It was a beautiful “homecoming” to our little cabin in the Rocky Mountains. Sunshine, blue sky, and snow on the ground. We saw so many tracks – wonder what wild life made all of these? We know there are rabbits, badgers, and chipmonks, also deer and elk – and even coyotes roaming through from time to time. The tracks leading up to our cabin were the most welcome – it’s good to have a home to come home to! Little did we know that God was going to change our plans from just a couple of weeks at home – to over a month!
Frustration No. 1 – no internet! We also had no cell service but we knew that going in. We had to call from the road and use walkie talkies to try to sync with what the tech guy on the phone was trying to tell us to do. It finally got to a point that he said it would require a service tech to come out and fix it. Ugh -OK – scheduled for 2 weeks out!
Frustration No. 2 – we were supposed to have results concerning Dennis’s sleep study. After appointments and visits at the three offices involved we learned that the results were never communicated to each other. We had to learn if equipment was even going to be available because of the Covid supply chain delays. Ugh -OK – scheduled for 2 weeks out!
What to do? We had planned to be back in Arizona in 2 weeks to serve at our next SOWER’s assignment in January. Now that wasn’t going to happen – so we canceled that assignment and decided to re-locate for January and remain in Colorado to get everything back in order.
But all of our “stuff” was still in Phoenix (1,450 miles round trip!) Yea -ROAD TRIP! So we left Colorado, spent the night in Albuquerque, NM. and landed back to our RV on the track at Phoenix Christian School We stayed a couple of nights in Phoenix and enjoyed some sweet SOWER fellowship with Mil & Linda, and Ralph & Lella for a couple of days. Then we hooked up our rig and headed back to Colorado to take care of all those loose ends.
Back at home! What a change in climate (1,000′ to 8,700′ elevation) from warm sunshine to cold and snowy. Both are beautiful…but the contrast within a couple of days, wow!
We had to make daily trips down to the road in order to connect with the rest of the world. If we parked in a certain spot at the end of our driveway we actually got three bars of cell service (I know – first world problems!) Dennis was able to get Century Link to set up land line service to the cabin. We had previuosly removed all of the old phone wires – so that meant crawling under the cabinets, drilling some holes, and running new wire to the box. Yea! It works!
We still didn’t have internet and the cell service would come and go. Lorree had multiple zoom meetings every week in the evenings so we drove the 6 miles to park in the Park County Library in Guffey. We made a lot of trips (but it worked and we didn’t miss a beat!)
And then…one of those nights, we came back home and stepped on our back porch. We just happened to look up – at the heavens – the beautiful Milky Way was right there above us. We were stunned – in awe of God and the majesty that we were seeing! The heavens DECLARE God is here and has all things together. It was GOOD! What a blessing to our souls! It was like God saying “Selah, Dennis & Lorree, Selah!” (Pause, Reflect, & Praise!)
Dennis had an idea, what if we installed the data booster system that we use with the RV on occasion. Maybe there is a cell “bar” floating up there somewhere, that we could magnify in order to get internet inside the cabin? YES! There was! We now have access to the internet inside our warm cabin. It’s not 100% …but look at the smile on Lorree’s face!
Oh, and we found a great little church about 10 miles East of our cabin. The Gospel is preached, the Word is taught, and the people are wonderful! Another blessing and it’s in our own “backyard”! We felt right at home – and home feels so good!
So, this poor little plant is suffering from a lack of strength and vitality that is normally coursing through its roots, stems, and leaves. Something very similar to the effects of COVID. We started feeling just like this plant on the counter – thankfully we were already quarantined – snug in our cabin, away from everyone else.
We were SO tired! We just wanted to rest, sleep, sit in our chairs, and lay in our bed. We had low fever off and on, a bit of congestion, some coughing, and serious fatigue! We never got tested, but it was pretty obvious. We did have some bright moments every day – like it would be gone, but only for a few hours. We had been building up our immune system with whole food fruits and vegetables and berries (Juice Plus) for years – now it was playing out to our benefit! Our bodies were able to fight this hard – just as God designed. So thankful!
So for the next TWO WEEKS – we didn’t do much. We shared that it was hard to “rest”. We are so used to moving and doing – this was not us at all! We read a lot, listened to the radio, ate soup, drew a few pictures, sewed on some projects, and watched some football. We finally started to feel our tiredness go away. Our days started becoming more active and engaged in life again. We know so many others have really suffered through COVID and we have lost friends to the deadly virus. We don’t discount God’s goodness to us – we are thankful for His healing touch! We pray for strength to continue to encourage and help others in the days ahead!
We had visitors one day after we were done with our ’bout of illness”. When Issac’s little hamster, “Hammer”, died he asked his Dad if he could bury it at the cabin. They stopped by and took care of that task. We had a good visit. We’re thankful that our kiddo’s have a godly perspective in these lessons to learn and we can share some of these times.
We enjoyed the beautiful snow fall that came to our cabin about once each week. We got our exercise sweeping the snow off our porch. It felt good to breath deep and take in the crisp cold air full of oxygen (well – we’ll take what we get at 8,700 feet!)
Then there were days like this! I know the picture is quite hard to focus on, but this is a herd of hundreds of elk – just across the road from our cabin & Selah Acres! (that fence line is at our road). We came home from church and just parked in our driveway – amazed at the sight. The elk are about 1/2 mile away and they just were standing – maybe just enjoying the warm sunshine on their backs.
…and then more snow! But guess what!? The Hughes Net satellite technitian arrived (4 weeks out from our initial contact) and was able to fix our service! He walked in the door, very nice young man, a great conversation, kept clicking on his smart phone, and finally said”OK, you’re all fixed and good to go!” Only 4 minutes had passed – AND WHAT DID HE DO? YES, we had internet again and all was good (So why can’t we fix this ourselves?)
Just a week to go before we leave to Tucson…
We had the fun of seeing Issac performing in the Shakespere play, “McBeth”. He was Macduff – the avenging hero who helps save Scotland from Macbeth’s tyranny in the play. It was great to see Issac on stage – he did great!
We spent the night at Nick & Rachel’s, it was wonderful to spend some one on one time with the kiddos! The next day, they put on a play in the living room for all of us – probably will be the thing to do for the next week or so! Mary just loved all of it!
We also spent some time with Carl, Beth, and Anya! It was fun to share life’s adventures and catch up on what is happening in their life. Anya, you’re so cute!
To wrap things up, we acknowledge that we are always at the will and guidance of God in this life. When we are serving in His Kingdom work or loving on our family, or just “resting” in His care, we are, “experiencing the adventure He has set before us!” We LOVE this adventure, with the ups and the downs! What is coming up in the near future??!!!
Check out our next blog!