Road Trip Stop #1: Thanksgiving in Kansas

Road-tripping we will go, road-tripping we will go...

Our first stop was seeing family in Kansas for Thanksgiving.  I need to grab family dinner pictures from a cousin, but we did have some rural-style recreation the day after Thanksgiving.

Simply put: We had fun. :)
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This last picture? This is just a crazy Shriner car in the "Santa Comes to Town" parade. :)

A Quiet Day

It's late.  I know.  I should be asleep.  But I just had to take time to blog for the first time in a really long time.  The house is quiet except for Greg and I on our computers.  Mother and Dad G. are asleep in the basement, L is asleep upstairs.  Baby J is sleeping too.  The conference has ended.  LightSys staff have finished team retreat and are heading to their next ministry stops.

And we had a quiet day here for the first time in a long time.  Mother and Dad watched Baby J this morning while Mr. A and I slept in.  We lounged until noon when we decided to use a gift card and visit Red Lobster.   Back to the house for a nap.  Afternoon thunder shower.  Mother G. made BLTs for supper.  Evening hanging out, watching Baby J smile, laundry washing...  After working 18+ hours days for the last four weeks, today was a nice rest.

There are more things that need to be done, but it's nice just to have a day to breathe after a marathon schedule.  And a nice lunch date.  And conversations in the rain.  Time to give Baby J a bath and sing Music Machine songs without rushing off to the next to-do item.  Ahh....

Baby J laughing with Grandpa

Meanwhile, prayer is needed for this missions leader who has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom. It makes things a whole lot more real when you've met someone personally.

Moving Day!

It was moving day!  I could go on and on about the wonderful people who have helped us get to this point.  Melissa, Joni, Virginia, Josh, and Cecilia who helped me scrub the house.  Mom and Dad Gates and L who have spent hours on cleaning, fix-it projects, and packing.  Church family who has helped track down help and unloaded our boxes. And other friends (more than I can list) who let us borrow their hand trucks, use their paint sprayers, and organize our kitchen.  Friends who let us call them at 9:45 at night to move a 600lb piano, fix our pipes, or share an air compressor.  We are so blessed!

More stories than I can tell and more credit than I can give.  But I'm exhausted, so a few pictures will have to suffice...

Tuesday Night.  10:00pm.  10 degrees outside.  Snow on the ground. Mr. Amazing.  A wonderful dad.  Two incredible friends.  Unloading a 600 lb piano.  Wow.

 Sunday afternoon.  Signs up for the moving party.

The start of furniture in the baby room.

Lots of boxes to unpack!  (And couch cushions that Josiah and Benjamin thought it was fun to jump on!)

Moving friends.  (Minus Bob and Patti and Dave R. who had to leave early.)  Love the diversity of the group.  One friend from GFA.  One friend from Sterling.  One friend from Taylor. One friend from Atlanta. Two friends from our local life group.  All live in our area now.  And family! :)

To the bump addicts: too bad I left my jacket on... ;-)  But yes, that is my bump, not just jacket pooch.

Family Caroling at Christmas

All of us siblings were home for Christmas for the first time in 4 years. With siblings and spouses and a new fiancee and grandkids, the house was packed full for the weekend! Thirteen people and one bathroom! It actually worked out fairly well for the short time we were all home. We took time one late afternoon to go caroling as a family -- it takes three vehicles to fit all the car seats and adults! Grabbed this quick snapshot as we left Aunt Rita and Uncle Jerome's house. Love my family!

Christmas: Unique Gifts

This Christmas was a Christmas of unique and special gifts.  If I were Ellie C., I would have taken creative pictures of those unique gifts and posted them here on my blog.  But I didn't.  Those gifts are in Colorado and I'm in Georgia and I should be home to take those pictures in February.  But I just had to share a few stories...

