We've Arrived in Vandalia, MO

We left a week ago, driving North. That seems like months ago!!

Phoebe left some sidewalk art near our house in San Antonio. 

Beautiful and striking.

Thursday was Loading the U-Haul day. 

Phillip packed every box! 

He and Jonathan loaded and unloaded everything from the U-Haul. 

Adrian stopped by to say goodbye.

The boys had to really Tetris the goods to get everything to fit.

But by using the back of the pickup for some of the stuff, we got everything on board.

Closed!

Liz stayed the night on the floor with the rest of us.

Friday was cleaning the place. We got done by lunch. Phillip was taking a different route and left before we did. He didn't want to take the U-Haul down I-35 where everyone's going a zillion miles an hour.

Our neighbors put this out for us Friday morning! It was so thoughtful and sweet. 

We will miss all of you too.

Don and Julie (roommate from college) kept us for the night in Dallas. She and I had a nice walk when I got there; I was so happy to stretch my legs!

Driving down the road. 

This was probably in Oklahoma. We had clear weather all the way (thank you, Lord! We had furniture in the back of the pickup).

I have to do a little bit of school. 

I've always wanted to stop by this George Washington Carver memorial when we've traveled to Vandalia, but we were always in a hurry to get there. But this time we stopped! There was a recording of him speaking. We've read in his biography of his high, squeaky voice, but we were startled when he started speaking!

They also had the foundations of the home he spent his childhood in. I just read the biography to Harrison this year, so it was enjoyable to see exactly where he grew up.

Jon took over the driving for a bit.

I got a picture of this house because it's maybe a mile from our home, and it originally was the one-room schoolhouse that Phillip's dad attended. It was called the Nadine school and we live on Nadine Lane. I need to find out who Nadine was.

This is one reason I'm so glad to move here -- Vandalia and the surrounding area has a sense of Place for us. The Gores and Fergusons have lived here almost since the town was founded. (Maybe since then; I forget the details.) We get to live (I can hardly believe this; those who've read Wendell Berry will understand) in the house Phillip grew up. The house his parents started out in at marriage. The house his Grandma lived in before Paul and Elayne came here. 

The first night we spent here Phillip announced, "I haven't slept in this house since December 16, 1983!"

We arrived and got to attend church Sunday morning. What a relief to be here and meet with believers.

 Phillip was driving slower than us because of pulling the pickup truck on a trailer, so he arrived Sunday late morning. (Anybody else think the past tense of arrive should be arrove?)

Our home.

The first area we completed as we were unpacking.

This chair is from Phillip's grandma. Paul and Elayne had it here in this house while Phillip was growing up. He remembers his dad holding him in this chair as a little kid and singing "Me and Bobby Magee." 

 

Boxes and People and Places

Harrison and Phoebe and I said goodbye to Gruene. Lots of people there on this day!

Phoebe likes going into this shop. 

It's an antique store FULL of stuff. She bought a vintage pattern and old photographs.

In a quaint old house selling antiques from England.

A last visit or two to Comanche Lookout. Harrison and I went for sunset. Then the Travis' hiked with us around and up the hill on another day. Goodbye, old water tower overlooking our home!

Playing Monkey in the Middle. Goodbye, cul-de-sac! 

A neighbor has a neat hobby of photography and film development. He showed us how to develop a picture he took of some trees across the street from his home.

Goodbye, Alamo!

Goodbye, neighbor kids!

Playing poker on the boxes.

Liz stayed here for a day while she's passing through for Spring Break. We'll be four hours from her once we move to Vandalia.

Jon and Phoebe are very helpful in keeping the littles in line and entertaining them. 

Goodbye, Presley and Isabella.

One of the neighbors who's lived here the longest. Goodbye, Charlize!

They have moved now, but they are very dear to us. Goodbye, T and T!

Youth minister from New Braunfels and his family. With the new baby! I got to hold him and he calmed right down. Maybe I have my dad's touch. He can always calm a baby.

 

Liam, Jon's "birthday twin" (they were born the same day), and his family came over to bring us a lovely gift bag of traveling goodies: paper products, snacks, waters, and more. Liam has been in a battle with cancer this past year, so we haven't been able to hang out this family as often as we would have liked. But the boys do play video games together online, and they've gotten together a few times. We will miss ya'll!

When you start collecting all the people and places into one last round of Goodbyes, the heart is full ~ our life has been full. 

Saying Goodbye

We are saying goodbye to everyone and everything slowly but surely. 

Phoebe spent last Sunday afternoon at the MacNay art museum. She got to take as much time as she wanted since she didn't have others there to bug her about "leaving already."

