Flex-ability

Several people have been wondering how I was going to do living in an RV for an indefinite period of time. Will I miss a permanent home, having all my possessions around me, a good shower, a place to go to be alone. Certainly all of those things are different now but I think the thing that is going to stretch me the most is-will I be able to handle the bumps in the road. I like routine, I like knowing what is going to happen, having plans and sticking to them, to-do lists, getting things done. I don't do well with glitches or unexpected problems. I don't like having to make a plan B,C and D!!! I want to go with plan A!

But that's what life is going to be like now. I can't count on plan A happening. I have to learn to accept that sometimes things are going to come up that I can't control that will mean adjusting to a new plan. For instance, just trying to leave Suffolk meant going to plan C on the spur of the moment. Buy it also meant getting to have dinner with some friends and having a wonderful reunion with some friends who happened to be in town from Italy for one day! If we'd gone with plan A we would have been long gone and missed both those opportunities.

I just finished a study on Job and one of the greatest verses I am taking away from that study is 26:14. "Behold, these are but the outskirts of His ways and how small a whisper do we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?" I see just the outskirts of His ways. I don't know all that is happening and why so I need to put my hand over my mouth and trust His sovereignty.

As I write this we are sitting in the parking lot of Camping World in Savannah, Georgia. Our blinkers stopped working for some reason and we are waiting to have them checked. Plan B is now in motion.

The Columbia River of God's Faithfulness

(Eastern Oregon: 1/8/2010) Coming into Oregon from the east always makes me think of Lewis and Clark and the Corp of Discovery. I wonder how much of the country they explored on their great adventure has really changed since 1804-06. They rode the river, we rode the interstate and crossed the Snake River in Idaho about 7 times before negotiating the ascent of the Blue Mountains on the boarder of Idaho-Oregon. As you come down from the mountains the terrain clearly changes after 25 miles or so and there is a distinct transition of entering the majestic Columbia River gorge. Joy was doing a crossword puzzle and I was enjoying the glorious scenery and anticipating our first view of the historic river. Over the years of traveling with the kids we realized they got antsy the longer they were in the car and the closer we got to our destination. As a way of occupying them we would ask them to look for something that was ahead on our route. When we lived in Little Rock, AR and visited Grandma and Grandpa Vinyard in Plano, TX we would challenge the girls to see "who can see the water tower first"; the objective being a large water tower just outside town with Plano and a Texas star painted on it. On the to way to the Oregon coast when we lived here before we said, "see who can see the ocean first". With little more than 3 hours of driving left on the end of our 7 day journey I played the game with myself with keen anticipation for the first view of the Columbia. Thinking of the mighty river led me to think about the imagery of water and rivers in the Bible and Christian music and writing. The strong, steady,and certain flowing of a river particularly images God's power and faithfulness. As I thought about God's faithfulness to us over the past 8 months of having our house on the market, the past 7 years of life Suffolk, VA and closing out my Air Force career, and the 17 years since we have been away from our beloved Oregon...the River came into view. "I see the river first", I said to Joy. Just then her phone rang. For some reason I looked at the clock; it was 8:05 a.m. Pacific Time, 11:05 Eastern Time Friday 8 January 2010. The day of the closing on the sale of our house. We had signed a power of attorney over to our realtor Maggi Davis, and as Joy talked I realized it was Maggi calling telling us that the closing was complete, the paperwork was all signed and we were officially homeless! I had no sense of emptiness or loss, but really rather a sense of true closure and a profound and almost tangible feeling of peace. When Joy hung up from talking to Maggi I played another game with her we often play. I asked her what song she could think of with the word "river" in it. She immediately replied, "Like a River Glorious". All the while our truck's huge windshield is filled with a view of the mighty AND majestic Columbia River. "Like a river glorious is God's perfect peace, over all victorious in it's bright increase. Perfect yet it floweth perfect every day. Perfect yet it floweth deeper all the way." And the chorus: "Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed, finding as he promised perfect peace and rest." Great God exalting words on which to meditate while viewing the Columbia!
And then, as if the Lord added an exclamation point to these events and thoughts what hymn would we sing on Sunday morning when we worshipped at Newberg Friends Church with John and Erin? ...Like a River Glorious!!

Oregon's Green "Cradle-to-Grave" Life-Style

(Manzanita, Oregon: 1/13/2010) Oregon has always been a leader in protecting and taking care of the environment. Lately they are trying to crank it up a notch and be national leaders in wind energy and energy conservation while continuing to encourage and even extend policies and practices of recycling. But when we saw this sign off Hwy 101 on the Oregon Coast, we realized they are really out on the edge in the life-cycle of all things "green".