Some of the gifts were related to the miscarriages we've gone through this year.  My sister had our babies' names engraved on angel ornaments for us.  A "Baby's First Christmas - 2011" ornament was added by my mother.  And Mr. Amazing gifted me with a beautiful "Mother and Child" necklace.  (This I wear all the time.  I'll have to take it off long enough to snap an Ellie-picture...)  Each of those gifts was enough to make me tear up as they reminded me of our two little ones already waiting for their mother and father in heaven.

Some gifts were just fun.  My older sister and brother-in-law dropped a couple crates in our laps. The contents? Rappelling/climbing harnesses and equipment!  Wow - talk about a fun loan!  Oh, and a gift that caused me the most laughter was the baby "owner's manual" from my other brother-in-law.  "This baby is surprisingly similar to other appliances you may already own.  Like a video-cassette recorder, the baby's head will require frequent cleanings for optimum performance..."  And my sister-in-law gave me chocolate syrup and peanut butter.  That's perfect!

And my brother's gift to me?  My foley fork.  For those people who don't know, a Foley Fork is a kitchen utensil from years gone by.  I loved mine - handed down from my grandmother. But when I lost it 18 months ago at a rented beach house in North Carolina, I was devastated.  So... when my brother presented me with a Foley Fork at Christmas this year - I was thrilled.  But I was even more thrilled to realize that it was not just A Foley Fork.  It was MY Foley Fork.  My Foley Fork that was lost in NC.  My brother and his (now) fianceé had stopped by that beach house a year later, knocked on the door, talked to the current renters, went through the kitchen drawers, and manged to find my foley fork.  And then saved it until Christmas. :)

Now I realize that this post "should" be about God.  About God's gift to us of Jesus Christ.  About how Christmas is not about gifts.  And if you read the surface, you may think it's all about my gifts and what I got.  But these gifts and their givers have really been a reminder to me of who God is.  That He knows my innermost secrets, my longings, my hurts.  He remembers what I talked to him about ten months ago and He cherishes my heart. He knows my pain and reaches out to touch it.  He redeems lost situations. He likes to make me smile. God knows me - more intimately and permanently than I can ever comprehend.

Thank you, God.  And thank you, family, for reminding me of those things.

Thanksgiving!

We were thrilled to host my parents and my youngest sister for Thanksgiving in Colorado this year.  We enjoyed visiting the Peterson Air Force Base Air and Space Museum, playing Pente, having a Mother-Daughter shopping trip, eating Daddy's biscuits and gravy, eating Thanksgiving meal, praying, and fellowshipping!  We didn't take many pictures, but here's a few...

Sisters inside a Lockheed Constellation at the museum.

At a local park...

And the family (saying good-bye at the Long's home where the KS crew was house-sitting during the week)

Dear Susan, Thanks for the new shirts.  Yes, they make me look pregnant. :)

Happy Mother's Day, Mother!

To my wonderful Mother (from your wonderful daughter).  Thanks for your love and your patience and your joy and your grace and your laughter and your determination.  And for our special love and conversations shared this year.  And thanks for putting up with your sassy, wonderful, loveable daughter. :)  I am so proud of you and will always love you!

Three Weeks - Here We Stay!

My blogging streak abruptly ended with the trip to Kansas for my Grandmother's funeral.  Greg and I were thrilled to get to spend time with my sister, brother-in-law, niece, and brother as they flew from VA to CO where we picked them up to make the drive.  They were gracious with the planning and the long hours -- we just wished we could have somehow prevented the six hour layover they had at DFW on their way here!!!

Unfortunately, I have been horrible at taking pictures recently and the only photos I have of the entire weekend are a few blurred snapshots.  But it was the first time all of us siblings and spouses had been together since Greg and I's wedding.  AK took photos for us, so hopefully we'll get to see those soon!

 "Grandpa" and Susan's little boy. :)

Too much technology!  Two siblings, two laptops, one tablet, one android!

BULLETIN: I am no longer the tallest or the heaviest Gates sibling.  My brother now takes that honor!  It took a carpenter's level to determine the height answer, but he does have an eighth of an inch on me.  WTG, SCG!