I finished up my skate down Salado Creek Greenway! That was a tiring one. I don't know why it was so hard; I believe I had a longer skate doing the North end. This end was 10 miles (5 there and back). It was fun when I got to Lion's Park; as I was checking out the map to make sure I was truly at the end of the trail, another couple was checking out the map to start down the trail on their bikes. What fun! Good luck, guys!

Sunbathing turtles in Salado Creek.

At drive-in church service.

I have dearly appreciated the family time of communion we've been able to have together in the van.

Phillip preached a great sermon today!

They are going through the book of Lamentations. He preached on chapter 3: God's Faithfulness. You can find the pre-recorded sermon at this link starting at the 10:45 mark: https://chccsa.info/online-church.

I said goodbye to Schole Group and Kelly. I met her right as my last Schole group was disbanding because of moves and things. So she and I kept meeting together to talk about books and education. Then Covid sprung up, but we kept meeting every other week. Now our Covid friendship is coming to an end right as Covid is closing down. I shouldn't say our friendship is coming to an end. We'll meet up again. 

If you know anything about classical education, you know how special it is that she got me Norms and Nobility as a going-away gift. I had told her before that I would like to read it, but probably wouldn't spend the money on the book. So she went and got one for me! 

Playing Spoons and Hearts.

Liz is making plans to stay in Joplin over the summer. She has a job lined up and a roommate to stay with. This is a painting she got permission to put up in "Artist's Alley" in Joplin. We'll have to check it out when we visit her.

 

MO or Bust

We suddenly have the go-ahead to move to Missouri!

The home Phillip spent his younger years in came available for us to move into, and he got permission from his bosses to go fully remote with his job. We kicked it into high gear right away and are getting everything ready to move out of here by the end of March.

This has truly been a great neighborhood to live in with children. There are plenty of problems to deal with too, but that comes with relationships and people living in close proximity. It's been good for me to Have to learn how to put up boundaries or how to face confrontation. 

Our kids have always had friends just outside to go out and play with. They've been able to tromp around in the little woodsy-ditch area building forts and playing hide-and-seek. Ride their bikes in the culdesac. Chalk up the driveway. I am ever so grateful.

I don't have any lovely photos. My phone is now broken, and I've been rather too busy to take pictures before it broke. I guess the big news is just that we are moving back to MO and we can't wait to get there!

Winter Storm in Texas

This was a week before the Winter Storm hit. Harrison went with me on my trek down Salado Creek Greenway. I think we did 6 or 7 miles. He was pretty worn out by it, so I don't know that he'll be so apt to say yes to me next time! :-) But I was sure glad to have him along.

This was not a cold day. 

It was a day last week that Harrison just decided he wanted to see how many layers of clothes he could put on in case it ever snowed again.

And then last Sunday we woke up to icy roads. Our church cancelled services. We drove down the road to try a church close by. They were filming their service inside, but there were no congregants and their doors were locked. So we came back home for an online service. We assumed this would just be a cold day or week with maybe some snow. 

Monday we woke up to no electricity and lots of snow! Since we wanted to keep the house warm with what heat we had, we didn't let the kids play out in the snow (well, I had let them go out in it until Phillip said we should probably keep the doors shut). So we bundled up and did some school. Much of Jonathan's school is on a computer these days, but we did what we could. 

We had sandwich fixings for lunch, so we didn't have to resort to any weird foods. We tried several ways of making coffee: with a blow torch and with our alcohol lamp from chemistry. It wasn't great. 

The whole day I was thinking, "At least we have water! I'm so glad we have water!" 

The back bedroom actually warmed up a bit with the sunshine and the door shut and all of us back there. I even cleaned the bathrooms by candlelight.

Then just when Phillip was making reservations for a hotel for the night (not easy to find, btw), the power came back on. 

It had been a weird day for me. My phone died very quickly and we didn't have cell service at times, so I just felt out of the loop of what was going on. I had seen on Facebook that Texas was doing rolling blackouts, but this didn't seem to be rolling. 

Monday night we knew they had turned off the power for several hours, but it came back on at 6:30. So we got up and going like usual. Tuesday afternoon my neighbor texted to say her cop neighbor told them that they (the city?) would be turning off the water. Then I heard it from the preacher. So I texted our group neighborhood chat to tell them what I'd heard so we could all prepare. Sure enough, around 5 pm, our water was out. I've heard it could have been from all the breaks in town giving low pressure water. And also that the pumps that pump the water work on electricity. At any rate, we had filled up 5 buckets with water before it got turned off. 

Those 5 did not last long (I didn't realize how much water it takes to flush a toilet). So then Jonathan started scooping up snow and melting it on the stove. We didn't use it for dishes or bathing or drinking; it's just a little bit dirty (ewww).

