We’ve been plotting and planning this for pretty close to a year. Reservations made, travel plans, meals, and fun times all on the calendar. …and here we are in Branson, MO!
We reserved 3 four bedroom houses oops, er… I mean “lodge units” to hold all of us! Such a beautiful setting on Tablerock Lake! It worked out perfect for all 27 us. (only Nick’s family and Beth could not attend). Our four day adventure is ON! Being Thanksgiving week, we seemed to have the place all to ourselves and the kiddos could run free with no worries!
Immediately it was noisy…a BEAUTIFUL noise!! Everyone was getting caught up with each other as we polished off 12 large pizza’s and the fix’ns!
The next day we explored the facilities and all of the amenities they offered. Check out the 18 hole mini golf course – very nice!
We all played a round or two after the sun came up. I can’t remember how many of us got a Hole-in-One – but quite a few! Pretty amazing. It was very much “all ours” so the kiddos came back here several times during the days ahead.
Of course we enjoyed plenty of snacks and more conversations, hugs, and laughs. It was relaxing and full of activity at the same time!
Then there was the infinity pool….heated to 80 degrees! …and the hot tub (even hotter)!
We talked about how this would be so much different if there were crowds of people. God set us up at the perfect time for a classic reunion (who knew?!) Thank you God!
Our 50th Wedding Celebration!
The kids came up with cake and ice cream. We had to re-live the cutting and feeding each other that we did at our wedding. So much fun and great memories!
Our 50 year adventure – still loving each other more everyday!
Some candid shots of the kiddos. We are SO BLESSED!
The kids/grandkids spent Wednesday at Silver Dollar City riding roller coasters and the “frogs”. They had a great time while we enjoyed our “R&R” and got re-invigorated! 🙂
Then it was Turkey Time!
Ray brought his turkey fryer and a couple of large birds for the family thanksgiving feast. The guys received permission to do the turkey fry out on a back parking lot. So, in the rain, we fried up some delicious turkeys…
…while the gals cooked up all the go-togethers inside!
“Thank you Lord for this bountiful feast, for our amazing family, and for your faithful love to all of us!” It was a very blessed day!
…and we ATE.IT.ALL! Where’s the leftovers????
Ah Oh! Looks like the “after-turkey-dinner-naps” are creeping in on all of us…we better get some family photos! (are we having fun yet !?!)
Again…we are so blessed to have such a godly loving family! These are a variety of pictures of the “Johnson’s” including current pictures those who were not able to be with us. We don’t take it for granted that God has protected and built this family over the years. We are thankful for the generations of godly grandparents an parents that have influenced our family to be who we are today. We pray that this heritage will continue to impact the future ahead of us!
Lorree and I shared a video of our 50 years of life from falling in love to today! We are constantly amazed at how God brought us from high school sweethearts and created the family we have today. Although not everyone was into our “home movies” there is now a recorded documentary of the adventures God brought to us!
Our 50 years – to God be the glory!“Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.” Psalm 71:17‐18
If you want to view the videos we shared, here’s the link PART ONE (33 minutes):
At Tate & Kimberly’s house we enjoyed an evening with their small group. We had a campfire in their driveway and we introduced them to “woof ‘ums”! They all seemed to like the variety – we had meat dishes and desert dishes all from the tail gate of Tate’s truck!
Ready for a road trip?
Emilee and Jessica said YES! Kimberly dropped them off at our rig and we hit the road!
We had three days of travel through four states to get to Branson, MO for our reunion.
After a long ride, it was good to park and get outside to move around and stretch our legs!
We fit very well in our rig! We had enough space to play games, watch movies, make pizza’s, read, share stories, and eventually turn in for the night. Pretty cozy and fun!
We arrived in Branson and parked our rig at Branson City RV Park for the next four nights. We just needed a place to park and unhook – we stayed with the family at the Bluegreen Cliff’s House Lodge. The rest of the family will be meeting us there later today.
We arrived at SHOCCO Springs Camp on Thursday, 4 days before our work project starts. Getting settled, we were greeted with beautiful views of the camp area (over 800 acres). It was a huge campus with numerous lodges, meeting areas, and many other buildings. We did a bit of exploring on our own, but looked forward to getting a real tour from the camp staff.
…and the beauty of the lake just below our RV park area. We went for a walk to absorb it all!
On Friday, of our first weekend, we were able to spend with Tate & Kim, Emily & Jessica and their small group from church at a nearby farm featuring a lot of homecooked favorites and a BIG warm bonfire. Great times and new friends made the evening very special for us!
Back at SHOCCO – on Saturday, still our first weekend, we were introduced to the huge youth camp that had arrived. There were four teams of over 100 youth each – competing for a win on the nearby field! It was LOUD and WILD – one event had them scrambling to find their own shoes and put them on – out of a pile that the counselors had mixed up. CRAZY STUFF… but so FUN!
Meet our team! We met the other SOWER couple Bob & Deborah Bradbury from Oklahoma. This will be their 2nd SOWER project.
We also met three other couples from the RVIC Ministry. Steve & Diane Ellens, Guy & Jeanenne Scott, and Bob & Laurie ————-. (Hmmm – they sure do look familiar?!) They also do these same type of projects around the country. We learned that we would be working together as one team. THEN – we remembered that we had worked with these same couples at Palacios, TX back in 2020! How fun to be together again!
The next week, we received our project assignments. We’re going to be busy!
