My Trip to Oklahoma!

On Monday the 14th I left for Oklahoma to see the Morris Family with the most nervous stomach ache. I had only met their family briefly and really only felt like I knew Bethany. I wasn't sure what to expect or what their family would think of me, so you can imagine the thoughts going through my head. My plan was to just stay real quiet and hopefully not do anything wrong, but well.....that didn't happen! ;)

Well, my first few hours there were still kind of nerve-racking. I didn't know the younger ones names, and they didn't know me, or at least I didn't think they did. :) So I sat on the couch with Bethany with the dog in between us and all the little kids sat around us, just staring at me! :D Like someone had told me before I left MO... "The little kids are going to think you are weird" So that helped me a lot, knowing they all thought of me like that! :)

After that first evening though, things seemed pretty normal. I got to know everyone and hopefully they felt comfortable around me. My ideas of staying quiet DIDN'T work, I might have been the loudest one! :( Tuesday morning was my first day messing with goats and well, I was quite scared! (Just ask all the kids) ;) I have fed goats before but I was never in the pin with them....this time I was!
As the week progressed though, I got more and more comfortable with them. I even led one out of the barn one time!! I think I was pretty excited over that. :D Now chickens...that's another story. I am still pretty terrified of them. I DID touch one though while at their house....with gloves on! :) Bethany showed me this neat trick too...while holding the chicken you bend it's neck back around its wing and then spin around a few times and the chicken falls asleep! It's SO neat! :) I think I like chickens best when they are sleeping.




On Tuesday, I think it was Tuesday, they showed me around on their property. They have lots of land, and so we walked back to the back pasture and then ended up in some sort of woods and saw a lake and well, we just seemed to go everywhere. Their land seems kind of hilly too, maybe not hilly, but they had certain slopes we had to go down. The first one we came across I was terrified of! The kids just ran down it like it was nothing but I thought for sure I would fall. I had shoes with no backs on them and so I thought I'd trip! I think some of the younger kids enjoyed seeing me so scared! ;) Anna pulled out her camera also to get a picture of me trying to get down this slope. I finally did and there were others ones after that, but I wasn't so scared of them after that! It was a lot of fun "hiking" through their woods and seeing the different things.





After hiking through their woods, we went up to see Joel's grave. I was really uneasy about it, but wanted to see it. The cemetery is very close to their house so it was a quick walk. Almost as soon as I got to his site, I lost it. I was so embarrassed, crying in front of all of them. I tried hiding the tears, but it reminded me so much of my Mom and then also it made me miss Joel SO much. I love the Morris Family and knowing there is another member that I'll never meet here on earth is hard. My heart goes out to their whole family. I know how hard it is to lose someone you love with your whole heart, but their family continues to trust the Lord and and realizes there is a bigger picture down the road for what happened. Lots of times I forget about that. I am stuck in the "right now" and don't think about how God could use
what happened to my Mom in my life farther down. I think about my feelings now, that I want her back! And it's hard....

One day Bethany and I were able to cook dinner for the family. :) I had so much fun doing that! We made Chicken Cordon Bleu with Twice Baked Potatoes, Rolls and Asparagus! It was fun to work together and make a meal that hopefully they enjoyed. :) We also had quite the evening after that! Some of them put on a concert for me! Okay, so maybe not FOR me, but I did get to listen!! :) Not sure where even to begin on this...they were GREAT! :) Bethany played her Violin, Elijah played his trumpet, Caleb and Daniel both played piano but then Caleb played Violin and Daniel played Viola. They all sounded so nice! THEN......it was time for singing!!!!! The four of them sang "Crown Him with Many Crowns" They all have very nice singing voices and blended nicely! I took some video of them playing it, but I am not sure I can put it up online! ;) If you ever go to their house though, be sure to have them play and sing for you! :)

Sorry I don't have all the pics from the concert. Later tonight I will upload them! ;)

