We finished our Sojourn at Mid-Western Children's Home on Thursday, June 18th. We had to head over the Lafayette, Indiana because I had a Board of Directors meeting at Shults-Lewis Children's Home on Saturday, the 20th. Following the meeting we had lunch with my sister, Charlynn and then we had dinner with one of our 6 year old granddaughters, Neo and her mom and dad (Kazumi and Steve). Then Steve and I (for Father's Day) went to see Jurassic World. It was totally predictable, but would you want, or expect anything different?
The board meeting went well Saturday, but it was l-o-n-gggg (9 AM - 1 PM). We headed to Lafayette and had dinner with Irene's sister, Kathryn and her children Kendra and Krista and her husband DC. That was nice (all except my forgetting to get back my credit card after I paid for dinner. DC had to go to the restaurant to pick it up this past Wednesday when I realized I didn't have it).
Sunday morning I preached in Frankfort, Indiana at the congregation I had preached at for years before we began sojourning. Following that we buzzed back to Ohio.
Our next Sojourn (and we are presently in the middle of it right now) is at the Groesbeck church of Christ in the Cincinnati area. Irene and I had gone over on the last Sunday in May to get "the lay of the land." At the time they had NO hookups of any kind. Hookups for RVs consist of:
1. Electric - 30 or 50 Amp depending on what the needs of the RV are.
2. Water - most RVs have an "on-board" water tank that's between 75 and 100 gallons. But that's only for use while traveling. Typically RVs hook up to a water line on site.
3. Sewer - Waste water. This comes in 2 forms: Gray Water - this is from the sinks; shower and washing machine and; Black Water - from the toilet(s).
Well, the church building had ZERO hookups. They did have a breaker box in the basement 140 feet away from where we would be parking. However, they didn't have any kind of outside water bib or a "clean out" that we could dump in. They did say that before the sojourn began they would put an outside water bib in and pull electrical line from the breaker to our parking area. OK, let's do it!!!
When we arrived there on last Sunday the electrical and water hookups were in - GREAT! Er, not so fast. It ended up that the 140 feet of wire had a 13 Volt line loss. At our rigs we were getting 105 Volts. OUCH! Nothing will burn out an RV A/C air conditioner faster than low voltages. Try as we may, try as we might we couldn't get the voltage up. Also, the hose that was run back to the rigs was not potable water hose. That could be easily fixed. So, after a great deal of trying to work on the voltage, the decision was made to move back over to Mid-Western Children's Home and commute over everyday for the sojourn. We felt bad because the church had done all they could to try to make it happen there, but we couldn't take the chance of burning up our rigs electrical system.
Today the Hughes and we went to the "Creation Museum" over in Northern Kentucky just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. It was pretty nice. It had some beautiful gardens. The museum itself was pretty good. I wasn't particularly impressed by their emphasis on proving that dinosaurs actually existed. I (JIM) have a different view. I believe fossilized dinosaur "bones" are red herrings placed in the ground so those that don't want to believe in creation can have a grand time "chasing their tails." As it says in 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 -- "and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Irene believes that dinosaurs lived prior to the flood. She disagrees with my view as stated above.
We start our VBS (Vacation Bible School) Sunday night. It runs through Wednesday night. Then we will head to Lafayette for the 4th of July weekend and an eye exam for me to see if I'll need to get another shot in the eye. That will happen on Monday, the 6th. The next day we head to Middletown, NY for our next sojourn. Life is great! Our God is great!
Friday, June 26, 2015
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Watch the Birdie OR "Momma go git me my Gun!"
We left Kayenta, Arizona on the 17th of May and took 7 days to drive across the nation to Durham, North Carolina to visit our oldest son, Junzo (and his family - his wife Emma, and children Maeda (age 6) and Rowan (age 3)) and our youngest daughter Fumiko. They are both at Duke University. Junzo is the head of the GYN radiation oncology section and Fumiko is just finishing her "internship/transitional year" and about to begin her residency in Radiation Oncology.
