Category: Surprise Events

”A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps”  Proverbs 16:9

More about God’s well planned and necessary detour later. But first, let’s explore Lake Champlain and look across to Canada!

We stayed in Plattsburg, NY on the West side of Lake Champlain then traveled North to the US/Canadian border. Soon we were driving south from the border into Vermont. We enjoyed the beautiful country and this beautiful lake. During the Revolutionary War, Lake Champlain became a critical strategic arena. If the Americans could capture the lake’s forts, they would gain not only cannons but also control of the lake. They would then command the most direct invasion route to British Canada. Lot’s of early American history around this lake. We ended up driving through a fierce thunderstorm but saw some great scenery.

God’s sovereignty, and His well planned detour!

For the past several days, Lorree had been having some stomach and back issues, some low-grade fever and just not feeling well. This day her discomfort was continuing to increase so we prayed and started talking about the need to find an urgent care to have things checked out. Our planned route would take us south from the top of the lake to the bottom where we would then head East for about another hour. I had already googled urgent care facilities along the way and there were several large cities ahead with plenty of options available, so I felt in control of the situation and had a plan just in case. After slowly driving through the storm and heavy traffic we finally made it to the bottom of the lake and across.

Sometimes the highway interchanges look and feel like this photo on the left! But we had nothing like that in front of us. The photo on the right was our upcoming interchange. I had turned off instructions for routing because Mr. Garmin didn’t like me changing the route. Besides, it was fairly simple, no real reason to miss the first right turn that puts us on the southbound freeway – but I did. After glancing at the map I anticipated crossing the interstate and taking a left turn up ahead in order to make that circle and then head south. Well, we did turn left but we were now headed north (and didn’t know it!) We drove for about 30 minutes and Lorree was getting more uncomfortable, so I told her to google the nearest urgent care.

We found this facility on Google and “pulled over” at Northwestern Medical Center in St Albans City, VT. There was a perfect parking spot for our rig very near the emergency entrance (thank you God!) They were able to get Lorree in to be seen in a short amount of time (thank you God!)

The ER Doctor and the technicians were amazing. (Thank you God!) They went right to work to determine the extent of Lorree’s discomfort. The doctor explained that her gallbladder was hot and upset and most likely passed a stone into the pancreas which made it all hot and angry. Bottom line, she had cholelithiasis with pancreatitis. She needed surgery to remove her gallbladder – but first we had to wait until the pancreas had time to settle down. So…we weren’t going anywhere soon and it was a good thing we “pulled over”! (Thank you God!)

Dennis was able to find a small campground close by and called them to explain the situation. “I might need a site for multiple days , but not sure how many.” Most campsites have been full, but Mike said, “come on over – we’ll make it happen”. (Thank you God!) After texting our family letting them know what’s going on and asking for prayers, my sister Kay responded with, “So close to Canada…” I thought, “what?” I googled where we were and realized – we weren’t supposed to be here! We should have been south not north! Then we knew God was directing our steps to the place He had prepared for us! Thank you God!

So… on Lorree’s Birthday this year, she received lots of tender care, beautiful flowers, hundreds of prayers and a successful gallbladder removal. (Thank you God!) This small rural hospital is named in the top 100 in the United States! The well experienced surgeon has credentials in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. It is connected with the University of Vermont just a few miles away with all the high tech equipment and specialists you can imagine….THANK YOU GOD! He provided the best for Lorree!

After spending 6 days (combined pre and post surgery), Lorree was discharged. We were able to come home to our RV. We stayed at the campsite a couple more days before traveling again so Lorree could rest and heal. Yes, Thank you God for this detour! We made arrangements to arrive a week late to our upcoming SOWER project in Maine – but we were still coming! They encouraged the rest and healing.

It was so good to be back in our home (RV) and together again! Dennis cooked up a pot of Chicken Noodle Zucchini soup, pretty tasty! We are overwhelmed with the friends and family that have prayed for us…

This has been an adventure that we never had planned – “But God”!

