Winter in the Desert--What?

Friday, December 12, 2008

Today was another good day at Red Sands Christian School. Mr. Bill has settled in to teaching the third, fifth and sixth grades. All of the classes are preparing their parts for the Christmas program next Thursday. Mr. Bill’s class is responsible for building the sets and props. Mr. Diehl’s class is reading the scripture for the program. Miss Springer’s class is acting out the manger scene. It will be a lovely program for the parents and a wonderful witness about the real reason for the Christmas season.

The school children had been collecting non-perishable food items for donation. After lunch today, we loaded up the donation items and the children into the school buses and drove to Jackrabbit. (Yes, there is a place called jackrabbit, along with Two Guns and Twin Arrows etc). We surprised the staff at the Shelter with a very good donation of food. The shelter provides a home for children who are not with their parents for various reasons. It was a nicely built place with a large play ground area. It reminded me of a college campus in some ways. There were buildings that served at dormitories or cabins. Another building seemed to be the recreation and food area. It was nice for the children to see where their donation of food was going.

After our delivery, Miss Springer told the children that we had a surprise for them. They were all excited and were guessing what the surprise could be. Some thought it might be “Hot Cheetos” (one of their favorite snacks) or Pizza. We took the kids to McDonald’s and bought them all ice cream cones. Then, they all got to play on McDonald’s play land. The kids had a great time and they were all really well behaved.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

We decided to drive to Flagstaff, Arizona today to do our Christmas shopping. We knew that the weather forecast called for some heavy wind today, so it was no surprise to hear the wind blowing when we woke up. We had a lazy morning involving pancakes and sausage for breakfast. We left for Flagstaff about 10AM. I was driving and I could immediately feel the pull of the wind. The wind gusts were forecast to be up around 45 miles per hour. On the way to Flagstaff, it was kind of fun. I would compare it to the game “Frogger” for those of you who are familiar with old Atari games. I would drive down Interstate 40 and try to avoid the tumbleweeds crossing the interstate. First, slow down and a big one glides by right in front. Next, speed up so that one doesn’t get across the median before we pass it. We got to watch other cars and trucks plow right into the tumbleweeds and splinter then into debris. We even saw a semi truck driving with a very large tumbleweed stuck to the front of his grill. We did our shopping and by the time we were done, it was snowing in Flagstaff! It was really beginning to feel like Christmas.

The ride home was not so joyful. Almost immediately, we saw an overturned Hummer H2 attached to a travel trailer. The Hummer was heavily damaged. The wind shield was busted and the travel trailer was on its side in the middle of Interstate 40. The wind had caused a terrible accident. Next, we saw a truck pulling a trailer with a car in it. It looked like one of those trailers that the racing cars are carried inside. The trailer was blown over on its side beside the Interstate. Thankfully, the truck looked okay. We could see the dust storm in the distance right away. We drove into the dust storm when we got to the Meteor City exit. The dust enveloped our vehicle. Jerry wondered aloud if this would be called a “red” out. The dust was as thick as dense fog in some spots, drastically lowering our visibility. The dust cloud lasted all the way to Winslow.

When we returned to the mission a little later, we drove in the dust the entire way. When we pulled into the driveway, Jerry noticed that the wind had broken out one of the windows in the church. He hopped out and surveyed the damage. Then, he drove us down to the trailer and returned to make the needed repairs. There was broken glass and sand all over the sanctuary floor. He single-handedly nailed a sheet of plywood over the window (pushing against the 40 mile per hour wind gusts in the process). Ironically, the plywood he used was part of the set for the Christmas program. Then, he swept up the glass and sand. I am glad that we found the problem tonight and not Sunday morning!

The wind from this storm blew from about 6AM on Saturday morning until 2AM on Sunday morning. It ended with some sleet and freezing rain that left a sheet of ice on the vehicles. Praise the Lord! The roof on the new staff house remained intact. The roofing was being pushed upward by the wind, but it held in place. It was funny this morning to see the shingles on the roof sticking up in the air. The shingles had been lifted by the fierce wind gusts and quick frozen by the sleet up in the air.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

I did not attend church today. Kelcy was up last night for six hours with another stomach virus. About two hours after Kelcy started, Abby started as well. Jerry said that everything went well without me. I missed being there, but it was better for the girls to be at home so they could recuperate and not make anyone else sick.

The girls were well recovered by the afternoon, so we drove to Dilkon Christian Church for their Sunday evening service and monthly pot-luck dinner. Dilkon actually had snow on the ground still. Mr. Bill does a really great job with the service. We sang about eight Christmas carols and then he had a short devotion about celebrating Christmas every day, not just in the month of December. The Navajo ladies had prepared mutton stew with dumplings, a lovely vegetable salad, tortillas, vegetable medley and a green pistachio-lime-pineapple salad. Miss Springer brought cake and chocolate fudge, Mr. Bill prepared Ham and baked beans, and we brought mashed potatoes. I counted sixteen in attendance at the pot-luck. I enjoyed the chance to get out and socialize. However, by the time we left, it was nineteen degrees outside! Time to get home and warm up!

As I am typing this blog update, the girls are asleep already and Jerry is working on his lesson plans for when he returns in January. This week is riddled with forecasts for winter storms. Along with the weather, I saw there is a strike that is going on at Southwest Airlines in the Phoenix airport. Please pray that the Lord’s will is done in this situation. Our tickets for Friday’s flight home are with Southwest…

Next week: Staff Christmas dinner, Christmas program and Christmas school party!