Three weeks.  I realized today that Greg and I have not been in one place for longer than three weeks since September.  No wonder we're tired!!!  There are members of our team that travel 6-9 months at a time and I have great respect for them!  But then they take at least three months to recoup at home after the trip.

So here's to more than three weeks in one place!  Can we make it?

(Home Sweet Home)

Friendship Tea and Conversations with Grandma

To my family, friends, supporters, and readers -

Thank you for your support, comments, prayers, and emails during the last five days.  Greg and I picked up my brother, sister, brother-in-law and niece at the airport on Saturday and made the 9 hour drive to my parent's home on Sunday.   Grandmother's funeral was on Monday afternoon and we were blessed to be there for it.  We were also thankful that the chaplain officiating the service shared the Gospel message as part of the service.  We got back home to Colorado this evening.  The Virginia part of the family fly home tomorrow.

The family was invited to email the chaplain with memories of Grandma.  This is what I wrote and he shared it as part of the funeral service.

One of my special memories happened about 3-4 years ago when I was driving home one weekend from Dallas.  It was almost midnight when I drove past Grandmother's house in the country, but I saw her kitchen light on and saw her face at the window.  So I spontaneously turned into her drive.

She was surprised to see me, but as usual, invited me to have a cup of tea.  So there we were -- Grandmother and I at midnight -- sitting at her kitchen table, sipping friendship tea, and talking like friends. :)  While I have had many visits over a cup of friendship tea around Grandmother's kitchen table, this was special.  It was just the two of us.  We shared from our hearts about many things: how much she missed Grandpa, what God was doing on the mission field in Asia, and the burden on her heart for people in her family and in the community that didn't have a personal relationship with the Lord.

"They tell me they know God, and I'm sure they do.  But they haven't made Jesus Lord of their life."

One of the times [the Hospice chaplain] stopped by to see Grandmother (when she was still at my parent's home), she was extremely anxious.  I was there too, that day, and [he] tried to console her by saying that she would see all her family in heaven.  And Grandmother kept shaking her head and refusing to be consoled.  Perhaps she was just being anxious, as she often was, but I also was remembering that conversation I had had with Grandmother 1-2 years before where she so concerned about family members that were "good" people, but weren't living their lives with Christ as the Lord and Savior.  And that was important to her.

Also at the time, my cousin Eric was finding his way back to the Lord and had been talking to Grandmother about the idea of seeking to glorify God in everything we do.  Said Grandmother to me, "I told him that's what some of us do every day." :)

But I will always cherish the memory of that visit and so many other cookie and tea visits over the years.

Celebrating Life!

My Grandmother passed away this afternoon after battling ill health for the last two years.  She's celebrating and we're celebrating with her!  Grandma had accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior when she was a young girl and asked Him to forgive her sins and live within her. She's now in heaven with Jesus and I'm sure she's dancing with joy!

One favorite memory: driving from Dallas to KS late one night.  It was just before midnight when I drove past Grandma's house.  I saw her face at the kitchen window and impulsively turned into her driveway.  We sat down with a cup of tea and talked heart to heart for the next hour about God and missions and family and broken people who needed Christ.  I've always treasured that conversation. :)

Here's a few pictures from the last three years...

Singing Hymns :) - March 2007

Grandson's Graduation - May 2007

On the porch of the old farmhouse - August 2008

With her children - November 2008

With her brother - February 2009

At my wedding - November 2009

Thanksgiving 2010

Last Tuesday, just before we left for Colorado.  Grandma was smiling for the camera. :)

And she prayed with us that day - thanking God for sending His son to this earth and thanking God for His goodness.  For truly, He is good.

And that's what Grandma wanted people to know.

Sisters and Snow

Snow and cold!  The entire Central Plains and Midwest got hit by the record cold temperatures and snow.  Mr. Amazing and I were thankful that we weren't following Plan A which had us driving to Indiana this week.  And we scrapped Plan B as well.  We decided that -4 degrees as a high in Colorado Springs was a bit colder than we wanted to be, so postponed that trip.  Instead, we hibernated for a week at "home" in Kansas.