The camp had acquired a house, garage, and workshop adjacent to their property. The previous owner had died and no family – so the camp bought it all as is. The guys’ job was to sort and clean out the wood workshop, load, and haul all the equipment and tools to the camp’s new workshop. OH MY! Where do we even begin? This guy was a master carpenter in his spare time, he was also a local Dr. He had it all – so many tools and so much “stuff”!
The ladies also had a big job to do – SO MUCH laundry! Fortunately the camp had a great facility for washing, drying, folding, and storing all the linens, towels, and other items.
First things first…the guys had to empty the new workshop at camp by relocating dozens of bunk beds, mattresses, and building materials. It took several trailer loads to complete.
Pretty heavy work for five “old retired guys” …but we pushed through! While the guys spent the first few days getting things relocated, the gals were up to their shoulders in laundry!
Their favoriteitem was folding the fitted sheets. (I think that’s what Lorree said!?!)
The guys were making progress. We had to sort and stack some of the materials and then disassemble some of the power tools and tables. We brought our first trailer load over to the new workshop after a full day of hard work. (We thought those bunk beds were heavy!)
One evening, the Executive Director, Russell Klinner, of the Camp & Conference Center invited us to a personal overview of the history, mission, and vision of the camp. ” I love Ephesians Chapter 2. It is a summary of my spiritual journey in life, from dead to alive because of Christ. In it, Paul reminds us that God has prepared a path of good works for us if we will walk in them.” We were amazed at the impact that his camp has had over the years in building God’s Kingdom! What a privilege to be a part of this journey at this time .
We were encouraged in our ministry“helpers behind the scenes” to stay faithful to the task! Only God knows how many lives will be impacted by the precious time we will be here. We love the heartbeat of Shocco which is Loving God and Serving His people!
A Brief History: During World War II, Shocco Springs was used to house “war workers”, men and women who worked at defense plants in the nearby town of Talladega. It was sold to the Alabama Baptist Convention in December, 1947 and began to be used the following year for church events. The newly purchased property included 40 acres of land, 3 hotels, 14 cottages, a pavilion, a dining hall, a swimming pool, and an amphitheater. NOW… The conference center and resort area has over 800 acres that is used for lodging, meeting space, recreation, support services and meals for events held by Christian and nonprofit groups and organizations.
Tim Johnson, above left, was our volunteer coordinator while we were here. He shared the list of Camps and retreats that will be on campus with us simultaneously!
We are looking forward to welcoming guests for the following events this weekend: Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions VBS Directors Preview Conference Carriage Lane Presbyterian Church Youth Fall Retreat Church of the Highlands UA College Retreat (Tate & Kimberly’s home church!) Valleydale Church Fall Youth Retreat Andalusia Bible Church Women Agape Aux Gideons Retreat Crossroads Community Church Womens Retreat Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church Life Group Retreat Grace, a United Methodist Congregation Youth Retreat The Grove Church Madison Youth Retreat Riverdale Christian Church Women’s Retreat YWAM Northern and Southern American Area Gathering
Lots of groups! What a privilege for us to be available to serve the camp on this weekend!
Back at it! Those tool tables, stands, and assorted equipment were heavy and hard to move. It was four against one as we navigated down a steep ramp to the trailer and then had to uplift it onto the trailer. We hauled 3 trailer loads. No small fete in any of our opinions!
At the end of it all, we won! We may be smiling – but we were so tired and sore!
The ladies also won against the laundry (at least for a couple weeks!)
One thing that was very special about our time here – since the camp was already cooking and serving so many groups at once, they invited us to join in meals every day. Pretty tasty!
Our next project was to take this load of lumber and build as many benches as we could to be used around the camp fire areas. We all liked working with wood, so we went to work!
Once we had a pattern we just started cutting and assembling. With five of us working things went pretty fast. We were able to complete 40 – 8 foot benches using 2×6 material!
We had fun building something very useful to be used for years in the future. Then we needed to distribute them around the campus. We were a fun team, teaching and learning from each other, teasing each other, and laughed at some pretty creative one-liners! LOL!
Its time for some Talladega fun!
We all signed up for a tour, just a few miles away, of the famous Talladega Superspeedway!
We got to drive through the tunnels into the inside field. We drove around the track and experienced the winners circle and the finish line! For a special treat, we were given sharpies to sign the finish line. Oh yeah!
Dennis signed as “Dennis & Lorree 50 years!” So we left our mark of “50” at the racetrack!
The track at Talladega is at 2.66 miles – it is the longest NASCAR oval per lap. The track’s slope at the end curves are at 33 degrees (…or a 65% slope compared to a 90% right angle!) yikes! It was challenging to walk up or even stand on the track at the end curves! We could not walk up the steep slope to get to the outside guard rails! A race car has to maintain a speed over 180 mph to stay up on the top of the curves! Whew !
WINNERS rejoicing in the winners circle that is shown on TV. (Where’s the champagne? )
Back to work we go!
Our last week, the guys went around camp and stained many of the picnic tables and benches that had been built the year before, they kept us busy!
The gals were assigned to decorate for Christmas! They all loved the change of pace and were able to explore each others’ creativity! They had no “blueprint” – just go decorate!
The Christmas Trees & Wreaths topped it all off! (…and the guys stepped in to help.)
A final project – The guys built a plywood rack for the camp’s new workshop. It was challenging and “fun” doing the math to get the shelving just right – hope it works for them!
We didn’t know what to expect when we arrived at SHOCCO Springs – we usually don’t on these SOWER Projects – but this was a fun adventure! We really enjoyed working with Bob & Debi, and the RVIC’s group. Hopefully we will get together again down the road!
No time to pause – we’re headed to an amazing Family Reunion adventure next!
