bad days.

I have this plaque on my wall and it says ….

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference … i read this sometimes several times a day and it always reminds of this verse …

Philippians 4:13 … I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

A Busy Sunday!

I got up and got dressed for church. After church we went out to eat at CiCi's pizza. They have Sunday special for all you can eat $3.99 per person. It was good and as always i ate too much.

After eating we had to do the normal Sunday Wal-mart visit. Ouch! We spent too much but we needed groceries for this week and i also purchased things to stock Ms. Southwind. Saturday is her journey back to the ranch.

We got home around 4 pm, unloaded groceries and then we started Ms. Southwind and the generator to make sure they would both start. Then we sorted what sewer hoses and water hoses we wanted to leave inside of Ms. Southwind and what we wanted to move to our new home. Ms. Southwind is going to be used a vacation home from now on.

After we got all the things done we needed to do and I have Ms. Southwind ready to roll in the morning as she is getting new front tires and an alignment.

I spent the rest of my evening updating my blog, reading email and then it was off to bed early.

Until next time ....