Del Rio family reunion part I

When your family is spread out across the United States like ours is you have to plan and take advantage of the times you can be together. You take 'em when you can get 'em. With Katie, CJ and Kylan in Texas for a just a year and since we were not able to to be together over the holidays we thought the first long weekend in the new year would be a great time to get the family together for a few days. Ed and I really enjoy these special times as we catch up with each other and appreciate the blessing of a family who loves each other. We especially enjoy seeing the girls laughing and teasing with one another...which they do as adults with a greater gusto and competitiveness than they did growing up! Invariably we all come to belly-laughs as we retell for the umpteenth time the "remember when" old stories and memories. Ed enjoys having time with the sons-in-law, playing golf and growing in his relationship with them. We are so thankful and proud of our girls. I think Kylan just eats up all the attention that she gets with Mamaw, Papaw, Aunt Emily, Aunt Erin and Uncle John to play with. It's also great having photographers in the family to document these times!

Del Rio reunion part II

This weekend has been great. The weather has cooperated allowing us to be outdoors and active (in the 60's and low 70s). On Saturday Ed, CJ and John took advantage of that and played golf while Joy and the girls took Kylan to the playground and had relay races, played freeze tag, climbed on the toys, slid down the slides, ran and jumped and skipped and pretty much exhausted everybody but Kylan! Katie has been a wonderful hostess and the food has been great. We had a Wii tournament (video games) in the evening and ended with a rousing game of chick-a-boom to end the day. Sunday we went to church at Del Rio Bible Church and then headed out to the lake to enjoy the low 70's temperature on the water. Emily, John and CJ were brave enough to put on a shorty wet suit and jump into the 52 degree water for some wakeboarding. The rest of us cheered and encouraged them on. We came back to the house for a bbq cookout with several of CJ and Katie's friends. Monday morning we made our first trip back to the airport to send Emily back to her home in Virginia on the 6:15 a.m. flight. Tuesday, Erin and John were to leave on the same flight only to have their plans upset with ground fog and a canceled flight. We're praying for clearing weather so they can catch the only other flight out of DRT at 4:15. As the family again scatters to four winds and their respective homes we are full of thanks to God our faithful provider that we have these times and look forward in faith to the next reunion whenever and wherever it may be.

The Family Comes Through...

(Newberg, OR: 1/9/2010) John and Erin confused us the first time they said they were getting together with "the family". "The fam" for short, we came to realize these were not blood relations, but an incredible network of family (by blood and marriage) and friends they have made from school, work, and living in the great Northwest. Numbering over 30 at times John and Erin are truly blessed by their heavenly Father to know this family and to call them friends (check out John 15:15). So in some ways it was no surprise when we asked if they could come up with some help to unload the moving truck at the storage place we rented in Newberg, that they said, "no problem, we'll just call the fam to help". So, Saturday 9 January we connected with another part of our extended family when we were blessed to have some from J&E's fam help us unload the truck and pack the storage shed with our stuff. Sherry Macy even brought early morning coffee for the gang. So a big thanks to some of the fam...Rochelle, Jonathan and Rachel, Pete and Linsey, Uncle Howard, and John and Erin for all the help!

By the Numbers...

(Newberg, OR: 1/8/2010) From Suffolk, VA to Newberg, OR...by the numbers:

3754 miles driven.
7 days, 6 nights on the road.
429.3 gallons of diesel fuel consumed (by the truck).
5 meals eaten at Cracker Barrel Restaurants.
3 minor re-packings of the trailer due to contents shifting and not able to open the door to get our suitcases.
3 incredible hours with our dear friends Nate and Susan Allerheiligen and their 6 pack attack at their home in Cabot, Arkansas.
1.5 audio books listened to.
10 states driven across.
1 major re-routing when we realized we were restricted from driving across Hoover Dam on US 93 (a short cut!) because of 9/11 security policies involving private rental trucks!
1 panic phone call to Penske for an inexplicable warning indicator.
1 big hallelujah and praise the Lord when our realtor, Maggi, called us on 8 Jan that the house closed, all the paperwork signed and we are officially HOMELESS!

The Dream: Manzanita, Oregon

(Manzanita, OR: 1/13/2010) For the last 5 years Ed and I have been dreaming of retiring from the Air Force, moving back to Oregon and settling in a little Ocean community called Manzanita. It's what kept us going somedays...the Oregon dream! After getting the truck unloaded in Newberg, Oregon and tying up some loose ends we took the opportunity to head to Manzanita for a couple of days R&R. You don't go to the beach in Oregon in January expecting to see beautiful sunsets and blue skies so we aren't disappointed with the wind and the rain. In fact, to me it's even more beautiful like this. I could stare at the ocean for hours always in awe of its power and beauty. We did get a couple of walks in and I even found a beautiful sand dollar to take to my granddaughter. But as we sit in our room here and drink in the Oregon beauty we have so missed, we don't know for sure that this is where we will end our journey or spend the remainder of our days. We want to hold that dream loosely to allow God to guide and direct without our having expectations or demands. We want to be where He wants us to be and doing what He wants us to do. We want to live our lives to glorify God. Will that be in Manzanita? I don't know. I saw some homes I wouldn't mind living in. We've met some friendly people here. So we leave Oregon on Friday. Head to Del Rio for a short time with CJ, Katie, Kylan, John, Erin and Emily. Then we fly back to Suffolk to get the RV and begin our second cross country journey. Only this time it will be slow and hopefully we will get to visit some of you and see some things we've never seen before ( Braves spring training!!!) I'm going to try to hold the Manzanita dream loosely and hold tightly to God and see what He has in store for us.