After the concert we had a nice dessert that Anna had made and then finished the night off with Dutch Blitz! I didn't even know they knew about that game. We haven't found many families that did. :) It was so much fun playing it with them. We actually played several nights and also played a fun game called Respond. We came up with some funny things. Have you ever heard of a Widget? In our game it's a musical instrument, oh and Taiwan is a boys name in Micah's world! :) And being a matchmaker is an occupation while playing that game! ;) Sorry that probably all makes NO sense if you have never played but some of you will know what I mean! ;)
While at their house we also had a BIG bonfire. (They called it something else, but I cant think of the name) We were just burning the brush pile I think. :) Well the fire ended up getting very big and caught a cedar tree on fire as well! :) It was a lot of fun being up there and I even chewed on some grass stuff. I think they turned me into quite the country girl! :) I brought some of the grass stuff home so Mandy could try chewing on it too!




After doing the fire the boys had a football game. It was SO much fun to photograph it and video some. My next blog post will have lots of pictures from their game!

On Friday I met up with the Naylors and drove down with them to Dallas for a DCFM meeting. The driving was really fun. Being able to spend that much time with some of them! :) Friday was spent thanking the Lord for his provision with their group, since it had been one year for DCFM. It was a nice time of fellowship even though I am not part of the group. Saturday they held their monthly meeting and then that night the Naylors, JC, Matthew and I went to the Naylor's uncle's house. :) Their aunt and uncle are really kind. They opened their home up to us and although I fell asleep quite fast I heard they kept bringing bowl after bowl of different foods for the guys to eat while watching their movie! :) I was allergic to their wolf so I ended up taking a benedryl and fell asleep on their chair. :) On Sunday we went ice skating with some HSA people and that was lots of fun! For more than half the time I was terrified because I couldn't skate, but then at the end got a little more confidence and could go without having someone to hang on to. :)




We drove back Sunday night and then I met back up with the Morris' around 11:00 that night! :( I am so sorry guys for coming in that late! It was good to see them all again though! :) After sitting up and telling them about the weekend we went to sleep, I think we were all pretty tired.
Monday brought more time with the goats. This time I saw some odd things! :) Something I had not exactly seen before. Interesting...... ALSO on Monday I got to go bird hunting with some of them! Micah, Andrew, Josh and Jeremiah were out a lot when I was there hunting. At first the thought of shooting the bird was gross, but I became fascinated with it! :) Well, I actually never even shot one, if I did then I probably would be grossed out again and feel REALLY bad. So maybe it's good that I never got one, but I would have liked too. :) My main targets were blue jays, robins and sparrows I think! The boys were very good at shooting them!


Monday night was filled with LOTS of laughter. We all watched their old home videos! They were hilarious! They used to be into filmmaking I guess, because they had lots of short movies they made all on VHS! It's really amazing how they did them, and they are done pretty well! :) Seeing them when they were younger was so cute though! Elijah was hilarious! And Bethany's work out movie was SOOO funny! We could have laughed for hours and hours I think! I am so happy that they decided to show me them, it was great! :)


Saying goodbye was very difficult on Tuesday. I had really gotten comfortable with their family and made lasting memories. I will never forget that trip to their house. Their family is really a blessing to me and I am so glad that the Lord brought their family into my life.
(My first day and then towards the end of the trip....see the difference?)

After meeting Sage in Guthrie, I said my last goodbyes to Mrs. Morris and to Bethany. :( It was hard but hopefully, Lord willing, I will see them again sometime. :) Sage and I then spent a couple hours maybe in Guthrie which was fun. We went into different shops then got to talk with this one violin guy. He makes them and is SO good! After talking with him we went back to her house to see the rest of the family! Although the time was short it was great seeing them! I love their family also and they've been a tremendous blessing to me. Sage ended up taking me to the airport and believe it or not, my flight was ON time!!! :) So now I am back home and getting used to somewhat normal life! ;) Next Tuesday I start my full time nanny job. Please be praying for me with this. I am not looking forward to it, but realize I need to be. It's what the Lord has provided for me and I know it will be the best thing.

Sorry for such the long post.....there was just so much to share though. I couldnt write enough to tell you how much I enjoyed my trip to Oklahoma!!

Thanks to Anna for almost all the pictures!