sunday. march 19
church. and home for roast n spuds. a nap follows. and then a hike in the woods.
afterwards I'm cruising home around arkansas curves and yacking with mom on video call and obviously not being wise. CRUNCH. I had not been paying attention and my right tires dropped off the side of the rugged road and then i correct it and immediately i know something is wrong. i get out and inspect. my tire is loosing air fast. being at the ranch for a year back in the day did equip me for such. I think of eddie and how much I wish I had her side kick presence with me right about now. we could whip that tire off in no time for that used to practically be our full time occupation back in the day. I park by the roadside and its also by a house and soon a older couple comes out and the man helps change it. bless his soul.
there is ce in the eve. followed by a uth deal around the campfire. good quality time. I quite like this group of youth.
monday.
well we must go to tire shop and get this tire fixed. so mr danny and I head over there. bless his heart. hour later I jump into my jetta, all freshly fixed with 4 working tires and we head home.
I head to the ranch. lesson plan and get my bearings together. lunch. and school. chores with the little women. and then I stooze home. and munch on salad with the folks of this house. and stooze thru the shower and get all spiffed up for bri's bridal shower. it was a lovely time. divine food. and just good girl time.
tuesday.
it's 8 am and im dressed and combed and calling mama while I'm stoozing off to walmart. at 8 am. on my day off. wats happening? well a canoe trip has been planned for this day. 8 women from this congregation are planning to canoe down the river today. so I must go to walmart and buy gatorade and face sunscreen n such stuff. I scurry to the meeting destination. its a mixed group of ages. we got grammas going as well as 20 year olds. We drive an hour or so to river. canoe 5 miles. good to just be out there in nature. oh so good. after that was done we took the scenic route home. home for supper.
this evening there is youth discussion. gentry youth have these evenings where the youth get together just to discuss topics. i think its such a neat idea. this evening the topic was ''recognizing and responding to authority of the church'' and also the topic of ''respect within the youth group'' was woven in too. things were hashed. and the convo was at a flat out speed. It was an interesting evening.
wednesday.
the rain drowned all plans for walk. so instead I cleaned my room and then spent all morning at a cafe, writing and reading. and thinking. and recharging.
came home, grabbed a sandwich and boogied it to the ranch. school. instead of science we did a lil creative writing moment. once home, i crashed on my bed for an hour. then did laundry and vacuumed my car which turned into a whole deep clean moment. supper. and in the eve I went to the park with my roller blades and scooted around but I got bored real quick. my lil rollerblading boy friend was there. he came at a run and begged me to let him rollerblade. repeatedly, he politely used ''please''. but I was not budging. so he asked if I could play some music for him. also not budging. so we departed ways. came home and just dilly dallied around. I was feeling rather melancholy because the teachers all left and thats 2 dear humans and i no longer could do life with them and i was sad about everything so i scribbled up a summer bucket list. that infuses cheer.
thursday
school begins at 9:30 today. and goes till lunch. Ms Judy always comes Thursday and makes us lunch and the food is always just topnotch. during our authority meeting, she also does life skills with the girls. after meeting, we had one girl vote up to level 3. We had another girl request a vote up but it was not supported by all so she stayed on her level. I came home and sat on the deck and wrote. after supper was vball at a shop. somehow the uth convinced me to play. ''put down ur hockey stick and come play.'' 😂.i would waaay rather sit on the sidelines and yack with people. but also. i know that its good to erupt the comfortability circle. i played that game on prayers. these southern people are so intimidatingly good at volleyball.
friday.
today is the trail ride. we gather around in front of the tackshed and have a prayer. 8 humans and 8 horses all packed and on the road by 9:30 am. and the windshield wipers are flinging the raindrops away. its a hour drive to the trail. and by this time the rain has mostly stopped. yay for that. we saddle. and hit the trail. truly it was quite magical there in among the trees and we just follow these paths in the woods and the sun is filtering through the leaves and its just peaceful. i let the tears fall. this all brings a flood of memories of eddie. this is her type of day. we hitch the horses to some hitching posts and find a log to sit on. there we pull out the ceaser salad wraps ms sharon had packed for us. back on the trail. Mr doug and the young horse he's riding have a moment, the horse flips over and lands on mr doug. there is a reason we gather around for prayer before we hit the road. our angels are with us.
