We are home again from our ‘Land That We Love Tour‘. It will take me a day or two to recuperate and digest all that we enjoyed these past 20 days.
Hope you all have a good week. A very special Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian neighbors!
Happy Columbus Day in the U.S.A.!
Day by day and with each passing moment
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best –
Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure.
Mingling toil with peace and rest.
Ev’ry day the Lord Himself is near me,
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me,
He whose name is Counsellor and Pow’r.
The protection of His child and treasure,
Is a charge that on Himself He laid,
“As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,”
This the pledge to me He made.
Help me then, in ev’ry tribulation
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation,
Offered me within Thy holy word.
Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
E’er to take, as from a Father’s hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till I reach the promised land.
Words: Karolina W. Sandell-berg (1832 – 1903)
We left McPherson, Kansas heading north on our Land That We Love Tour on Friday before dawn and then we turned West heading for Colorado. The majority of our drive was heading west today.
We saw the sunrise through the rear window of our car and the rear view mirrors.
Some Kansas views speeding by at 75 miles per hour.
We found some color in Colorado.
We ended our travel day in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
We are so thankful for another safe day on the road.
On the road we listened to a couple of sermons from 1 Peter chapter 3 today and then listened to a book on CD by Louise Penny.
A small portion of the sermon we heard on 1 Peter 3:13-17 by John MacArthur in 2013;
“I can’t tell you precisely what’s going to come in the future against us, but it’s going to come and it’s going to escalate. For how long? I don’t know. And in what forms? I’m not sure. Persecution is going to come against you as an individual, if it doesn’t already come, because you’re an outspoken Christian. Here you are in the world, an alien and a stranger, and your task is not just to survive, your task is not somehow to defeat the enemy, your task is to win the enemy to your side. You do that by keeping your behavior honest and excellent. You do that by being a shining light in the world so that men can see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. You do that by proclaiming the gospel and loving your persecutors and showing kindness to them. You do that by doing good, having a passion for goodness, being willing to suffer, focusing on Christ, looking to eternal glory and keeping your conscience pure.”
On the road in Kansas…
On Saturday we travel from Cheyenne, Wyoming to Billings, Montana.
Our Land That We Love Tour took us north from Dallas into Oklahoma and then into Kansas. We left in the dark and missed the Welcome to Oklahoma sign. This sign lit up the darkness. We traveled 35 north.
I was driving when we entered Kansas so we missed the Welcome to Kansas sign, too.
We stopped at Costco in Wichita and when we got back on the road north we noticed there was a Mennonite Heritage Museum on our route we pulled off and enjoyed a visit there. More to come later.
We made it to our hotel in McPherson, Kansas for the night. On Friday we have a longer day of driving north to Nebraska and then west to Cheyenne, Wyoming. 569 miles which should take us 8 hours.
On Wednesday we met up with our dear friend from Southern California and her daughter who just recently moved to Texas at the Flower Child for lunch and conversation. It was serendipitous that we ended up in Dallas at the same time and were able to meet up.
It was so good to see them and catch up with the latest in all of our lives.
Heidi and I have been best of friends since our early college days. We had some epic travels together, too.
My brother Leonard, Nicole, Heidi, Myself and Dear. Heidi was one of my brother Leonard’s Sunday School teachers at Bethany Russian Baptist Church in Los Angeles way back when.
Two and a half hours of conversation and it was time to say goodbye till we meet again.
Thank you to my brother who chauffeured us around while in Dallas.
On our Land That We Love Tour we went to the fanciest Mexican restaurant we’ve ever seen on Tuesday night, Mariano’s. It is owned by the Martinez family. Mariano Martinez is the inventor of the World’s First Frozen Margarita Machine.
The first machine is now in the Smithsonian.
My youngest brother’s familia.
Dear and me.
Poblano Carbon
Tex-Mex tacos.
It’s Fall y’all!
Today we are meeting up with a dear friend from California who happens to be visiting her daughter who now lives in Texas. Serendipitous to be able to see each other in Texas.
Fun times today and then we hit the road early on Thursday heading north, then west, then north and then west, then west and north to our home! Did you catch our route?
On Monday The Land That We Love Tour took us out of Tennessee through Memphis then into Arkansas and on to Texas.
Memphis Bass Pro Shop!
We crossed the Mississippi River to get to Arkansas.
The Mighty Mississippi!
We stopped in Texarkana on the Texas/Arkansas border to fuel up the car and us before heading on to Dallas.
We got off on the main drag which has establishments in Arkansas on the north side and Texas on the south side.
The Arkansas side of the road has Arkansas flags on the light poles and the Texas side of the street has Texas flags on the posts.
We are having good fellowship time with my youngest brother’s family.
We are thankful and grateful to God for another safe day on the road.
On our Land That We Love Tour we stayed at a beautiful home on Hickory Lake in North Carolina while we attended wedding festivities. There were 10 of us in this home. One morning we enjoyed watching this blue heron.
On Sunday after 4 full days in this home we packed up our car again and had to use our Tetras skills to get it all to fit. We headed west on Interstate 40 through the Appalachians in North Carolina and along the Smokey Mountains into Tennessee and all the way to Jackson for the night.
Dear needed coffee along the way and we stopped at a local favorite restaurant called Aubrey’s and it was a good experience.
On the road again we traveled through some incredible thunderstorms and downpours that slowed us way down because of no visibility. Several accidents had the freeway backed up for miles. Most of the accidents were on I-40 going east which was fortunate for us. We were so happy to finally get to clear skies and dry roads. We thanked God for bringing us safely to our destination.
As I typed this on Sunday evening our kids were in the air headed home to Washington State.
Today Monday we drive 534 miles to Dallas, Texas. That should take us close to 8 hours.
Hope all is well with all of you dear friends!
My Lord, I Did Not Choose You
My Lord, I did not choose You,
For that could never be;
My heart would still refuse You,
Had You not chosen me.
You took the sin that stained me,
You cleansed me, made me new;
Of old You have ordained me,
That I should live in You.
Unless Your grace had called me
And taught my op’ning mind,
The world would have enthralled me,
To heav’nly glories blind.
My heart knows none above You;
For Your rich grace I thirst;
I know that if I love You,
You must have loved me first.
Words: Joseph Conder, 1836.
The wedding postcard with much more to share soon!
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 