Thank you for your love, prayers, friendship, and support for us. We are grateful to be able to share our journey/adventures with you and to enter into your life in this small way. May you be encouraged and draw closer to our Lord as you travel with us!

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!

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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!

Shelter-in-place! Isolate! Self-Quarantine! Social Distancing! “Safer-at-Home”

Along with the rest of the world we entered into the mysterious and “fearful” world of COVID-19. As we watched the news and wondered how this would affect our travel plans….we started seeing signs and hearing reports of “Self Quarantine”, “Isolate”, “Stay-at-Home”. All travel is being discouraged, Campgrounds are closing, so we had to regroup and make changes for the weeks ahead. See the following blogs for how we “rolled-with-the-virus”. God opened up new adventures for us that was not on our radar. New people, new places, and a new way to trust in His love and protection!

These are just some of the Headlines that we are reading. The whole world is reacting to this “deadly virus” in unimaginable ways.

Every day…no, every hour the landscape of recommendations, rules, and orders are changing our lives along with everyone else. Social distancing and face masks are now the norm at every truck stop. Rest areas are closed/barricaded, restaurants are closed to dine-in (take-out only), and all State Parks and National Parks throughout the US are closed.

All groups are limited to 10 or less people, so all churches and any other gathering places for any reason are in effect “closed”.

Adding a face to COVID-19, Gary was diagnosed with the Coronavirus. Hundreds of people praying!!

We received word in late March that my brother Gary tested positive for the virus and was placed on a ventilator. He was sedated and partially paralized to keep him from dropping his O2 levels trying to protect his other organs. Things looked very grim. His wife Wanda was not allowed to enter the hospital or see Him for a month. All we could do was pray and trust God with Gary’s life.

Hundreds of people were praying as the word spread about Gary. Then we received this pic …and the announcement of a miracle! Gary was alert, off the ventilator, and Wanda was able to be with Gary again! We were overjoyed and full of thanksgiving and praise to the Lord for His mercy and love for Gary and the family!

Gary still has a long road of recovery. During his down tile with the ventilator he developed a serious and deep bed-sore wound. After operations, a special “sand bed”, and lots of tender loving care, he is making progress. The next steps will be weeks (months?) of re-hab before heading home to continue to recover. We are continuing to pray daily for God to completely heal him and give him strength for the days ahead!

Changes made to our daily life.

Shopping is probably the biggest change for most people. All small business are orderd “closed” so all shopping is on-line or at the big-box stores. The economy has tanked – unemployment is higher that anytime is US history. Shelves of “essential” products are empty (e.g. toilet paper!?!). We are shopping once a week – get there, check off our list, and get back “home”. We only were our masks when required – so far twice. We are not living in fear but we do practice social distancing, washing often and using hand sanitizer. The most comforting thing for us is that God led us to increase our immunity by practicing good heath habits and eating nutritious fruits and vegetables. Taking Juice Plus! daily has given us the benefit of a strong supported healthy immune system. We continue to thrive and enjoy life even during this pandemic.

Made it into Florida – ready for some Sunshine and looking forward to our warm winter months!

…and Crunch! We were traveling south on I-75 almost to Ocala. Our Google Maps suggested an alternate route to avoid a traffic accident up ahead – so we took the new route. We were now on 301 – which turned into 441, a very busy 4 lane highway with lots of entrances and exits. All of a sudden we saw red lights up ahead! Cars and trucks were breaking, we saw some cars swerving to miss other cars. We immediately stomped on the brakes as did the car in front of us. Unfortunately she “dead-stopped” in the middle of our lane! Even with the brakes locked up on the truck and on the trailer, I just couldn’t get stopped before hitting her rear end. IF ONLY 10 MORE FEET! We think we would not have hit her if we had a bit more room.

