Month: November 2021

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November 21 – 27, 2021 A very special Thanksgiving! “I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth!” Ps. 34:1

Just to back up a bit – We were blessed with our 20th grandchild on November 5th! Welcome Mary Irene Johnson to Nick & Rachel’s family! We are overjoyed and thankful for God’s goodness to all of our family. We are looking forward to the day in the near future we will get to hold and love on Mary! We’re already planning an adventure trip to be with the family later in December during our Christmas break.

What happens if you don’t take the time to trim those groves of Palm Trees in your backyard?

We snapped this picture while driving. We commented that, “those need a trim job!” Still pretty – but wow what a contrast from the palm trees we are used to seeing! Just a reminder to us that sometimes we need to stop and give attention to work on personal projects while on the road.

We’re a bit shocked at the current prices for gas and propane – yikes! (The last price we paid for propane was barely over $2.00 gal.) This week, Dennis worked on a few RV repair and maintenance items. He also researched solutions for a new oven…shhh, it’s Christmas for Lorree! (I also know he has a strong craving for one of Lorree’s apple pie’s for Thanksgiving!) Lorree stayed busy finishing up several quilts for our latest graduates, and worked on some Christmas decorating ideas.

The RV oven just didn’t cut it – way too small to really bake anything, and had a constant habit of burning stuff! Dennis learned that the new Ninja Foodi AirFryer Convection Oven would fit in the same space! (…and it was a “black-friday” special!)

With a little remodeling and some new wiring, he was able to replace the oven and reinstall the stove top burners. So excited to have this new appliance in our RV! Merry Christmas Lorree – let the cooking and baking begin!

Oh Yeah! That is a beautiful sight (I’m talking about Lorree of course!) …and what a heavenly smell – YUM!

We enjoyed a warm Thanksgiving meal with SOWER friends, Ralph and Lella Bledso. We’ll be working together at our next project in Phoenix. They came and spent one night and day with us at “the oasis”! We each cooked our own meal and shared a table by the pool – so fun! And of course we enjoyed Lorree’s fresh baked apple pie!

So thankful for our family – we all make an effort to stay in touch! It’s a giant blessing to continue to share life together even while on the road!

Everyone had a special Thanksgiving Day with friends and family. Looking forward to spending and sharing Christmas together soon!

Speaking of Christmas – Dennis got an early present too! The metal tool box that’s been riding around in the back of our truck has weathered too many miles, bumps, and pot holes. Dennis was able to find the new Milwaukee pack out drawer system (after searching many stores). He is so excited – and it all fits perfectly!

All this anticipation for Christmas led Lorree to find some cute little things to decorate our RV with. Sure makes it feel more like Christmas! (…and we get to enjoy it for a whole month!) Lorree, thanks for making our RV a home!

It’s time to move on from one oasis to the next! We’re setting up camp at our next SOWER Project for December. We’ll be serving at Phoenix Christian School in downtown Phoenix. Looking forward to new adventures with old friends and new…what’s ahead for us?

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October 27 – November 20, 2021 SOWER Project #16 Standing Stones / Shepherds Canyon Retreat, Wickenburg, AZ

Moving on down the highway – within an hour our whole visable world changed! What?

From Pine trees and gentle deer…to the desert, scorpians, snakes and havalinas….

…and from pine trees, to cactus trees (Saguaro) to “cell tower trees’, to palm trees! What?

Welcome to the Shepherds Canyon Retreat at Standing Stones! Van and Teri Rice, the property managers and host couple, treated us to a great “welcome dinner” at a nearby resturant. The property is literaly an oasis in the middle of the desert, about 15 miles West of Wickenburg, AZ.

The Shepherd’s Retreat refers to an intense crisis management / intervention for Pastoral leadership and their wives. They provide counselors, therapists, and clergy couples to rescue these hurting and burned out church leaders. Their motto is, “caring for care-givers of the soul”. We never interacted with the guests but helped provide behind the scenes support and prayer.

We had a beautiful spot to set up our rig and live for the four weeks we were there. The office building right behind our rig also has the staff break room (we had devotions with the staff) and the kitchen. We were the only SOWERs this month but they had several other couples come to volunteer to serve and minister to the 8 guests. The retreat lasts a full week – it was a busy place while the guests were there.

Lorree spent her days working with and helping Teri with hospitality, making up the rooms, cleaning and laundry. They changed the table settings for every meal based on what was being served. I think Chef Dave’s award winning chili was the meal for the above setting!

Lorree also helped clean, sort, and organize closets of linen storage. She even got to do some sewing! She measured every tablecoth, sewed labels, color coded the sizes and hung them in an organized fashion in the closets. This will really help to find and use what they have.

The retreat center is in the middle of remodeling an existing area into a commercial kitchen. One of Dennis’s first jobs was to get it cleaned up and de-cluttered again so they could work. You know how building projects go – stuff everywhere and can’t find what you need.

They must have liked what they saw ’cause Dennis’s big project for the remaining weeks was to tackle their maintenence shop and storage area. It needed some love and attention to sorting things out, building shelving, and organizing the plumbing, electrical, tools, and lumber.

See those rows of little white boxes and bins on the shelves? We got to sort boxes and boxes and buckets of mixed nuts, bolts, screws, and more. We ended up with close to one hundred boxes of sorted hardware after we were done…whew!

He had fun being able to do this. The maintenence manager Raine and his helper Jerry really liked what Dennis did for them! There were several times they came in to get something and found it right away (and didn’t have to go buy a new one!)

Oh, and we were able to complete several miscellanious jobs as well. We helped take down a couple of trees and clean it up for the neighbor across the highway. Dennis was able to be creative with replacing broken stone/tile on one end of the swimming pool, and installed base board in one of the rooms. Lorree did a thorough cleaning of an RV trailer for one of the counselor couples to live in while they were here.

The work here wasn’t “hard” but we always had something to do. It was fun to serve this ministry in ways that probably won’t get noticed by anyone except the staff. We made some good friends and enjoyed the relaxed atmoshere.

Every morning and every night we were blessed to see these beautiful sunrises and sunsets! The 15 acre campus has a walking path that goes around the property and through the prayer garden. there are several water features on the property that adds to the “oasis” feel in this desert setting. It was a beautiful adventure and retreat for us!

The wonderful staff we were blessed to serve with! Raine, Van, Teri, and Chef Dave. Not pictured, Jerry.

One of the guests asked if there were any art supplies avaialable, he was impressed to paint something to express what they experienced here. Dennis was able to loan him his art supplies. This is what he painted for the retreat center and what he wrote. A beautiful reminder of God’s abundant and never ending grace! Amen!