June 25, 2009

No bookings for Father's Day weekend. Not necessarily good for the bank account but good for our souls as we got to go to Cornerstone again. This was the fourth weekend to attend our own church this year. The children woke their daddy up with pictures, books, and notes they had created and a dog food bowl filled with Puppy Chow. That was an idea I got from another home school mom. Make the delicious snack of chocolate and peanut butter-covered Rice Chex and peanuts and throw some powdered sugar on it. If you put it in a dog dish it really does look a lot like dog food. We enjoyed a day like we used to have where after church and lunch, "quiet time" began. Quiet time is from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. and the children know it's OK to be seen but not OK to be heard. They know they can read a book, watch a movie, play a game on the computer, anything but make noise. That way Mom and Dad can take naps if we want to. I've been wanting to get a little sun and decided that Sunday afternoon might be a good time to do so if I could be sneaky about it. If the kids knew I was out in the pool, they'd surely want to come out there too. If the 3 younger were allowed to get in the pool, how could we tell Grace she couldn't? Of course the only reason she couldn't would be because I wouldn't want to do the work of changing her clothes, getting her swimming gear on and carrying her to the pool. And then the hard part is actually getting her out of the pool. No, I did all that 3 or 4 times the week prior, and in order to get a day of rest I decided to keep my solo swim a secret.

We left the motor home in Spartanburg, South Carolina on May 14 and on Monday, June 22, we were finally going back to get it. We didn't want to take the time to get it but there were so many of our belongings still on the motor home that we needed to get back. I was hoping it would work for our friend, Derick to go with Bobby. He actually offered to do so but since then has received some big remodeling jobs that are keeping him busy. Bobby suggested I just go with him but I tried to think of some other options first, not because I didn't want to go with him but because there was plenty for me to do at home. But he insisted and so I put some feelers out there for babysitters. Of course we could have taken the children with us but we thought it would be nice to take a little time alone. You'd think that since Bobby is home every day and doesn't go off to a job somewhere and because we travel together in ministry that we get plenty of quality time together as a couple. Not so. Bobby goes to work every day in his office and stays there until late at night many times. He recently finished his CD project which kept him in the studio every day and many evenings. And the "traveling together in ministry" part? Well, when you have 4 children there's a whole lot of focus on them rather than on each other, especially during the school year as their studies often took me to the back of the van. So Hope and Faith went to Portland to play with Mali and Nikolas Sterban, respectively. Landis stayed with his cousins Owen, Ivan and Aron Kelso in Mt. Juliet. And finally, Grace went to Bellevue to spend precious time with her best friends, Pat & Mary Johnson.

On the drive to South Carolina, Bobby mentioned again that he really dreaded driving that motor home back to Tennessee. Although the major engine work that had been done on it had it running much better, it still had a gas leak in the main tank, which this mechanic was not equipped to fix, and which meant that not only was there a hefty repair expense already, there was a need to spend much more on the vehicle before it was ready for travel. Then there was the expense of changing some things on the interior like replacing the washer and dryer with a booth, getting rid of the jet tub and getting 3 mattresses for the back room. The cost for this was going to be minimal as I have a cousin that works in the RV business and could get us some items at cost. There were several other things we talked about changing, like carpet and chairs, but the booth and mattresses were of utmost importance for our needs. The fact that it had a gasoline engine was a concern as well. With the amount of miles we travel every weekend, the motor home just wouldn't last that long and, as Bobby said, "as old as it is would nickel and dime" us the whole time. If it had a diesel engine, it could run indefinitely. Throw on top of all of this the cost to fill the gas tank would be significantly more than the cost to fill the van. So when Bobby expressed his concerns and his dreads, and that he considered offering it to the mechanic if he'd keep the bill, I quickly agreed. I questioned myself rather than him that I would so readily agree after believing that God gave us the motor home and that it was an answer to prayer. I have no explanation for my change of heart and for our decision to give away what was given to us except that sometimes God gives us what we ask for even when we don't really need it. Through this experience we saw that a van and trailer is really all we need for now. Maybe some day we'll be ready for a motor home ...with a diesel engine.

That evening Bobby posted on the various social networks that we had a motor home available for the cost of the repairs and got one nibble but no takers with such short notice. But the next morning the mechanic was wiling to keep his bill and the motor home and Bobby handed him the title. If there had been one more pillow or one more bowl, it wouldn't have fit into our little car. We loaded her up and drove back home without the Caterpillar. When we arrived at my sister's house in Mt. Juliet to pick up Landis, we dug a place out of the back seat for him and put the TV on the front floor board. I could put one leg on the floor but my other leg had to be removed and tied down to the top of the car. OK, not really. I switched back and forth between folding it and putting it up on the dash. From there we went to Bellevue where Grace and our van was waiting for us.

I write this blog on Thursday afternoon after leaving our home for about 40 days to tour in Canada, North and South Dakota and Montana. We'll spend the last week in Michigan and Indiana before coming home on the 3rd of August. Of course we have caring, watchful neighbors who are good about keeping an eye on things for us. Also, our friend, Pat Johnson will be looking after things while we're gone like cutting the grass and maintaining the pool and Derick Luthe will be pouring concrete in our driveway. We will miss attending Cornerstone on Wednesday nights for the next several weeks but we'll be watching and listening on the Internet as well as praying for the success of our church family, that we as well as them will see a harvest of souls in the coming days.