Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Home At Last!!!!

We arrived here last Thursday and although it wasn't raining, it WAS pretty cold and windy.  We got here and into our site by about 11 am and began setting up.  There are many things we don't set up in an RV park if we are only going to be there for a few days.  However, we plan to stay here about three months, so that meant we would get settled in!  Many of my owls came out of storage, and it's great to see them again.  We put our small refrigerator outside and hung the wind chime owls off the cover over the picnic table outside.  I will include pictures in the next blog.  It took most of that day and part of Friday to get completely settled in.  Also, we went to the office to get two months worth of mail and packages. 

We had ordered a new electric blanket because ours had died on the way here..............so nice to get that on the bed and be warm and cozy at night.  The funny part was that we set the temperature at #5 about an hour before we went to bed.....and it was MUCH too warm, so we had to turn it off for a few hours to cool down. Now we set it on #1 or #2 but no more.

On Saturday we drove to TorC.  I couldn't wait any longer to go to the A B Drive-in for a delicious Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich.  I was NOT disappointed!!!  It is still the BEST in the US.  A little messy, but still so delish!  
 This is a small family owned place and they were happy to see us back here.  After lunch we went to Wal-Mart to get a few groceries we needed, and to my delight, I found this adorable owl nightgown.  I know I didn't need it, but I couldn't resist it.
I was chatting (via text messages) with my dear friend Sherry, about our concerns about the quality of water in some of the places we stay.  Even here, the water is quite high in calcium.  I told her we have been using two Brita water filter pitchers but I wasn't sure that was enough some places.  She informed me about the Zero Water filter pitcher that she and Willie use, so I did some online research and decided that we should also get one. We looked at them while we were at Wal-Mart.  They had plenty of filters, but those would NOT fit our Brita pitchers, and the only Zero pitcher they stocked was the 10 cup size, so we bought it.  When we got home we found that it would not fit our RV refrigerator.  After filling it, we used the water in it to fill our four re-usable plastic water bottles.  Jim has two that are 24 ounce and I have two with owls on them that hold 16 ounces.  Then Jim refilled the pitcher and put it in the refrigerator outside.  We also went online to my beloved walmart.com and found a Zero water pitcher that holds 6 cups, AND it will fit in the door of our inside refrigerator, so now we are set up for high quality drinking water.  This pitcher even has a meter to test the purity of your water, so you know when you will need to replace the filter!  Many thanks to Sherry for telling me about this new-to-us water filtration pitcher.

I also ordered some new tee shirts for Millie as some of hers had shrunk (I can't believe she gained weight!).  I found a modestly priced set of four tees.  The white one says "I tried to be good, but I got bored!"  The blue one shows a ball and says "You threw it, you go get it".  The red one says "Excuse me, are you going to eat that?" And last but not least, the green one says "I don't always bark at night, but when I do, it's about nothing."  I will include pictures in my next entry.

After going out for lunch on Saturday, Pastor Ric and Mary called and wanted to take us out to dinner that night at the Arrey Cafe.  I wasn't too hungry so I just had a small crispy chicken salad.  It was also delish and the small one was plenty for me.  Thanks again Ric and Mary.

Sunday we got to go back to church in TorC, and it was wonderful to see our church family of friends.  Pastor Dudley was as cheerful as ever.  It was a delightful surprise to us to find that he was offering communion that day, and he did his entire sermon on the subject of the significance of the Last Supper and of the sacrament of communion.  I don't think I ever doubted how very important and precious this gift from Jesus to us is, but I have never heard anyone speak so eloquently or passionately about all that it represents.  If you ever felt any doubt or confusion about how very much God loves each of you, please read the Gospels about the Last Supper.  Jesus KNEW what was ahead for Him, but He did not turn away from it.  His death was more horribly painful than anything most of us could even imagine.  But He allowed Himself to be crucified so that WE can enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  I don't doubt for a minute that if He had wanted to, He could have been spared that agony, but then none of us would be saved.  As it said in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life".  How truly amazing is that??? I have never doubted this, but Pastor Dudley's sermon really explained it more deeply than I had ever heard it before.  Amen.  

I know of some people who think that this life is all there is, and I feel so sorry for them.  They think that when they die, they go into a grave and that is the end of everything, but that is NOT true.  This life IS a gift from our Heavenly Father, and that's why it's called the "present".  But it most assuredly NOT His greatest gift.  His greatest gift was His son Jesus and the promise of everlasting life AFTER death on earth.  We strive to make the most of each day we have here, but Jim and I both know that our everlasting life will be more glorious and amazing than we can begin to imagine.  

You can't get into Heaven by being a nice, or kind, or generous person.  In fact, there is nothing you can do to EARN the right to get into Heaven.  The price has already been paid for your salvation, and all you have to do is accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.  Please don't be afraid.  At one time I was very much afraid to accept Him because I didn't know what might be asked of me in return.  Much to my surprise,   I found JOY, true Joy when I knew that I was no longer alone in my daily challenges.  Jesus LOVES me.  He will never forsake me.  No matter what messes I might get myself into, He will get me through them.  When things go well, we often fail to thank Him for the blessings of the day.  When things don't go the way WE thought they should, we sometimes feel as if He let us down.  The truth is that He has a plan for us, and it's usually not what we had in mind.  Trust God because His plan is always better than whatever we wanted to do.  Have Faith, and please begin each day with an attitude of gratitude, and ask God what He wants you to do today.  

God bless you and may you always find true JOY in your walk with Jesus.


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