we finish the 9 mile loop.
home by chore time. unload horses, do chores. i head home. im filthy and a shower makes a person feel like a new human.
saturday.
sleeping in feels rather nice. did the basics like laundry and some cleaning and then a walmart run. after lunch i head to the ranch and lesson plan, clean the classroom, and weed a flower bed. supper was smash burgers and fries. oh so yum. in the eve i find my favorite walking trail in the woods and enjoy that. came home and drink a frappe ms tru made and on the porch i sit and yack to mom for a long time.
sunday
12:45am. a shrill beeping noise erupts all sleep. my first thought is ‘’this noise is so unnecessary.’’ im sligtly annoyed. then i grab my phone where the noise is coming from. and i read words like ‘’tornado on the ground.’’ and ‘’get to safe spot now’’.
Ohhh. ok. annoyance leaves.
I lurch out of bed and text ms tru. she replies. i stumble downstairs.
walking thru the dark house in the middle of the night with phone in hand and headed to mr dannys room with emergency in my head, gives me slight dejavu of one terrible night not many months ago. but I remind myself this is a tornado and not a death call.
ms tru and i sit in the hallway on the floor and mr danny sits in his office at the end of the hall. My melatonin drugged body begs for sleep yet my brain is alert. I honestly am not scared at all. I live with two people who are very up to date on all weather stuff. They are watching their favorite weatherman LIVE. the storm is a few miles out from us and not headed our direction. more like parallel to us. we worry about the Mennonites that are on the path. we text people and check up on each other. the weatherman says the tornado is on the ground and debris is flying around. then the power goes off. we just sit there watching the storm doing its storming. by 2:00 its passed us all and headed up the rogers and bentonville area. we go back to bed.
in the morning the power is still off. Mr danny is out and about looking at damage. Ms tru is in her yard. I sit in my car and charge my phone. later on we hop into the pickup and us 3 drive around and then we end up at a restaurant for breakfast and some much needed coffee. biscuits and gravy hit the spot. once back home, the power is still off and we wonder what we are gonna spend the day with. church is called off. Ms tru and i decide to head back out to mr todds and start picking up limbs and such off their yard. so we do that. till like afternoon. its all a mixed up day. come back home and after abit suddenly the power is on. this is a surprise for we had heard it may be days before we get it back. we eat a late lunch. i take a nap. Then we head to mr todds with a generator and ice chests. and bring all the fridge stuff back here to mr dannys fridge for we have power but they do not. plus they are gone this wknd. we drive around for hour or two. And look at all the damage. once back home we have a late supper and just chill.
Monday.
a full day of school. cuz we had friday off of school. fun to have it a all day ordeal. makes it feel like real school. chores. for supper mr dannys and I meet at the park for subs.
and now today is tuesday and im sitting at a cafe with a chai and grilled cheese and a laptop.
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tornados are wild.
absolutely wild. destruction is everywhere and its just mind boggling to see it all. massive trees ripped out of the ground. massive trees laying on houses. sheds, RVs, vehicles flipped over. roofs are gone. trees are stripped, there tops looked like someone with claws just ripped the tops off. Power lines are down and on the road. roofs are tarped up. chicken houses destroyed while chickens run around. trampolines are mangled. horses are hurt. dogs are lost. graveyards have their stones removed. trailer houses appear barely recognizable. there have been a couple fatalities. Warehouses destroyed. Many people lost their homes and businesses. Now they say there was multiple tornados and one was an E-3. (I think that's correct).
tornados are wild.
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God's protection is so impressive to me. yet even if the trail ride ended differently or every Mennonite lost their home this wknd, God would still be good. we are children of a God who knows no coincidence.
courage to each heart.
thanks for praying,
ms jera
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