Saturday the 29th. Location: Nature preserve in Plano, TX.  Temperature: 72 deg.  Much rejoicing in wearing short sleeves.

Tuesday the 1st.  Location: On the road outside of Attica, KS.  Temperature: 9 deg.  Much snow drifting (really cool!)

Tuesday. Returning "home" to the trailer.  Much snow drifted against our door!

Wednesday the 2nd. Location: Our yard.  Temperature 19 degrees.  Much snow fun.

 Much sister fun.

Much thanks, sister, for much, much fun!

Snow for Christmas

We actually traveled "home" for Christmas this year.  Yes, we celebrated Christmas at our real address.  We had fellowship and Christmas carols last night with Mr. Amazing's sister and her family.  Lots of fun playing with the nieces and getting up-ended as they "knocked you over!"  Christmas Day has been quiet with Mr. Amazing, Mom and Dad B. and the new book they got me for Christmas.

Thanks for praying for my tooth.  By the grace of God, a wonderful dentist in Dallas, an amazing staff at Pratt Family Practice, and great friends at my local pharmacy, I was able to pick up antibiotics before we left for Atlanta!  That's kept things from getting any worse and then I have an apt on Monday.

My verse for Christmas this year has been in Isaiah 7.  "Behold, the Lord Himself shall give you a sign.  Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

It's been a season about believing the Lord.  Ahaz, to whom this promise was given, was a prime example of NOT believing God, even after God had promised.  Yet God was still faithful to His promises.  God's been teaching me and enabling me to believe His promises too. :)

To top off the Christmas fun, guess what?!?  It's snowing!!!  Yep, this Kansas girl came to Georgia for Christmas and they're treating me to gorgeous snowfall!  Thanks, Georgia!

(eating snowflakes)

Praise and Prayer!

Thanks for praying with us!  We've had some really good times of prayer and waiting upon the Lord in the last several days.  We don't have a definite answer on some of the things, but there is a renewed sense of peace that God will answer.

In the meantime, we've got several more adventures that popped up.  We're prepping for a two month road trip and leaving tomorrow.  Meanwhile, I've got a tooth that's fired up an infection in my lower jaw in the last two days.  My mouth/throat are swelling and it's getting a bit painful to swallow.  And since I react rather badly to some antibiotics and since my dentist is 300 miles away and we aren't planning on being through there for another month... yeah, we need to figure a couple of things out.  Or rather, we need God (who has already figured things out) to guide us in this and provide some answers.  And some healing.

On the joyous side of things, we took time from our crazy van packing to sing Christmas carols with my Grandmother this evening at the nursing home.  Several of my aunts and uncles were there along with my parents, two of my sisters, a brother-in-law, and an adorable niece!  C took pictures.  I'll have to get some from her. :)  As we were wrapping up, one of the nurse aides stopped by to see if we wanted any hot chocolate or anything!  She said some of the other residents had even turned off their TVs just to listen to us sing. :)  It was a good evening in the midst of stressful events.

Thanksgiving (a little late)

When Thanksgiving arrived this year, Greg and I were just pulling into our KS home from a month of road-tripping.  We were tired!  So where did we end up having Thanksgiving dinner?  At the nursing home! :)  We joined Grandmother Gates for a surprisingly delicious Thanksgiving meal there at the care center where she lives.  And with the Christmas music playing in the background, we felt like we were celebrating two holidays at once!  We love you, Grandma!

"I Feel it is an Important Question"

Found in a letter written from my great-aunt to her father (my great-grandfather), dated April 10, 1944.

Walter wants us to be engaged.  He asked me a few weeks ago.  I have not promised.  I have considered the question seriously. I feel it is an important question and that it should not be answered too hastily.  I know that Walter loves me a great deal.  I have enjoyed having his friendship.  It seems to me that such an offer of true love from a good man should be considered of very great value.

 And later (April 17th of the same year) is the happy answer:

So much fun!  Thanks for digging through the boxes and sharing the memories, Mother!

