Mixed Emotions–by Schylie

I’m not going to talk about the time we spent with Daddy and the boys, since Daddy already wrote an extensive post about our visit with them. Nevertheless, suffice it to say–we thoroughly enjoyed our time with them and the goodbyes were very, very difficult. After leaving Canon City, we made a few stops and then trudged ahead to Oklahoma where we would stay with Kirk Gibbons’ mother, Beverly. We finally arrived late in the evening, and were warmly welcomed. We said hello and jumped into bed. On Sunday we joined Beverly in attending her home church, Heritage Presbyterian Church (PCA), not far from her home. For Sunday School, there were visiting missionaries from Ukraine who spoke about their work there. We very much enjoyed our time in this Presbyterian church–a taste of home! Beverly’s daughter, Jeanne, joined us for lunch later in the day. Later on, we tuned in to our church’s quarterly hymn sing and sang along. We left Monday morning, very grateful for the time and fellowship we shared with Beverly and her daughter.

We drove for several hours (as usual) on our way to visit with some new friends, Alan & Margaret in Tennessee. Our drive was interrupted by a terrible accident. Thankfully, we were not a part of it. We were driving on the highway when the pickup truck in front of us suddenly swerved and drove off the road into the grassy median. Mama looked up and saw a car swerve back and forth, and then flip over and land on it’s top. It slid and then spun. Meanwhile, Mama slammed on the breaks, bringing us to a stop about 1 foot from hitting the upside down car. As the dust settled, we all jumped out of the car. Mama yelled at me to “Call 911!” I quickly dialed the number as I slipped out of the car and walked toward the upside down car. People were running to the car from all sides, at least a dozen, all trying to pull things out of the car and help whoever was inside. Turns out, a young woman, around 22, and her 6-8 month old son were in the car. They crawled and were pulled out, seemingly ok. Meanwhile, I was talking to the lady on the other line, explaining the accident as best I could. I got off and turned my attention to what was going on. We stood around for a bit, wondering what to do. Several people were surrounding the young lady and her baby, so we stood off to the side. When the tow truck arrived, we sifted through the debris on the road and pulled out several pieces of clothing, baby toys, and the woman’s wallet. We watched as her mother arrived, and later her boyfriend. We could see that the woman was lightly scratched, but otherwise ok. The baby seemed fine. He smiled at me. Mama eventually filled out a witness report. As the accident was cleaned up and traffic started moving, we handed in our report and drove off. We lost at least 45 minutes. The next hour or so was spent in debriefing…we sure needed it. It was a very tragic and frightening thing to watch.

We finally arrived at the Bishop’s home around 7pm. They live on 120 acres with several waterfalls and creeks on their property. After dark, Alan took us outside to his telescope that he set up for us on the front porch. Before long, we found ourselves looking at Saturn, Jupiter, the moon, and several significant stars. It was amazing. The next morning, we had a breakfast of granola and over a dozen different kinds of fruit. We spent the rest of the morning hiking along a shallow creek and collecting rocks and precious stones, while Mama joined Alan in repairing a break in his well pipe. We took one short but scenic walk to a nearby waterfall where Terra intentionally stepped on a snake she found. After asking Alan what kind of snake it was, he quickly told her to let it go and get away from it. It was a copperhead! Very poisonous…  Back at the house, we had a quick snack, then took a drive down to the river with a canoe and two kayaks. Sandy stayed back with Margaret. We ended up spending 6 hours on the river. It was beautiful, and so much fun–except for one part. We were approaching a bend in the river, with rapid flowing water pulling us toward a few logs lodged on the river’s surface. Alan, Mama, and Chantry were in the canoe in front of Terra & I, who were in two separate kayaks. I wasn’t able to paddle quickly enough to avoid the logs, so I decided to stop paddling and put up my hand to push off the logs. As it got closer, I realized the current was too strong. Nevertheless, I tired to hold myself against the log. Instead, my kayak flipped over. I found myself under the kayak, and quickly pushed it away. I was still under the water, trying to find air. I was stuck under the logs! It was several seconds before I floated up and could breathe. I grabbed on to my kayak and paddle and floated downstream till I could stop myself. Meanwhile, Terra was flipped over also, right after she saw that I was down. She also got stuck under her kayak, but was able to get up pretty quickly. Alan, Mama, and Chantry helped guide us to a spot where we could catch our breath. We helped each other dump the water out of our kayaks and then hopped in and continued our trek. It was a scary time, but we persevered and finished our route. We loaded up the watercraft in the dark with the help of our phone’s flashlights and arrived back at the house at 9:25pm. A busy, but fun day. I do miss my glasses though.

We left the following morning, headed to South Carolina to visit with our dear friends, the Newells. Not long after leaving Alan’s, we stopped for gas and realized we couldn’t find Mama’s wallet. After looking for awhile, we called Alan and learned that she had left her wallet in his truck. He kindly offered to bring it to us. So, around 11:45, we finally left the area and got on the road. We missed a turn at some point, which set us back further. We enjoyed yet another meal at Subway and driving through the Smoky Mountains. Taking turns driving, we eventually arrived at the Newells after 1am. They got up to greet us and show us to our rooms. We slept in this morning and had a later breakfast, followed by family worship. We spent most of the morning playing games and hanging out.

Pictures forthcoming!

Signing off…