This is the day that the Lord hath made!

What a great day! Today is Saturday, August 30th. The whole family got up this morning and had breakfast. Then we and the Roberts family loaded up into the van and drove down to Leupp to visit the local open air Flea Market. Leupp is the town where most of the school children and most of the church attendees live. Leupp is located about 20 minutes from the mission on the Navajo Reservation. There is an empty spot in the rode as you enter the town of Leupp and people pull up with their vehicles and sell their wares to the public. We all thought it would be a good place to get to know some local people. We piled out of the van and perused the offerings of the day. There was a lady selling family heirloom jewelry, with real turquoise and sterling silver. Another lady was selling beautifully hand made purses, fanny packs and backpacks. We also found clothes and toys, of course. Abby ended up purchasing a baby stroller for $2, replacing the ones we had left in Kentucky. We got to become acquainted with several new Navajo people: the purse maker, the jewelry seller, and a champion bull rider (retired).

The flea market also has its share of food vendors. There was the tamales booth (that was sold out by the time we got there to sample them), the mutton stew and mutton sandwich booth, the ice cold drinks vendor complete with Arizona Tea for sale and the snow cone sales booth. Four of the kids got a snow cone and they all shared with Noah and they all sampled each others flavor. Abby & Ian got orange, Kelcy got bubble gum and Dylan got green (not sure what flavor that one was). We were told there was a trail ride going on, so the attendance at the flea market was low. We plan to make a habit of going out on Saturdays and getting to know the local people more.

We returned to the mission for lunch and a nap, then began our next journey of the day. We left at 2:50PM to head to a town called Dilkon. This is where the other mission church is located. Mr. Bill is the minister at the Christian Church at Dilkon, so we were going to visit Mr. Bill and have a cookout at his Hooghan. Hooghan is the term for a Navajo roundhouse. The roundhouse is a building style that is very common here and it is very wind resistant. It appears as it sounds, a small veritably round house with a center pointed roof. Navajo Trails Missions also maintains a ministry to build houses like these on the reservation for families. It is similar to Habitat for Humanity, as the Navajo people have to apply for the Hooghan and are also asked to help in the building project.

The drive to Dilkon is another surprise. The scenery is constantly changing here in Arizona. We left our area of Winslow and headed down to Leupp again, this time turning right to head toward Dilkon. The mission area here is very hard rock and red sand. As we passed through Bird Springs, the scenery changes to more pure desert. There is less foliage and more white sand. It is almost impossible to see where a road turns off the road until you get right to it because the roads are mostly sand and dirt. We look out the window soon and there are mountains! They appear from nowhere and are just beautiful. Jerry mentioned the word “majestic” and all I could hear and sing was the song “Majesty.” The mountains were truly majestic. And, the closer we got to Dilkon, the higher in elevation we went. So that, by the time we arrived in Dilkon there was grass on the desert ground, with horses and sheep and cattle lounging on the free range that is the reservation. The Dilkon church building was nice and they even had a fellowship hall in back. Mr. Bill’s hooghan was nicely appointed inside with everything he appeared to need. He had made a lovely meal of chicken and steak, potato salad and baked beans and rolls and brownies. It was delicious. Afterward, all the kids played outside and found lots of “treasures” on the ground. Here there were shrubs growing in the ground that had mean briars in them all over the place. This reminded me of my childhood in Eastern Kentucky and visiting my grandmother in Manchester. We would play out in the mountains and woods for hours and find lots of “treasures” there too. When it was getting close to dark, we began the drive back home. It was an even more beautiful return drive through the “Little Painted Desert.” This is a very beautiful spot in the world to see. It seemed to me like New Zealand, like the scenery from the movie “The Man from Snowy River” just beautiful plains surrounded by beautiful mountains and cliffs. I also thought of Cade’s Cove located near Gatlinburg in Tennessee. If you have ever been there, where the settlement has the yellow grasses on flat land, surrounded by the Smoky Mountains, it was a lot like that.

Then we returned home to the mission and Abby and Kelcy had a great time playing pretend. Abby was pushing around her “new” baby stroller with her naked baby in it. Some day, my girls will learn to put clothes on their baby dolls. At one point, Abby was watching Kelcy’s baby while Kelcy was at work. Here came Kelcy, carrying a Bible, a purse with a cat in it (the one Eva got Abby for her first birthday) and a DVD and asked me which way it was to church, because she needed to get to work. As I type, they are settled down and watching the “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” DVD.

Abby still asks about Kentucky and when we get to go back to our home. She misses her family and friends, but she is doing very well otherwise. She is making friends at school and at church. After her second week of school, her handwriting has improved dramatically. Kelcy is getting used to being with me at the office, but she loves going to Sunday school class by herself. She misses her friends too, but she has Noah with her all day, every day to play with and fight with, so she is adjusting too.

I am looking forward to Sunday school class tomorrow. I am teaching 2nd grade through high school and it is great. This will be my second week teaching, but I already get some challenging questions and I am just getting to know my class. I had five students last week. I am anxious to see who shows up this week.