A New Carrier for my Christmas Gift?

Dear Mother and Daddy,
Thanks so much for the Christmas gift you gave me three years ago.  Although I always hope I don't have to use it, it has been useful once again.

Greg and I visited New Life Church here in Colorado Springs on Sunday.  We chatted with people at the Guest Information Center afterward and then headed back out to the van.  As we walked through the parking lot, we heard someone calling to their friend, "Hey!  Do you have jumper cables?"

"Sorry, but no!" the answer came back.

Your Christmas gift of extra long, extra high-quality jumper cables (purchased at Anthony Famers Co-op) came to mind and we spoke up.  "Umm... we have jumper cables if you need them..."

Next thing we knew, Greg had the van pulled up next to the sports car and we were digging through our packed van hatch to find the jumper cables.  We got the car hooked up and started and then stopped to chat with the people who were riding in the vehicle.  They looked vaguely familiar.  "Hey, aren't you guys up on stage?" we asked.  Yep, it was members of the worship team!

"So how long have you guys been coming to New Life?" they asked.

It was fun seeing the looks on their faces when we told them this was basically our first time. :)

Upon chatting further with them, we found out one of the guys was from Wichita and had cousins that went to Sterling.  After I got back to my computer, I found out that same guy had worked at Perfect Peace with one of my homeschool friends.  Small world!  And lots of fun!

However, when I was getting the jumper cables out of their store-bought bag, the zipper broke.  So, Mother, maybe you could cut up one of your denim tablecloths and make me a new bag for my Christmas gift?  Like Daddy's jumper cable bag! :)

With love,
Your wonderful daughter!

Siblings: Christmas is Coming!

Hey siblings! We officially drew names out of a hat so you know who to get a gift for this Christmas. Email coming soon! :)

For the Birds in Cars

The local theater is undergoing renovation after having been closed for the last several years and there was supper and movie held at the local park tonight as a fundraiser.  I can't believe I forgot my camera!!!  It was a beautiful evening for a cookout and auction and movie.  Lots of the town folk were out and I saw people I hadn't seen since my high school years working as a soda jerk at the drugstore's soda fountain.  Made me feel like I live in a quaint little small town. :)  I like that.

The movie? Cars.  I thought it was a good pick considering the number of people in town who have farming or automotive backgrounds.  Lots of laughter!  And the big screen?  The side of a semi-trailer!  How appropriate!  My parents and sister came for the evening too, so it was fun laughing with them!

My biggest laugh for the evening?  Spotting the birds from the short For the Birds in one of the road scenes in Cars!  Greg and I both spotted the birds on the power line and burst out in laughter!  We had to pull out our copy of the DVD when we got home to freeze frame it and yep - we spotted the little birds on the wire and the big bird on the phone pole!

Did you know they are the only non-automotive characters in the film?  Cool facts here. :)

Supper at a Valentine Diner

Greg and I decided to invite my sister Lucinda to join us for supper tonight and we checked out a new diner that opened up in town.  Although, I guess it's really an old diner.

When I was growing up, the diner looked like this.  (Photo from the KHS pages.)

About five years ago, someone bought it and restored it and then sold it to someone else to run.  Then it looked like this:

It closed down and then just recently (2 months ago) re-opened as Skinner's Diner.  There are about 10 seats inside this Valentine Diner.  (You can read about this diner and other Valentine Diner's at the Kansas Historical Society webpage.)  And this evening, all the stools were filled and we watched as they took fresh ground beef and shaped it into patties for our hamburgers.  I should have taken pictures!  The neighbor boy from my growing up years stopped through and said hi.  Editors of the local newspaper came in to eat.  We chatted with the guy who sat down next to us and found him to be the pastor of a newer church in town!

Anyway - enough said.  We had a good time there and then headed to my parent's place where I scanned some photos and downloaded some files.  I'm reading the book of Esther this week for Sunday School class assignment, so stopped by www.firefighters.org to download the mp3 files.  And we laughed.  Laughter is a good thing. :)