~from one life to the next one~

I have come to the conclusion that I was a most spoiled person with regards to having internet access.  It has now been 3 weeks since we were "connected" to the outside world with our own personal internet service at home.  We've been waiting rather impatiently for it to be installed here in our new house but with a thousand reasons, mostly the flooding and lack of available technicians, we still are without.  The latest "guesstimate" is this Friday and so with fingers and toes crossed, Mike and I must wait.  Right now I'm sitting at a back booth at the local McDonald's, just adjacent to a table of 5 elderly men who are having their afternoon "meeting of the minds" as they attempt to solve life's problems over their cups of black coffee.  They look intent in their purpose and I have to laugh to myself as I hear their conversations.  Perhaps some day I shall too sit at a table with a group of my peers and do the very same thing.

Three weeks have passed since Mike and I arrived in northern Texas and we have begun to feel more at home here each and every day.  Yesterday we made a journey to see my sister and brother-in-law at Altus, Oklahoma.  On the way there we stopped off at the wildlife reserve in the Wichita Mountains near the city of Lawton, Oklahoma.  I had been there many times before when my three children were little ones but it was Mike's first visit there.  My good husband who lived for nearly 20 years in the Rocky Mountains referred to the Wichitas as "hills" but both of us enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  The photos below show part of our journey.

Well, it's as close to mountains as we will see here.  They are beautiful regardless.

Two years have now gone by since these two kids from "the land of long ago and far, far away" got married.  AND we are still together :)

To be sure, the scenery is quite different from what we have been used to but there is beauty and wonder everywhere on earth.  You just have to be willing to look for it.

As an "added" bonus, the soldiers from nearby Ft. Sill were practicing shooting missiles.  It was a new experience for the both of us and certainly was an "attention getter".  First the sound was like all the thunder in the world booming at one time, then a gigantic hiss and finally the lovely leftover plume of smoke.  Too bad I didn't have that one on my "list of 60 things to do before turning 60 this year".  

The "meeting of the minds" table has now disbanded and all those guys have decided to head for home.  The topic of their discussion, among other things, was the upcoming arrival of more storms that will further fill the Red River.  By this time tomorrow, it will be flooding.  We feel pretty safe in our part of town but all the residents here keep a close eye on it.  Last night and again this morning, Mike and I jumped in the car and made the very short drive down to check for ourselves what what it looked like.  Seems so strange to leave our house and within 4 minutes' worth of time to be driving over a huge river like "the Red" and crossing over the state line into Oklahoma.  

We are doing ok and adjusting to life in this new land called "Texhoma".  The future is not clear but soon, very soon, I'm sure we will see what is in store for us here.  Still no sofa has arrived, the internet at home is just a "dream", and I do not know what school I might be teaching at next year.  But plenty of good things have happened and we are alive and well.  And you know what?

All things considered, that knowledge should be enough.

In the least of things here, we give thanks.

As the sun set last evening here in Wichita County, Texas.  God's handiwork has been seen in so many different places by me.  I have been a witness to it.

Three weeks have now passed from one life to the next.  It's amazing to think that everything that will happen to us in the future is now being put into place little by little.  The "plan" is unfolding right before our eyes.