From Old to New

Not a very impressive title but that is what we all did during the past week. And what a way we made that transition. We are just totally amazed that we can visit family, volunteer, travel, go sightseeing and keep in touch with many of you in this way. We are so very Blessed. During Christmas week we spent many hours with Chris, Linda and their family. We ate, visited, ate, laughed, opened presents and ate. I am sure that Linda is glad we do not eat at her house all the time. She used many different recipes and even one that had a surprise ingredient, right Chris? Jason, Shasta and Eli joined us for Christmas day dinner. Eli and Kenley were good play partners. Then we moved to a campground in Golden, CO. to visit Jason and family. We went up the mountain to their home and also visited them in our RV. What fun. Then the wedding of Erin and David on New Years Eve. What a a beautiful wedding and reception. The wedding took place in the Reformed Church in Denver. Interesting that in 1962 we vacationed in the Denver area and worshipped in that church. And not only did we worship on Sunday morning but went back to hear Rev. Vermeer in the evening. For some reason some people thought that was "different" to go to church twice a Sunday while on vacation. Guess times change through the years. We were back to the church more recently to speak for RCA Missions.

New Years Day we started our trek west. We ridden through this area many times but when snow is on the ground it gives the landscape a totally new perspective. We had prayed for a good day and the Lord blessed us with a sunny day, dry roads and no wind, at least for the most part. It still was a challenge to go through the mountains with an RV in the winter but we made it. The night in Green River, Utah we wondered if we could keep from freezing because that night it got down to 0. With the help of the furnace that did not run out of propane and 2 space heaters we did fine. Some pipes still managed to freeze a little but no broken ones. Wilmer has, since that time, engineered some fancy ways to keep the pipes from freezing. Hope we don't have to use his invention very often.

One morning we observed the "Blue Moon" from our RV. To have two full moons in one month is unusual and to have one on New Years Eve. won't happen again for 19 years so it was interesting to see. May be our last chance, right? Seems like in campgrounds we get to see more sky scenes then we even do in Sioux Center. The big trees shield us from most of that.

When we started out on Friday is was overcast but the sun was trying to peek through. I like sky pictures and I like picture taking but to stop as often as I want when we are pulling the RV is just not possible. So I filled a lot of time with taking pictures from inside the pickup on the go. Now my hands are not that steady anyway but on the road with its jiggling around it took a very good camera that eliminated "blur" to get some good pictures. I think I accomplished that with most trys. Occasionally I would try to focus but because we were moving a mountain or a truck would get in the way just when I decided to click it. Good thing digital makes it easy to delete! It does make for some interesting pictures tho.

I-70 west of Green River is always a pretty drive. The rock formations are amazing and with snow on them it made the shapes of the rocks even more pronounced. It made me wonder again about the creation of the earth. Did the earth take it's present shape at creation, did some drastic change occur on the earth since that time or is there an intelligent and Christian explanation for the layers of various colors, the slant of the layers, the change over a few miles of the height and shape of the formations, etc.? What a miraculous God we have, what majestic power he displays in the universe. I don't need to know the answers, I just enjoy it.

Saturday we traveled to Las Vegas, NV. It doesn't seem to be a place to spend Sunday but we wanted to see what this city is like other than the strip. This morning we attended a Baptist Church just 10 miles from the Circus Circus campground we are parked at. The church is huge, has one Saturday night service and three Sunday morning services. The auditorium seats over 2000 and services fairly well fill the place. The message was very Bible based and we thoroughly loved it. Las Vagas has good qualities as has every place if you want to look for them. And the temp was 60 today. Can't beat that after coming from the ice box.

This week we move on to Gary and then a project in Yuciapa. I will try to be more regular with blogs once we get on project. Hope you all are anticipating a great year ahead and pray God will shower you with blessings and strength for the challenges.

Love to all,

Dad and Mom Wilmer and Marilyn