Month: February 2020

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February 24 – 26, 2020 Florida SOWER Reunion, Groveland, FL

We registered for our first SOWER Reunion / Rally in Groveland, FL. We had no idea what a SOWER Reunion was like and looked forward to learning and meeting new friends! This Camp was very welcoming to SOWERS – they even named their RV area the “SOWERS RV PARK”! The Spring Reunions in Florida are often held here – they have a great facility to house a lot of SOWERS! We had a beautiful spot!

First for us to meet the neighboprs – their truck got stuck in the soft sand so we used our 4-wheel-drive to pull them out. Made new friends with Jim & Valerie Hornaday within hours 🙂

We walked the camp and became familiar with the layout of the camp. Also learned the structure of the reunion. We learned that several of our frineds from previous SOWER project will be here – how fun!!

The entire group met together in the Chapel for our meetings, devotions, and programs. we were able to reconnect with other couples and meet new SOWERS that were scheduled to work with us in Colorado!

We had a great variety of special speakers( ), musicians (The Puffers), and group meetings led by President Gary Conrad and his wife Stephanie. We even had a talent show where various SOWERS performed – we joined in and sang with an impromptu “quartet” – so much fun!

The Whole Group from all over the United States. If we are in Florida again during February , we will surely do this again!! We will try to look for other SOWER gatherings as we travel throughout the country!

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January 31 – February 23, 2020 SOWER Project #3 – LAKE PLACID, Florida

We moved to Lake Placid Camp & Conference Center (LPC3) with the help of Roy Tanner from Camp Horizon. It was about 3 hours south of Eustis, FL – we saw lots of orange groves along the way. Lake Placid was built by Mr Dewey (of the Dewy Decimal System) after the city in New York by the same name. They wanted a summer home so they purchased some land in Florida; built a city, his mansions to live in and entertain his guests. It is know for its many murals on the buildings through out town.

We camped alongside two ROAMER couples. ROAMERS are volunteer workers out of the Nazarene church. The other six SOWER couples were nearby, (Dave & Mollie Bontrager, Mike & Joan Busch, Jim & Pat Kloosterman, Duane & Nancy Motley, David & Susan Dodgson, Terry & Donna Mascho) Duane & Nancy were our GL’s (Group Leaders) – we loved making new friends with these wonderful people! It was very interesting to have so many volunteers in one place, there were 16 ROAMER couples along with us – 44 people all working together for the Lord! So much fun!

The beautiful campus was about 20 acres with lots of buildings and activity centers for the guests. They host approximately 30,000 people each year with a very strong Christian influence – the Gospel is shared unashamedly! Very impressive!

We enjoyed some very beautiful sunrises ans sunsets over Lake Placid while at the camp!

…OH, and did we work! There were multiple projects going on at the same time. We sometimes worked as a SOWER Team, and sometimes mixed it up with the ROAMERS.

Thie first project for Lorree was to put a gloss sealer down on this new floor. The camp had three days to get the finish construction done before the catering crew showed up to prepare for the banquet on the weekend.

It was a major fund raiser for The Jesus Film- it was a great success!

The guys got to work on the beach cabins. The exterior walls had a lot of termite damage and dry rot. We had to remove the exterior siding, make repairs and replace with cement hardboard. We worked on three cabins like this. Hard but fun work!

More work projects! We worked together with the ROAMERS on painting the Grace Place. This is a large building with dormitories and two large meeting rooms. This is where we met every morning for daily devotions.

So fun to work together – we were able to get a lots of projects checked off!

We also enjoyed some great times of fellowship with our team. This was our valentines dinner – celebrated at a the Jacaranda Hotel in Avon, FL. Built in the 1920s, this historic hotel is renowned for playing host to many Hollywood and sports stars in its heyday!

We even managed to rest! What a great experience working with this SOWER Group. Looking forward to our paths meeting again somewhere!

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February Excursions – Buddy & Cindy Ward, Anya Johnson adoption, Mom Johnson Colorado!

Buddy & Cindy Ward at Fort Myers, FL

Our first weekend in February we traveled to Fort Myers to see Buddy & Cindy Ward. We had purchased a couple of new recliner chairs at the Tampa RV show and they were delivered to Fort Myers Camping World Store. Buddy & Cindy offered to haul them with their pickup to our site at Lake Placid for us (since ours was still in the shop) – thanks so much!

It was a great getaway – especially after they invited us to join in their remote church services from Browns Bridge Church out of Cummings, GA. They are having a great turnout each Sunday Morning, what a great way to share Christ with others!

After church and the return trip to Lake Placid we unloaded our chairs and went out to an all-you-can-eat fish fry restaurant called Jaxson’s On The Lake. It was very good! Buddy & Cindy headed back and we relaxed in our new chairs – they work mighty fine for afternoon naps 🙂 !!

Adoption! Welcome Anya Johnson to our family!

The next weekend we flew to Colorado Springs and stayed with Nick & Rachel. We all got to be there for little Anya’s adoption ceremony. The judge made a comment about the loving family that Anya is joining – he mentioned that adoptions are very special to him and he loved getting to hold Anya. He even let her pick out a stuffed animal to keep!

Who knew when we flew in that Colorado had snow! What a change of climate for us – from zero elevation to 5,000+ and from 70 degree temps to the teens! But we wouldn’t have traded this trip for anything. Loved being back “home” and spending time with family!!

So thankful for our growing family. We now have 18 Grandkids (with number 19 on the way!)

Mom Johnson – wonderful memories!

On a bright sunshine day we traveled to Fort Morgan to see Mom Johnson. What a beautiful country we live in, wide open “big sky days” and Colorado sunshine! It was so good to be at Mom’s house and get our hugs again!

…and Mom cooked us a fine lunch with desert. Local made German Sausage and sauerkraut and our favorite Oatmeal Cake. what a feast – and very good eat’n 🙂

We noticed when we arrived that Mom had a box setting on the floor. She said she wasn’t sure of what was inside and wanted to go through it….

It was full of news articles and advertisements of Dad Johnson’s grocery stores through the years. His first store was opened in January of 1956. Wow – great memories of times gone by. We had such fun reminiscing about the stores and Dad and working together. We are so thankful we got to spend time with Mom going through this box!

It was so fun to spend a few hours going through that box. So many memories of growing up in the grocery business, memories we will always cherish!