We had a big day ahead. We started the morning by attending Cornerstone. The Worship Arts Camp performed an outstanding song and dance along with a video of the kids at camp. What a neat thing that we were involved in. even though we did not participate in the Sunday performance, we felt part of it through being at camp and learning the songs.
On to home to pack and load up all the supplies for a camping trip to Brushy Creek. It is amazing the amount of stuff one needs to camp. We had sleeping items, bikes, swimming and beach supplies, food, chairs, horse stuff, feed, horses, and on and on. We had the Tahoe full and the trailer loaded. It was my Dad’s birthday and I thought we could make his day special with trail riding, campfire and cake. We arrived around 4:00 with horses kids and supplies. Alice brought her horses and Dad brought Wade’s camper for us to use. Wade just bought a used camper about a month ago and was happy to let us use it. Mom came to watch the boys so we could trail ride. We started out around 5:30. The trail riding was nice, but the sky was dark blue and we could hear rumbling now and then. The hills were a bit much for Jayden on horseback and after an hour out, we were heading back. The rumbling sky meant rain was coming so we trotted a long time. While we were out riding, My mom was watching the boys. I thought with all the things to do, it would be no problem. The boys were not getting along with one another the best. Luke fell off his little bike which he rode for the first time yesterday. He scraped his leg pretty bad and wanted mommy. Then he had a lawn chair collapse with him in it giving him a big red scrape on his back causing more screams and wanting mommy. Grandma didn’t know what else to do, so she put them in the car for a drive.
Back at camp with horses unsaddled, it was time to grill. I was in charge of the supper meal, so I prepared 7 Hobo pack meals in foil ahead of time. In these I put carrots, potatoes, hamburger patty, seasoning and butter. With the weather rolling in and uneven campfire, I was nervous they would not get done. They all cooked up great and just in time. We also had beans that we cooked in a little pot over the fire. Jayden thought that was pretty neat. It was a yummy meal and we were getting sprinkled on. We still brought out the cake Jayden decorated for Peepaw and sang. As we were eating cake, the radio beeped and said severe weather was headed our way with damaging winds up to 80mph. We heard that and we were scrambling to get everything gathered up and get out of there. We had a lot of stuff out, food, swim stuff, bikes, horses, you name it. Dad hooked up the camper, Alice loaded her horses, Mark got our horses and I had the kids in the Tahoe and we were off. As we listened to the weather it was bad around home and I could see I was heading straight for the worst of it. The sky was lightning up around us like fireworks. I knew going home was not a good plan. I called Mark’s sister Lori and we headed to her house. We got there around 10PM and Mark came shortly after with some convincing. We waited until the heavy rain and lightning let up and the tornado warnings past. I got home around 11:00 and Mark had the horses to unload. Knowing he was driving the trailer and having to unload the horses was not too comforting. Minutes after he pulled in the driveway heavy winds came up and lasted for hours. Our timing couldn’t have been better. Those winds were so strong and by the next morning there were trees, limbs, and branches in everyone’s yards for miles. I thank God for protecting us and making it very clear that we needed to head home. That same storm could have happened during the night when we were sound asleep in our camper. The kids would have been terrified and horses too.
Comments