Marching On!

Springtime in the Desert!

Last year, John read about a big RV rally coming to Phoenix in February of 2015.  He commented that he’d like to attend it if he felt well enough.  My son and family live in Phoenix so I thought the RV rally was something we might be able to do and couple it with grandson time too.

So in February, by faith, we struck out on another road trip, headed for the warmth of Phoenix, looking forward to grandson hugs and a tour of a few RV’s. We left Oklahoma in a snow storm that lasted across Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle.  Since John lived in Alaska for two years as a young man, snowy or icy roads don’t bother him a bit.  I, on the other hand, am not quite as brave. I always hold on tightly when we are traveling such roads.  Needless to say, I was very glad when we hit the dry roads of Albuquerque.  There we met up with a grade school friend of John’s that he’d not seen in 45 years. They’d reconnected on Facebook a few years back but hadn’t seen each other since their growing up years in California.   After lunch with his friend, Glen, John and I drove on to Flagstaff and spent our second night of traveling adventure there.

We arrived in Phoenix on February 25 and attended our RV rally the next day. That was a bit ambitious because after all the walking we did at the show, coupled with our three days of travel, we napped everyday for the rest of the week and went to bed early each night. Still, it was a lot of fun.

I’ll document some of the highlights for memories sake. My son and his family moved to Phoenix five years ago. They’d not had ‘couple time away” since that move.   Since our visit corresponded with their eighteenth wedding anniversary, we asked them if we could keep the boys so they could have a little anniversary trip.  We were excited when they said ‘yes’. They went to Sedona for the weekend, and we had a blast back in Phoenix. We took the boys to eat, flew kites, picnicked at a park or two, and enjoyed watching them play football.  And they taught us some new tricks too!  My oldest grandson has an app called Jackbox.tv that is used via a Playstation. With it, each person can use an iPhone or iPad that interacts with the TV and play games with one another.  We played one called Fibbage and another one that involved drawing.   It was fun, challenged our brains, made for a lot of laughter, and the oldest (us) to the youngest (our 7 year old) could play.

Another of my cherished memories is attending my daughter-in-law’s Bible Study on the day that she shared her testimony.  I felt blessed to sit in the audience and hear her share her impactful journey of Faith. I held back the tears as I remembered the young woman I’d met twenty years earlier.  I felt honored that I’d gotten to watch her “grow-up-in-Christ” and so thankful that I can call her my daughter-in-love.

I write this post back home in Oklahoma as I think of the fun Phoenix trip.  And I realize  next week will be the anniversary of John’s heart re-blockage/bypass failure.  At that time, we didn’t think he’d live to see 2015.  But here we are.  We are so thankful to still be on adventure with Him and each other. Thank you, Lord.  We are blessed.

PS  Maddie, I didn’t forget you.  Blessed part of our trip….the sound of your sweet little feet padding down the hall, following us to bed. You are a sweet doggie.

John’s friend, Glen.

Steph had finished her testimony. Glad she thought to have this picture of us taken.

Steph’s audience was captivated by her testimony.

One of the beautiful Phoenix trees covered in blooms.

Such a fun time at IHOP–a scorpion and a spiderman balloon character.(only in Phoenix would you get a scorpion) The boys loved these.

A beautiful Phoenix sunset. We always enjoy them.

        

And as we left Phoenix, we added three more National Parks to our Park lists. I’ve now seen 21 National Parks. I’d seen none when John and I married.