On The Road Again...

(Suffolk, VA: 1/2/2010) Early Saturday morning we said goodbye to our good friends Steve and Ellen who had graciously allowed us to stay with them after moving out of our house. We began a journey cross country that would take us through many states in a big 26' long Penske with a 6x10' U-haul trailer attached! Each day was an adventure. Just getting gas was an adventure! We began to get into a routine of eating at Cracker Barrel, getting gas at Flying J's and sleeping at Comfort Inns. Through Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho and finally into Oregon. The weather was great the whole way except for some snow in Arkansas that made the roads a little dicey. Otherwise it was just COLD. I'm including some pictures of sights along the way.

MENistering Angels

(Suffolk, VA: 12/31/2009): As many of you know we had an odd Air Force career. It was odd in many ways which I won't go into here, but one odd thing was that it seemed we always had "out cycle" moves. Most often the military tries to move members during late spring and summer in order to allow families time to get settled, kids into schools etc. However, our moves seemed to always come in late fall or winter. We moved in December a number of times. We're not sure whether it is God's sense of humor or what, but getting the contract on the house and moving in December seemed almost normal to us. We added to the adventure the decision to move ourselves. In order to meet the timelines to make it to the mini-family reunion we had scheduled for 1/15 to 1/18 in Del Rio, TX we needed to load the truck and be underway no later than 1/4; earlier if possible. We scheduled the load for 12/31, New Year's Eve day. We were uncertain whether we could get enough strong backs on that day, but we contacted our church and got the word out several weeks ahead. For some reason most men don't like it when someone says of them, "you're a real angel". Maybe it's because we picture angels as wimpy...floating around on clouds playing harps. But angels are God's messengers and warriors. And that is what showed up at our house on 31 Dec...warrior men...15 or so angels tag teamed to move 8 rooms of boxes and furniture from our 2 story, 3000 sf house and load it in a 10 x 26 Penske Moving Truck in a remarkable 3 plus hours plus. One angel was particularly heaven-sent - Gerald is father-in-law to one of the men from church who came to help. Gerald had owned a moving company and was super-experienced in loading trucks. We were unsure if we could get all our stuff in the truck and he packed it so well, we came very very close. At the last minute we had to rent a 6 x 12 U Haul trailer for the small amount that was left. Thanks to these men we were able to load everything on 12/31, clean the house on 1/1 and drive away on 1/2. God's clear provision and blessing allowed us to finish 2009 on a high-note of thanksgiving for his goodness and begin the New Year in even greater anticipation of what he will do in this next stage of our lives.

Editorial Comment

(Manzanita, OR: 1-13-2010) We're going to start posting to this blog again and plan to use a location and date-line at the beginning to orient the content chronologically. Since we have more stories to tell than we can keep up with we tend to write a number of posts at one sitting. With the location and date-line you will be able to understand the story in the flow of time and events that is our life. However interesting (or not) that may be. We hope this is helpful.
Thanks.

eh

A BIG Surprise Christmas Present!

(Suffolk, VA Dec 2009). In April 2009 we put our home in Suffolk, Virginia up for sale. We figured that by the time Ed officially retired in October we would have sold the house and be on our way to Oregon before the cold weather hit. As month after month passed we accepted the fact that we were probably not going to be moving until spring of 2010 or later. So we settled in to our new retirement routine and found ways to keep busy. December 14th we had gotten back from visiting friends in northern Virginia when the realtor called with an offer on the house! After 8 months of waiting, this was our very first offer! By the end of that day we had come to an agreement with the buyers and, in our minds, had sold the house! The biggest factor was that they wanted us out by January 8th...less than a month away! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to us! We decided it would be a GREAT idea to pack and move ourselves thus giving us the opportunity to purge and organize. So began 3 weeks of purging, sorting, boxing, trashing and giving away. Ed enjoyed it all. I didn't! December 31st was the big day. 12-15 strong, able-bodied men from our church showed up to help us load the truck. January 1st we were out of the house. What a great way to start the new year. January 8th as we were driving through the beautiful (even in winter) Columbia River Gorge and beginning to feel like we were home at last...our realtor called to tell us we were officially homeless! We were thrilled. Today as I sit here looking out at the wind and the rain and the waves at the Oregon coast I'm reminded of the verse in James 1:6. I'm so thankful I'm not blown around like those waves. That I know God is leading and guiding us. NO DOUBT!