Kearney Church of the Nazarene

Our GPS and Lord found us another wonderful church.  Everyone we so friendly and we will definatly visit again if in this area. 

Nebraska

So James and I are in Nebraska, got here a couple of days ago and when we arrived there was a huge dust storm, then it rained...dirt... then hail and about an hour later it was thunder and lighting.  It was a wonderful welcoming.  We went to church the first morning and it had dropped from 77 degrees to 19 the next morning with a windchill of 4..... YIKES!!! that is cold.  So here is  a couple pics from when we arrived.

Screen Savior

Sorry it has been a bit since my last transmission....hahah  Anyway we are in Kansas and had a little phone trouble.  So just as the rest of the world, when the phone is down your world is down.  Well I called around and found a place called Screen Savior in Salina, Kansas.  I offered to have a baby for this man if he would fix my phone.  He agreed, and I didn't even have to have a baby...thank the Lord.... so if you are EVER in Salina, Kansas, you give this man a call.  Ed was the best he got me hooked up in a couple of days and here I am.  So "THANKS" again, Ed and good luck with the company.

Illinois-Peoria, Wenona, El Paso

We are in the upper part of Illinois, and it is just like Ohio, flat, windy and you can go site seeing but you will only see, one of 3 things: 1) corn fields, standing 2) Corn fields, cut 3) corn fields plowed.  Yep not alot of choices especially if you are not into corn fields....hahahah Lucky for us we love them!  Anyway I put all three of these towns together because they are pretty small and we didn't stay long in any of them.  PS: some have pics most do not.
Peoria: First Baptist Church of Peoria, it was massive and beautiful.  The building was wonderful, I would have loved to have directed a choir in that place.  Ya know I really miss the choirs that I use to direct.  Anyway, this Sunday they had a guest violinist, he was wonderful don't ask me his name because he was Nicaragua and couldn't pronounce or spell it anyway.  But he was Good! I have had a lot of trouble with video on this blog but I will try again.

 

So next is Wenona, that is where the hotel is and it is very nice.  We are enjoying getting out of the wind...man is it windy here....  No pic... its a hotel????

 

Anyway then this Sunday we got dressed and headed to church.  The El Paso Church of the Nazarene in El Paso, Il.  This is a really small church and they are wonderful bunch of people.  The pastor is  Amy and she is just the cutest thing... She is the Sunday School teacher and they are working on a video series that was really cool.  James and I was really surprised when these 3 people got up and started to play.  This was a father daughter and another man that we didn't get to meet but he was the drummer.  The father played lead guitar and the daughter the bass.  It was WONDERFUL!!!!  They were so upbeat and happy to be praising the Lord.  This is a little church that could.... they were very refreshing to listen to.  I will try again to upload a quick video of them.  I did get to grab a quick photo of pastor Amy.

 

 

Sorry I can't get the video to work..... take me at my word.... they were really inspiring.

James and TJ

 

 

 

Back to "work" thats funny!

So we are back on the road and we actually had to work this week....I know????What is the deal with that?  Anyway, we are in Illinois, we actually have come full circle, we are doing a job that we did last year.  Man is it nice to be able to not have to hunt for things.  We know where the van will sit at the company, we know where the laundry mat is, we know the hotel.  It was wonderful on the East coast but it is nice to have some down time.  The people are so much calmer.  Here are a few pics from the area, fall has hit here with a vengence.  It is beautiful.  We went to a FWB church Sunday and the guest preacher looked alot like my brother, Jeff.  It is hard to believe Jeff has been gone for 7 years.  Anyway it was nice to have church with him again.  The guest preacher  was really nice.  Then off to work this week.  We were at Caterpillar in Decatur, Il.  For those of you that may not know James turns into a 3 year old when it comes to trucks, earthmover, dump trucks...  So the drooling at Caterpillar was a little messy...hahah  Anyway the dump truck that you will see is a 300 ton dump truck.  The biggest they make.  I must admit that was pretty cool.  James got a tour of the plant and was totally beside himself.  We drove to Peoria about 2 hours after the Caterpillar job and you can guess what the topic of discussion was....yep....Caterpillar trucks.  Anyway we have a couple of weeks here and then we head to Kansas for the first part of November.  It has been rumored that we are heading to Oklahoma.....ssshhhh, we never take rumor to be fact untill we have the job orders telling us the dates.  So we love and miss you all and hope you have a great day.

oklahoma for another whirlwind weekend

James and I took off on Friday from St. Louis, Mo and headed to Pryor Creek America!!!! OKLA--HOMA!!! (Ya gotta sing it)  We again had a list of people to see and things to do we are happy to say that the Lord God Almighty has allowed us to do just that.  We haven't been home to Oklahoma for 2 1/5 years.  When Jackie died (my sister) was when we moved to Ohio so it has been a whirlwind as this blog can attest to.  Anyway, we got to put some flowers on my brothers grave. (Jeff Watts) We also got to visit with James family and meet the newest member.(Jacob)  We had the wonderful opportunity to surprise a wonderful 12 year old girl.  Miss Shirley McCrary.  I have to tell you about Shirley.  When James and I moved Shirley was very upset.  She has called me every couple of weeks for the last 2 years, wanting me to come "home".  Well we didn't tell her that we were coming in for the weekend.  We showed up at church Sunday morning and she heard me talking in the hallway and she came  running from the fellowship hall.... She was a little bit excited......When I left  she was almost 10 and short compared to me.  Now!  She is a beautiful young lady and with her "hills" on she is almost as tall as I am.  It was so very nice to see everyone again.  Then after church we took her and her parents to lunch at Braums.... a wonderful ice cream shop and had a great visit.  After a very sad good-bye we headed back to work in St. Louis, Mo.  On the way we stopped in St. James, Mo where my brother died in a car accident 7 years ago.  We got to put a white bow on the tree that represents the place of the accident.  This was a wonderful weekend but a bitter sweet for me.  Please keep us in your prayers.  I truly appreciate all the prayers that are said on our behalf, for the family for the traveling, for the job.... truely, we THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!  Enjoy the pics...

 

Mr. Jarrod, Jame's great nephew.

This is James' uncle Roy, neice Elizabeth and James.

This is James dad on front and Jacob and Dexter (brother in law)

This is James' aunt Peggy.

Mom wanted me to put some flowers for her and dad.  It says..."Mom and dad miss you"

It's hard to see but Jeff's tombstone is a pic of him doing a split kick.

This is part of our Sunday School class.... We love and miss them all.

TJ, Shirley, and her friend Addison.

Shirley had to make a "goofy" pic with Miss TJ... I told you I would post it....hahah

This is James' best friend since the early 90's.  John Littlefield. 

We all miss you Jeff.

Home for the first time in 8 months

Yep!!! we got to go home for the weekend.  And boy did we make the most of it.  When we got there on Friday, grandma, mom and Savannah all had lists of things that needed to be taken care of, also we came with a list of our own.  She we got right on it and I am happy to say we completed everything!!!!  Even adding photos for grandma's new/old electronic picture frame.  Yep that wonderful woman has had this frame for 2 years or longer and not one picture.  We got to take some group pics with my parents and then we even got to stop in Lexington, Ky to meet the newest addition to our family, Mr. Jaxson.  My other great nephew (Brylyn) is almost 2 years old and is really getting into his books. I got to see my favoite child...(21years old child).  We had a great time.  Enjoy