~Our Camera MIRACLE!!!...and pics of our time in Nebraska!~

Do you still believe God can work Miracles?
Well I do...for we experienced one YESTERDAY! =)
On Tuesday night we spent the night in Mitchell, SD.  On Wednesday morning we got up EARLY (Story coming later) and left to drive to El Dorado Springs, MO.
On the way we stopped to eat breakfast in Des Moines, IOWA. We stopped at one of our favorite restaurants...Cracker Barrel.  We hadn't eaten there since we've been back to the USA, so were excited about the TREAT.
Before getting out of our van I SEARCHED HIGH AND LOW for our camera.  As you know, I don't go ANYWHERE without our camera!!!
Finally, in despair I locked the van and went to join my family in Cracker Barrel.  I met one of our kids on the porch and asked them in they had seen our camera ANYWHERE???? 
They responded like this.  "Last night, when we were outdoors I LAID OUR CAMERA ON THE VAN, SO WE COULD EASILY GRAB IT TO TAKE MORE PICTURES."  
MY HEART FELL TO MY FEET.  FOR I REMEMBERED THAT AFTER THAT, PHILLIP HAD USED OUR VAN TO GO TO WALMART!!!! 
So, I ran to ask Phillip if he had seen our camera and removed it from the van before he drove off.  He said, "Oh, NO, that is what I SAW GO FLYING as I went down the road toward Walmart!  I wondered WHAT it was that went flying, and had planned to check when I came back, but I went a different way and FORGOT!!!"
UGH!!!  My heart was really DYING by now!!
Phillip then said, "I'll call our friend Ron A. who lives near there and see if he can find our camera."  So he called Bro. A., who wasn't at home, but told us to call his son Anthony.   So, Phillip called Anthony and told him exactly where he thought our camera had landed.
Meantime we TRIED to enjoy our Cracker Barrel Breakfast.
About 10 minutes later Anthony called us back....AND HE HAD FOUND OUR CAMERA!!!!  Here it had flown across the opposing lane of traffic, and landed on the bridge, and had been RAINED ON for hours...but when he turned it on, it still works!!! 
He is mailing it to Dad and Mom's house in AZ.  =D
WOW!  What a God we serve...who can protect our camera while it was bouncing down the road, and while it laid in puddles, and then help Anthony to find it for us!!!!!!!  No other word but ...AMAZING!!!  Thank you DEAR JESUS!!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~We took this picture on Friday, May 17th, as we were heading into Nebraska.
We had a service in Wauneta,NE, on Sunday morning, May 19th.~

~We stayed with the Lloyd Bleys.  Here we are eating a YUMMY supper with them and Mike and Naomi K. (their new pastor) after we arrived Friday evening, May 17th.~

~We were excited when we found out that their church had planned a picnic on Saturday.  It was supposed to storm, and the Nebraska Winds were BLOWING, but Jesus held off the storm long enough for us to have a great picnic at a nearby park.
We had so much FUN seeing old friends, and meeting new ones.  =)
Here I am chatting with Nathan K., a b-i-l to my dear friend Ashlea A. =)~

~Sis. Bley and I.~

 ~There was a fun playground there for the kids to enjoy.~

 ~Little Mary meets Andy and Brittany's latest addition.  =) ~

 ~Phillip and I enjoying the yummy picnic.~

~Phillip even joined the guys and played some basketball.~

~Only in Nebraska would you see this. =) ~

~The men checking out a squeaky belt in our van.~

~And since Bro. Bley is a farmer, our kids got to ride in this TRACTOR!!!  =) ~

~Elijah and Noah got to ride first.~

~There they go.....~

~Then Sarah and Mary got a turn.~

~Phillip took our 4 youngest on the Bley's a 4-wheeler too.~

~Then Saturday night, Sis. Bley made us a yummy Spaghetti supper and HOMEMADE ICE CREAM!!!
We probably haven't had homemade ice cream since we lived in AZ before 2004!!!  It was YUMMY!

~Our kids were THRILLED to get to stay in the Bley's camper...it brought back FUN memories from our Motor Home days on our 2009 deputation.  =)
Bro. Bley and Phillip visiting in their living room.~

~We did get the predicted storm and it made our trek to church the next morning...ON THE DIRT ROAD....QUITE INTERESTING!!
We were slip-slidding around like as if we were in snow or ice.  Thankfully Phillip had lots of experience driving on those kinds of roads when he lived in MI.~

~Here's their cute little country church.~~

~Phillip speaking Sunday morning.~

~Me with Andy and Brittany's cute little baby boy.~

~Our family.~

~The Bleys and Phillip and I~

~The Klines and us.~

~Then after church Elijah (who was wearing cowboy boots) slipped and fell, and gave himself a HUGE egg on his head. =(  This dear lady helped him get ice on it.~