Irene is a retired radiation oncologist (I guess I should make sure you know that a radiation oncologist is a Medical Doctor that treats cancer with differing types of radiation). She has had 3 of our 7 children "follow in her footsteps." Kazumi (our next to oldest daughter) is also a radiation oncologist. In fact after she finished her residency she moved to Lafayette, Indiana and joined Irene's practice there. After Irene retired and we started full-time RVing, Kazumi became Co-Director of the department there.
On the way to Durham we stopped for one afternoon in North Wilkesboro, NC to visit Irene's sister, Carolyn Marion. She got hold of her son Doug and wife Rebecca near Winston-Salem, NC and they came up, so we had the pleasure of seeing them for the first time in quite a few years. That was nice.
We got to Durham on Friday, May 23rd and stayed until the 28th of May. We had a great time visiting with the grandkids (yea, ok, with the parents too! LOL). Since it was Memorial Day weekend, Maeda didn't have school on Monday (She is a kindergartener now). We played in the back yard with them and Irene did some crafting with them. It was just a good, relaxing time.
After we left Durham, we stopped in North Wilkesboro to spend the day with Carolyn again. It just so happened that her other son Mike and his wife Becky and their 2 children Joey and Reagan were there. HOT DOG!! It was great to spend some time with them also.
We left that evening (the 28th) to head north to our next sojourns both of which are near Cincinnati, OH. We got to Mid-Western Children's Home on Friday the 29th in the afternoon. We got set up and ready for our Sojourn here which began on June 9th.
On Sunday the 31st we drove over to the Grosbeak church of Christ in Northwest Cincinnati to go to church there. Our next sojourn, which begins on the 22nd of June is at this church. They are having us hold a Vacation Bible School (VBS) for them. Since the church has never had a sojourn before we wanted to go over and meet with them to assess what they need to do to prepare the way for us. I think we accomplished a great deal. We've given them a list of suggestions which will (hopefully) make for a more successful VBS.
We had the week off from the 1st-6th of June. We were parked at Mid-Western already so we wouldn't have to move until at least the 18th of June. Time for some Scrabble tournaments.
The couple that converted me to Jesus while I was in the Air Force and stationed in Minot, North Dakota, Larry and Jan Long, now live in Centerville, Ohio just south of Dayton, Ohio. Larry was actually the one that talked me into signing up to lead the sojourn at Mid-Western. They had applied for sojourns for a couple years in a row and no one signed up to lead them, so they couldn't be done. Larry mentioned this to me when we visited them last year and I told him I'd lead it if they would apply for one, so........ here we are.
One of the things they have here at Mid-western is a pretty large lake on the property. There are about 4 or 5 pairs of Canadian Geese that have decided to make this their home too. From 1918 Canadian Geese have been covered by the Migratory Bird act as an endangered species. About 10 years ago Irene's department had a pair of honkers decide that they wanted to make one of their department's parking lot dividers that had a tree and some bushes and grass in it their nesting area. They called the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and were told that they were a protected species and the nest could NOT be moved; the geese could NOT be bothered in any way and the area had to be left untouched until the goslings were grown and the whole family flew away. Well, the conservation efforts in behalf of the geese were effective. This led to them finally being removed from the protected species list in 2011. So, the next time you see one of these avian beauties and think "I wonder if those birds taste good." Just go over and TRY to grab it (Geese are M-E-A-N!!!) and wring its neck and cook 'er up for dinner. You won't be committing a Federal crime anymore (though you will be committing a State crime if it isn't Goose Hunting season!
Here's a pic of one set of proud parents and their brood:
We also have a Grey Heron that has visited the lake 3 or 4 times in the last couple of weeks. I managed to snap some pictures of it was taking off one day:
On a different note - I once had a skunk as a pet. It was a descented skunk purchased from a "skunk farm" in Illinois. Skunks are a cross between dogs and cats in their behavior. They are VERY clean (like cats) yet they are very friendly (like dogs). It is reallllllly important to get the skunk before they are weaned by their mother so they "imprint" on YOU instead of on her. In many states it is illegal to have non-domesticated animals (skunks, racoons, etc.) as pets.
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