Last Day

Today is the last day for me as a career "M". My resignation becomes effective at midnight tonight. I must confess that I am truly overwhelmed with differing emotions today. My heart is heavy and sad to be leaving the Board that I love, the job I love, and my friends I have come to love. I am excited to be starting a new chapter in my life as God has undoubtedly led us to begin. I am overwhelmed by the responsibility of being "pastor". I am looking forward to what God has for us in the future and looking forward to what God will do through Immanuel.

Please pray for me and my family as we start over, yet again.

Internet

Well, we are in our new house in Wagoner and now have some bammin' broadband from Sudedenlink. Of course, it doesn't work for me and my computer. I was, however, able to connect to someone in the neighborhood who graciously allowed me to connect to their wireless.

Now that I have this ability, I'll be uploading more pictures and stuff. I have uploaded several photos to my Flickr account, if you want to check them out.

Happy Birthday, Pam!

Today is my little sister's birthday. She is 41. FORTY-ONE! ...and she is my "little" sister! Yikes!

I love my little sister. I have given her a lot of grief over our lives, but at least I am now here in the States where I can give her that grief in person.

Well, not today. We were too busy unpacking boxes for me to stop a minute or two and go see her. I did call her, but that is never good enough, especially when you only live 45 minutes form each other. Turns out, someone else had already given her a hard time. (not the good kind, like I'd give her)

I love you, sis. Take care and don't let it get to you.

Link Fixed

I fixed the link in the post below to Immanuel Baptist Church. Sorry for the confusion.

Moving

As most of you know, we will be moving to Wagoner for me to take the position of pastor at Immanuel So. Baptist Church. They (& we) have been working on the parsonage for some time now. It looks like we will be moving in this weekend. 99% of the work on the inside of the house is completed. Most of the work on the outside of the house is nearly done.

Today, Lowes delivered the fridge and washer & dryer. The man came to clean the carpet. Yesterday, they delivered our new bed room suite. Things are shaping up nicely.

Tomorrow (Friday), Dad and I will go to Tulsa to pick up our new sofa and recliner, and the kids' bedroom suites. When the outside painting is done, I'll post some pics.

Missing China

Yes, we are missing China. However, the Great China Super Buffet helped our homesickness just a little with the plastic palm trees. I honestly didn't think they existed anywhere but in China. I'm glad to know I'm wrong. Imagine! Right here in Oklahoma!

Pretty Boy Floyd

We took a family trip to the Three Rivers Museum in Muskogee this last week to see a car reputedly owned by Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, a notorious Depression Era Oklahoma outlaw. Supposedly, he used it in a "get-away" where the FBI fired over 90 shots at his Model A. There are over 50 bullte holes still in the body of the car. The current owner said that during the refurbishing of this car, 4 or 5 slugs were pulled out of the fuel tank and many were lodged in the front dash and even in the radiator. Pretty Boy Floyd and his accomplice were protected by two inch thick steel plates in each seat back.

Floyd evidently abandoned it in a creek then it just was forgotten. The current owner found it and started the restoration process and now shows it at museums and car shows. We thought it was pretty neat. Especially since my grandpa told me that he changed either a water pump or a fuel pump for Pretty Boy Floyd back in the late 20's/early 30's.

A little frustrated

I'm a little bit frustrated with the internet service I have out here in the sticks. Yes, I do have it, so I should be happy, but I had better connection speeds in Abidjan, Ivory Coast!

Due to the low speeds I am able to connect with, I have not blogged as much as I would like to do. Once I get to Wagoner, I'll have DSL at home and hopefully at the office, too.

Currently, I have to reduce the size/resolution of the pictures that I post and those extra steps kind of put me off wanting to blog much. Yes, I realize that blogging is more than posting pictures, but I really like posting pictures. I guess it will all change in a few days!

Back Home!

We made it back home after a week at camp. It was a WONDERFUL week! We saw the Lord work in wonderful ways.

We are glad to be back home.

I'll post more later.

Gone for a week

This week, my family and I will be attending the Kiamichi Baptist Assemby. I will be the guest speaker on missions. I seriously doubt I will have internet connectivity there, so don't expect any posts this week.

Thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday. I had one.

Flood Gates Video

Water Water Water

I took this picture yesterday afternoon, in our day of sunshine, below the Ft. Gibson dam.

Flooding Continues

The picture on the left was taken about a month ago or so and the picture on the right was taken this morning. As you can see, the lake is halfway up the utility pole.

Lotta watta

Fort Gibson Lake can only be 28 feet over normal, or it will top the dam. It is at 27.5 feet and holding. The amount of water that they are releasing from the dam is just incredible.

I'd sure like to get to the docks.

Wow

I found this photo today on Yahoo! May God bless our troops and keep them safe.

