December Footnotes

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Happy New Year!

Our December was a month filled with Christmas~~first with our daughters and families in Billings, and then on to Mankato, MN for our other daughter and family! I was so hungry for grandkid hugs, and now I’m filled up, and think I’ll make it till spring! The kids are all good, and all busy. We also had winter while we were up there~~and that’s about as long as winter should be! Mankato has more snow than they’ve had in recorded history, and they’re a little touchy about it! When that starts melting and turning to slush, I sure don’t envy the recess teachers! I also got to be involved in gingerbread houses at three different levels~~Jackson in kindergarten (where Sara and I had to remind ourselves, or rather listen while Jackson reminded us, that this wasn’t our house! We’re sure we could have made a better one, but I know for certain we couldn’t have made one with more candy on it!) Daniel is in the third grade and his was much more organized~~like his theme wasn’t to see how much candy it could hold, but how cool it could look! And it did! Breanna’s, fifth grade, was done in a by a group of four, and was excellent~~draw bridge and all! Obviously an overpaid gingerbread family lived in hers!

And then we returned to Smithville, where our bus was parked at RVICS Village, and got to spend a week with our RVICS friends there. I can’t even describe the feelings of being in the Village~~they’re people we’ve known in such short bursts, and yet when I’m there I have the feeling they’ve prepared for our visit like a mother waiting for her kids to come home for the holidays. We had Christmas dinner, with 80 others, at the Hall, and then for New Year’s Eve dinner there were 107 people eating together! It was so wonderful! (We spent Christmas Eve with some friends we met at a nearby church we attended both times we were on project at Camp Tejas. That was a special gift, for sure.) The entire month was truly a carefree, stress-free gift from God, and I am grateful through and through.

I’ve said before that we really like Texas~~we like the climate (bear in mind that we haven’t been there in the summer!), we like the attitude of the people, and we like the countryside. Well that was before we drove across the state. We have now crossed it from border to border, north and south, and from east to west. Texas is a BIG state. Real. Big. State. And we’re not particularly fond of the western side! Following I 10 takes you along the Mexican border~~and through at least two inspection stations~~and through some of the dreariest, barest, flattest country I’ve ever seen. Bar none. Now that’s just my opinion, and I’m sure if I lived in that barren land I’d feel differently. Ok, I’m just trying to be polite. I don’t want to live in it, and even if you colored it with home it would still be bleak. Then we got to New Mexico and it more desolate! When we stopped overnight, I wanted to leave the bus running just to make sure we’d be able to leave in the morning! Of course we’re in the desert, in the winter…probably not the time to make an overall decision!

We spent a night in New Mexico, where the temperature was 14 degrees that night, and there was snow on the ground! Not just a skiff here and there, but covering-the-ground snow! We wasted no time getting out of there in the morning! We’ll be to Phoenix in a couple days, and I’ll send my next post from there.

Again, I wish each and every one of you Happy New Year!

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Photos

This was taken in Mankato, MN,
not in Texas!

Ahhh....carpet ball.
Should be an Olympic sport! I played in the Carpet Ball Tournament, and at first I thought I was gifted, but it turns out I was lucky! After lunch my luck ran out, and I was eliminated in the next two rounds!!

The tournament quieted down and
these women decided it was time for some noise, so they began cheerleading! Didn't really improve play, but it was funny!

You don't need to wonder if a certain
business is in this town~~if you look you can read nearly every sign in town!

Mountains like this
just pop up~~there aren't foothills or any warning, just *plop* they're there! (Notice the lush terrain?!)

Inspection Station #2.
They had a just slowly drive through this, and we couldn't see they were stopping anyone. I don't know if they were looking for something in particular, or what. But they were looking into each car as it creeped past.

SNOW???
Yep. In New Mexico. I know, it doesn't match Mankato, but still.... And the temp got down to 14 degrees the night we were there. (Motor homes are not made to be comfortable in 14 degree weather.)

Mount Picacho.
I wish you could see this in real life, because it doesn't even look three diminsional. You'll see more if it I'm sure, because our March project is in the small town at the base of it. (500 people.)

The cacti (isn't that an odd word?)
mark the parking spots...and you don't try to take more than your spot, that's for sure!

Remember Camp Tejas?
Where the men worked on the lake house? We visited there while at Smithville; the house is complete, and to say it's beautiful doesn't even begin to describe it. This front deck overlooks the lake, and it feels like you're floating. I would LOVE to spend the night there!

Back of the lake house...
cool, huh?! It has water on all four sides. It's like being on a houseboat. At least I think it is, I've never been on a houseboat!

Comments

[Lin Noble]

Happy New Year Danielsons! It caught my attention when you mentioned Mount Picacho. How close is it to Casa Grande? Maybe we can get together.. LIN

[Danielson]

Hi, Lin!
We are about 70 miles from there, but in March we're staying about 12 miles from Casa Grande! Actually, we stayed in Picacho for two days before we pulled into Phoenix Christian School. How long will you be down here? Let's work on getting together!