We learned that she had a pet cat in a cage which flew into her front seat when she stopped – so she was concerned about her cat. She could’ve keep moving with the traffic, but…. [Also learned that if we had a dash cam we could have replayed the incident and possibly not gotten a ticket]. Oh well – this is an “adventure” right!

We’re praising the Lord for watching over us! No one was hurt, and no other cars were involved. The traffic kept coming, so we had to move off of the highway into the median to get out of the way. We called our insurance companies and the Highway Patrol. While we waited, a Deputy Sheriff stopped to see if everyone was alright. Then we waited – and waited – finally called the highway patrol again, they said it could be a “little while” they were busy. We waited over an hour and a half before they showed up, and then it took another almost hour to write it up.

We cleaned up as best we could and she called a tow truck for her car. Our truck was drive able – It was good to get going again! We were finally headed to our next stop at Southern Palms RV Resort in Eustis, FL

UPDATE

Our insurance told us to take it to Gerber Collision Services for an estimate, which we did in Eustis, FL while we were camping there. Their estimate was done in about 7 minutes (!?!) and came in at around $3,000. Our insurance said we could get it fixed any where we wanted so we took it to a local Chevy Dealer (VanGannaway – a fun name!). They seemed very experienced and spent a good amount of time looking in and around the damage and found that the previous estimate was not inclusive of everything there was to be replaced. Also there was a check engine light on by now – they found the louvers for the steering cooling system were damaged as well. They also would have priority for new parts as they ordered them – so it was a good decision. The insurance was agreeable to pay whatever it cost.

We’re patiently waiting for all the parts to come in. Still waiting on the grill – ugh! There was a GM strike about six months ago and parts are not all ready yet. It’s so sad to see our truck without it’s “teeth” 🙂

OOPS! We learned that we didn’t have car rental on our insurance – not good! We had to rent a car in order to get around. We got the “best deal” on a weekly rate, but so far we’ve had the rental for over a month – yikes!

Total time with our rental car was 7 weeks – whew…no words!

Finale UPDATE!

February 17, 2020 – After 7 weeks, reunited with our “new” truck again! We got the call on the weekend, but couldn’t make the trip until Monday. We had to learn all over again how it drove – sweet times!

The timing was perfect, we needed to head north in 6 days. We weren’t sure what God had in store for us. Glad this adventure is over and all turned out grand!

We left Rocky Ford knowing that we had a full day (8-10 hours) of drive time ahead of us. But we had a new truck new tires, all seemed grand. This was our first big travel day and we were ready.

For lunch we stopped at a truck stop and enjoyed some down time off the road. Things were going smooth – until we came back to the trailer and saw a flat tire!

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So…my Harbor Freight 12 ton canister jack had leaked its oil and wouldn’t lift the trailer. A very helpful truck stop attendant came out with his big floor jack and did the job – SO thankful for people that God puts in our lives!

We arrived late evening on Wednesday Sept 11 at East Lake Harvey County Park. Nice to be under some big cottonwood shade trees next to the lake.

We were able to get the tire fixed. The next day Caleb and Ryan came to help Papa change the tire and put the spare back (for next time!)

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So…We had quite a few friends and family a little concerned when we left town pulling our trailer with our 2002 Avalanche. After coming down the mountain into Colo Springs last Friday, our faithful truck said “no more”. Engine failure along with trying to stop with only manual brakes, we ended up at a nearby dealership. 

After praying and asking for much wisdom, we felt led to look at buying a new truck. 

We felt Him guiding us with this, “I affirm what you are doing, but let’s do this right!”

We were at the dealership until 8:30 pm, pouring rain, working to move all of our stuff from the old pickup to the new one. We were SO tired – emotionally and physically!.  We left the trailer in the dealer parking lot and got a motel room for the night.  We are so thankful that God protected us and has provided the resources for a brand new truck!

We’re blessed beyond measure, and feel safe and confident as we begin our journey all over. Thanks for those praying for us, we wanted you to know how God answered❤️☝️!