May God have mercy on the United States of America.

"The Hungry Traveler" will live on

My good friend, Jacob Franklin, as agreed to take over the task of being "The Hungry Traveler"! I know he will do a great job.

Check it out: The Hungry Traveler

Best Wishes, Jacob! (and thanks!)

Flooding, Flooding, Flooding

All the flooding in Kansas and Northern Oklahoma promises to bring an additional 9 feet of flood water to Fort Gibson Lake. The Lake is currently 18 feet above normal. This could be the worst flooding that the lake has ever seen. In July, the dam usually has all the gates shut, but, with this situation, they are full open. It is really something incredible to see.

God Bless America

It is so good to be in the USA on the Fourth of July! This is our first Fourth in the US since 1998!

We may have a lot "wrong" with America, but, even with all her faults, America is still the best place on Earth. May God continue to bless the United States of America!

Work at Immanuel

I made a new post over on the Immanuel website. You might want to take a look at the new pictures.

A Sad Day

I have decided to give up on The Hungry Traveler. It doesn't make any since for me to continue it. I would love to pass it on to anyone who would like it.

I am going to leave it up for a month or so, then delete it, if no one wants to be The Hungry Traveler.

Wagoner Fast Facts

Wondering about Wagoner? Go here.

Two Friends

Martin Whipple and Rick Boyne (with Lacey looking on) in Branson, MO.

The Barn Door

Here is Emily just after she road the "Barn Door Swing" at Silver Dollar City. (She was braver than I was!)

Maggie Moo's

Sally, Martin, Emily, Savanah, Audrey, Lacey, Travis & Linda at Maggie Moo's in Branson, MO.

Great time in Branson!

Oh! We had a great time in Branson. We met my friend, Martin, and his family at the World's Largest McDonald's in Vinita, OK, then drove to Lambert's Restaurant, just outside of Springfield. (Jacob, we thought of you when we passed through your hometown!) This was my first time to go to Lambert's and I wasn't too sure that I felt like waiting an hour for a table. After all, this is Missouri, not Hong Kong!

Anyway, it really was worth the wait. The food was good and there was lots of it. The wait staff were great and friendly and we all had a great time. Martin got us reservations at the Windmill Inn in Branson, right on Hwy 76, across from Wal-Mart and right next door to the Tanger Outlet Center and Krispy Kreme! The hotel was adequate, but their continental breakfast left a lot to be desired.

Just as we were about to leave for Silver Dollar City, the TV announced that there were several tornado warnings in the area, one of which was one the ground not too far from Lambert's! We kept an eye on the sky and decided to go to SDC anyway. We faced a barrage of traffic leaving the park as we were trying to make our way there. Just as we arrived in the parking lot, the skies opened up. There was a great deluge and a terrific lightening show. This simply made more people leave.

Unfortunately, the lightening shut down all the rides and cancelled all the shows. We decided to walk around a little bit, as the rain had stopped after a short while. After a little bit, they opened the rides up again. The kids ended up having a great time and we even got to see the last show of the day in the SDC amphitheater. The show was OK, but the girls REALLY enjoyed it. We got home really late after the show, but Martin had promised to take the girls swimming. They finished at 10:30 pm and, since we hadn't had dinner yet, decided to order Dominos. It took them an hour to deliver it and we went to bed around midnight. We were really worn out.

Sunday morning, we decided to go to a "service" at the Jim Stafford theater. It was Tim Hill and the Church of Acts. It wasn't a Baptist service, that's for sure, Tim ended up having a very good message. At the end of the service, he said that Jim Stafford said that everyone who attended church that morning could "trade in" their bulletin for tickets to a taping of a new TV show that Jim is launching, called "Knuckleheads". The tickets to the show were selling for $39 each, but we got ours for free. We went to the show at 3 pm, and it was simply marvelous! We saw Mickey Gilley and Brett Owens along with a host of other comedians. The girls absolutely loved it. Martin and I ended up laughing so hard our sides hurt. After the show, which let out at about 6 pm, we went to one of the big outlet malls (not Tanger) to look around for a while. Martin then guided us to a pretty good Mexican restaurant where we had supper. Pretty good stuff, but we were still full from lunch. However, Martin's oldest daughter, Lacey, wanted to go to Maggie Moo's for ice cream. Again, we didn't get home until late.

This morning, we had breakfast at Peppercorn's, which was next door to our hotel. Then we headed over to KK to get a free one, since the 'hot' light was on. We said our goodbyes, then hit the road. I got a call a little later from Martin. He said that they decided to go back to SDC and that they were going to spend another night. Egads, Martin!

I really had a good time with my best friend. This is the first time we ahve seen them since we have been back from HK. We've been friends since Kindergarten. Thank the Lord for good friends.