~Andy and Brittany and their sweet family.  SO HAPPY to get to see them, and see them serving Jesus!!! ~

~Elijah and his "ouwie"...after the "egg" went down some.~

~After church we couldn't take time to eat lunch there in Nebraska, for our evening service was to be in Colorado Springs, CO...a 4 1/2 hours drive away. 
So this dear church, had purchased us a soft-sided cooler and ice packs, and then packed us a YUMMY lunch for the road...complete with:
~lots of sandwiches,
~juices for the kids,
~water bottles, and packets to make them flavored,
~Pringles,
~home made cookies,
~and store-boughten cookies too. (There were so many yummy goodies...that I might have forgotten to mention something from our great lunch!)
They also gave each of the kids a gift bag full of toys/candy, and Phillip and I some goodies too!~

~Mary opening her gifts from the NE church.~

~Elijah with his gifts from the church.~

 ~Before Elijah's birthday my Moma had given a gift to Kimberly to give him on his special day.  However, every time we thought to give it to him, he was asleep, or one of us weren't there, or something.  So, on this Sunday afternoon, while opening the gifts from the NE church, Elijah finally got to open his nice birthday gift from my parents, Gramp and Gram.
He's happy with his coloring book and here he's showing you his 5 dollar bills and the 5 cents that was taped into his card from them. =) ~

 ~Noah opening his gifts.~

~Phillip got a screwdriver set, and some sesame snacks.  They got both of us a pack of YUMMY REESES!!!!  =D
And I got a cute little "Nebraskan corn cob."  Half of it is a SALT shaker, and the other half is a pepper shaker.  =)  I also got some fun stationary/note cards.
WOW!  What a thoughtful thing for them to do, to get us gifts.
We were all HAPPY opening our gifts while we were heading to our night's service.  =)
THANKS BUNCHES, WUANETA CHURCH!!!  =) ~

~Sis. Bley gave me the book, "God knows my size."

~And then the kids and I settled down for an afternoon's nap in the van...while Poor Phillip had to stay awake and he drove the 4 1/2 hours to our Colorado Springs, CO service that night, Sunday, May 19th.
We got there at 5:20 and our service started at 6:00.    Pics coming soon.

 

~Throw me one of those HOT ROLLS!~

Many of you have probably heard of a fun restaurant named "Lambert's Cafe...Home of the THROWED ROLLS!"
It is a restaurant in Missouri (they actually have 2 in Missouri and one in AL) where they never hand you a roll, if you want a hot roll, you have to CATCH IT! =)
I've heard of "The restaurant where they throw your dinner rolls to you" for years, ..and as we were traveling near there, I asked Phillip if we could PLEASE go eat lunch there.
~Just after you get your HOT ROLL, a lady comes around offering YUMMY hot molasses to put on your hot roll.~

~Noah just after he caught his dinner roll.~

~We were impressed with the NICE size of the drinks....with FREE refills. =) ~

~We all LOVED this restaurant.~

~I asked our waiter how the tradition of throwing the rolls came to be.  She said that when they first opened, they would just hand the rolls out.  But one day the manager was passing out rolls and a customer across the restaurant wanting one.  He asked the manager to just throw him a roll.  The manager threw him a roll...he caught it....and that's how they started throwing their hot dinner rolls. =D ~

~My sweetheart and I in Lambert's~

~Sarah and her hot roll.~

~There's flags from lots of places hung in Lambert's.
A man behind our table has his hand up ready to catch a dinner roll.  Every few minutes a man would come through where we were sitting.. yelling, "Hot Rolls!"  Whoever wanted one would just raise their hands, and rolls started flying all over the room.  =) ~

~They serve very generous portions!!!!  And there were other servers walking around with even more food to offer you..."all you could eat" fried okra, black eyed peas, fried potatoes and onions, and macaroni and tomatoes.

~The guy who passed out the rolls and 4 of our children. 

~I tried to eat carefully so as to not stuff myself, but after we left there I still felt like maybe I wouldn't need to eat for another whole day or two. =D (We brought some carry-out trays with us, which served as a snack for the kids later.)
It was a very fun experience and atmosphere, and we enjoyed their yummy food. ~

~Then we hit the road to go to Kansas City to visit Phillip's Uncle Bill (Dad's brother), and his Aunt Donna (Mom's sister) who both live there.  Here's Uncle Bill and Phillip.~

~And here is L to R:
Phillip's cousin Becca, Aunt Donna, yours truly, Noah, Mary, Sarah, Kimberly, and Uncle Bill.~

~We had a really enjoyable evening being together and Aunt Donna made us a YUMMY supper.
The next morning before we left to drive to our service in Nebraska, Noah drew "our van"and wrote a Thank you note on the magnadoodle for Aunt Donna and Rebecca.~

 

 Lot of Pics of our time in Nebraska coming soon.  =)