Why the title?

"Pioneers take the arrows"

Oh, wait. I should be upbeat and taking arrows doesn't sound like an upbeat thing to say.

So, let me amend that statement.

It was courage and vision that led the pioneers to leave behind a comfortable, settled life and trek West to begin a new life in a new place. Many of those from the East that went West found a strength within themselves that they didn't see while they were in their old life. Instead of being one of those that just kind of went along with the others in the old life, they became leaders and visionaries in their new lives.

The sentiments of that last paragraph come from a favorite author, Louis L'Amour, in many of his books. So, I can't really say that it is an original thought from me. However, what he said is truthful.

Welcome to being a pioneer. Look ahead and ignore the "barking dogs" that give you negative opinions and comments. Louis L'Amour also spoke of the barking dogs.

In some of his stories, it was usually a father or older man telling a young boy how it was that when the Westward bound Conestoga wagons rolled through towns, the dogs came out to bark at them. His character then told the young listener that the barking didn't stop the wagons from going on to their destinations.

Following the advice of the Louis L'Amour characters, may we all forge ahead with our plans, after carefully considering all consequences and leave the "barkers" behind.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

2011 Recap and Prayers for 2012

The year of 2011 turned out to be the year that Jo and I finally became full-timers. After 3 years of trying, our 2250 square foot house on ¾ of an acre finally sold. We actually lost money on this house, what with the sorry economy. Our two previous houses both made us anywhere from 25% profit on the first to 35% on the second one.

If we had known then that we wanted to sell and buy an RV, we would have done that after the sale with the 35% profit. That would have let us pay cash for what we have now in the Mobile Suites. But, that big house proved to be beneficial when our oldest son and his wife moved back to the Oklahoma City area after he finished his degree. With that large of a house, we were able to let them live with us for a couple of months until he got hired and on his feet financially.

September came and with it came another granddaughter; little Genevieve Ruth came along on the 29th. It has also been the year when her older sister, Moira Eilene has kind of warmed up to Grandpa. For what seemed like such a long time, she wouldn’t come near me. In fact, to begin with she would cry when she saw me. I finally determined that she didn’t like the baseball caps that I wore. No one else in the family seems to wear them. But all is good with her and me now. We spent quite a bit of time at Thanksgiving out on a playground slide. Actually, she slid and I helped her from the ground.

We actually ended up with three weeks of vacation this year. That was a first EVER. We had a week of vacation at Red Rock Canyon State Park at Hinton, Oklahoma in April, which I documented here on the blog. Then in early October, we left the Mobile Suites behind and drove to Canon City, Colorado. That was our first time in Colorado that late in the year, so we got to see quite a bit of fall colors. Then, a couple of days after our return from Colorado, we took a week and went to a Suites Owners International Travel Club (SOITC) rally for the Central Region. I got some pretty good photos taken there as well.

So we are now nearing the end of 2011 and looking forward to the new year of 2012. We dodged the bullet with Harold Camping’s prediction that the world would end in October, so we had at least something of a reprieve from unmitigated disaster. Of course, that still leaves us with December 21 of 2012, which is supposed to be the “new end” because of the Mayan calendar.

However, never fear for I bring tidings of great joy. It seems that University of Kansas anthropologist and Maya scholar John Hoopes is extremely skeptical about that foretold date. The lady who wrote the stories about Colton Burpo’s and Akiane Kramarik’s near death events has also written a story about Mr. Hoopes and his work.

Here is a portion of her article and two links to the two-part story on the “latest” prediction of gloom and doom.

“In a paper presented in January at the Oxford IX International Symposium on Archaeoastronomy in Lima, Peru, Hoopes tracks the 2012 Maya myth origins through various revivals into the 21st Century. The myth is rooted in an early 16th Century European combination of astrological and biblical prophecies to explain the new millennium. Columbus believed that his discovery of the world's most remote land would lead to Spain's re-conquest of Jerusalem and fulfill world-end events described in the Book of Revelations.”

Huh…who knew that Columbus would get into the “predicting business?” Here are the two links to Lori Henshey’s two articles.

http://www.examiner.com/religious-spiritual-mysteries-in-national/maya-scholar-debunks-doomsday-myths-part-one

http://www.examiner.com/religious-spiritual-mysteries-in-national/maya-scholar-debunks-doomsday-myths-part-two

So, it appears that in spite of man’s attempts to predict the end of the world, God just hasn’t cooperated yet. So, with the knowledge (did I ever doubt) that the world will continue on until God fulfills the prediction, I will now turn to the job of looking to the future.

It goes without saying that I offer my prayers to God with thanks, praise, and requests. Generally, my requests are for the benefit of others and not myself. (Well, except to ask forgiveness of my sins.) So, with that in mind, I will briefly touch on what I hope for this coming New Year.

My prayers are that there will be continued good times, good health, and good fortune for my immediate family, my extended family, and my “family of the heart.” Should you be first reading of the “family of the heart” in this blog entry, that family is made up of all those whom we have grown to know and love, even when we really have never met.

A big part of that “family of the heart” are members of the two church of Christ congregations that we attend, our co-workers at our jobs, and those we’ve come to know that are living in or planning for an RV lifestyle.

Even if you aren’t a believer in God, I still ask for Him to shower his blessings down upon all that we know, and even on those that we know and dislike. Allow me to finish this blog entry and this year with an example of some of God’s beauty, and hopefully, a foretelling of a bright and beautiful future for all.

God be with you all. Thanks for being my family and friends.

Love,

Terry and Jo

P0001651

Sunrise in Purgatoire River Campground, 2000.

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