January 31 – February 5, 2022 Arizona adventures with friends and family!

We’re feeling great after our extended rest during January. We’ve booked 8 different SOWER projects for the year and its time to get on the road and see what adventures God has “booked” for us!

Our first “re-direct” …we planned to leave on Wednesday to arrive in Tucson, AZ on Friday. But over the weeekend we received a major weather warning: “WINTER STORM EXPECTED TUES – WED”. It’s no fun driving in wind, cold, and snow, so we decided to hit the road on Monday morning. Thankful we can be so flexible!

We spent Monday night at a KOA Las Vegas, NM and Tuesday night at the Hatch, NM RV Park. Yea! – just down the street was the Hatch Chili Marketplace. We bought some famous Hatch Chilies! So good! Another short but fun adventure that we never planned – thanks again God!

So now we had a couple of extra days ahead of us before we were scheduled to be at our SOWER project in Tucson, AZ. We got in touch with Alan & Karen Johnson (cousins) who live in Cochise, AZ (see blog from April, 2020).

They said, “sure! come on over!” So for our next two extra nights we stayed at their property, “Chapel of the Rise” in Chochise, AZ. Beautiful country!

Dennis was able to help Alan finish the install of the last end wall of the new shop. This is a great new addition to their vision for their property. The next projects will be a new house and the chapel. I’m sure we’ll be back to help whenever, wherever we can!

We had a lot of great conversations, sharing meals together, and playing games in the evening. It was such a joy to spend time encouraging each other, sharing our experiences walking with the Lord, and learning how God is so active in blessing each of us. We serve a great God!

On our way out we saw orchards of pistachio and pecan trees. We also had to slow down to let a family of javalinas cross the road – what a surprise to see! We learned that these guys can be ferocious. We also learned that they cannot raise their heads so if you stand on a rock above their line of sight they can’t see you! Hmmm, I’m keeping that tip in my “back pocket”!

An adventure at the [outdoor / living] Desert Museum in Tucson

We took a drive outside of Tucson to the visit the Desert Museum. The drive to get there was full of beautiful sights. We’re amazed at the desert and cactus landscape – such a contrast from the pine trees and mountains that we’re familiar with. The sign mentioned that there are “islands of mountains in the desert sea”. That pretty much says it all! (FYI: This adventure took place while we were serving with SOWERS at the Gospel Rescue Mission).

We saw more wild life than we thought we would! The Mountain Cat and the Rattle snake were behind glass but the others were all there for us to see. We missed the Raptor Falcon Flight presentation: they fly free out over the desert and come back to the trainer while the crowd watches.

WOW! There are so many different types of cactus – who knew? We spent about 3 hours just walking the paths through this outdoor living museum. It was facinating to see and experience the variety and creativity of our creator God! We didn’t take pictures of everything but these are a brief sample of some of the things we saw.

It’s Super Bowl Weekend! …and valentines Day!

We enjoyed watching the game and just relaxing after church. Look at that amazing apple pie Lorree made for me for Valentines Day. She is a very special love and a great cook!

This is my Valentine! Lorree has been growing her hair for a few months – look at the french braid she can do! (People pay big bucks for a look like this!) Love it!

We enjoyed a face time visit with Mom and Kay later in the month. She is doing so well – she’ll be 94 next month, what a milestone in life! Talk about adventures, she sure has had an wonderful journey with the Lord all these years! We are blessed to have her praying for us during our adventures!