But I was super happy that we at least had electricity! 

We went through Wednesday with no water. Thursday it started snowing again.

What a blessing this neighborhood is. One neighbor knocked on our door this morning to ask if we were able to get water at the store (we weren't ~ no water, milk or bread. Or meat. I did find some salami in case we had to make sandwiches again). She gave us almost a whole caseful of bottled water! 

And that afternoon another knock. A man said, "The girl over here (pointing at Presley's house) said ya'll needed milk." He handed us a gallon of milk. Wow. We shared some with our other neighbor. We've had so many offers of food and water....

We got some low-pressure water to come on Thursday late afternoon. 

I boiled it and got my dishes done! Oh, I do hate a messy kitchen. 

So now we seem to have heat and water. We still have our buckets of toilet flushing water in case this is a fluke.

 The kids were so happy to be able to watch the snow accumulate all day! 

They've gotten lots of play time out there. They didn't realize how much it glares when the sun shines on it. They didn't realize that a cold powdery snow doesn't pack for snowballs or forts. They were surprised at the icicles and the way the sun melts the top of the snow and makes a crust. They've learned a lot about snow this week.

He is wise in his bundling. 

I never was wise in my bundling and was so cold in the snow as a kid.

We made snow cream. So easy and delicious! About 1/2 a cup of milk, 1/3 cup sugar, a dash of salt and bit of vanilla. Beat that real good. Mix in as much fresh snow as makes a good slushy, ice-creamy mixture. I'm not sure I've made it before, but I'm gonna call this a great first experience.

Harrison watching the snow fall.

I'm reading about the people in town who've had it so much worse than we have. No heat or water for days. No fireplace. Some who have died from exposure outside or fires or carbon monoxide. This has been an adventure for us, but I see how scary it could turn. 

"Better is a neighbor nearby than a brother far away" has been an experienced truth this week. What could anyone do for us from far away? I won't even drive to my friends who are 10 minutes away on icey roads (I didn't used to be scared of ice, but I haven't driven on it in a while). How could I expect anyone to reach me? Preparedness is great. We've been so fine compared to so many. But you can't really always prepare. Some things you just don't expect. 

Liz and her snow up in Joplin. 

Her dorm floor has been quarantined, and today this was her "yard time." OCC has also had lots of snow and classes cancelled, but the North is just better prepared for that, so they've had all the working utilities.

P.S. I taught the kids how to play Hearts. We play a couple hands at a time, so we haven't reached 100 points yet. Brings back Clouse family memories. Hearts and Spades were card games we played all the time. Miss it.

Family Photo

Alec Rogerson Photography

 While we had Liz home over Christmas, and while we had a photographer still in Texas (our friend Alec was being sent somewhere else with the Navy), we got a couple of family photos taken.

Phillip is doing well at his job with Asset Works. He fixes bugs in code. His INTJ/P personality says that he's a scientist. I never figured him for that at all until he started coding; now I totally see it. He works on the side on our very own Flexible Homeschool App. He's been working on getting Subjects in there so we can then add Grades. I love using the app to plan my homeschool. Check it out if any of you homeschoolers need a scheduling tool!

I am homeschooling Jon, Phoebe and Harrison. Jonathan does most everything on his own now, so we're in the spot where homeschooling gets easier every year. I think. I've started volunteer typing for a Charlotte Mason transcription team, and I have to say that it's very relaxing. I'm also working on a writing project, and I'm giddy to tell all you CCCB people that Twila is on the team! Don't worry ~ you'll see all about it as soon as we can post our work.

Elizabeth (who I believe is mostly called Lanaya at college, which I think is so funny) has been knitting hats for sale, trying her hand at writing knitting patterns (anyone out there a knit pattern tester?), and doing the college class thing. She is doing very well grades-wise. Speech class is not her favorite (takes after her mother). 

Jonathan is very conscientious about school. It makes it easy for me! Because he's on top of his assignments and doesn't shirk the work I give him. He fixes things around the house. He joined up with a friend from church to help lead an online Bible study. They meet on Discord. Oh, the times, they are a'changing. 

Phoebe has been working on a sewing project for a good while. She told us today that she will likely finish it tomorrow. And she said I could take a picture and post it. It's very hard to get her to show us her handiwork and drawings, so this is quite the privilege! She's a funny gal ~ makes us laugh with her wit; makes us reprimand her when it's acerbic. 

Harrison impresses the kids with his vocabulary. They've all said at some point, "What does that even mean? Are you using that right?" And he usually is. He draws, listens to books, plays outside with neighbors, plays Roblox, and creates things on Roblox Studio. He is the beloved youngest. 

Hum-Drum Winter

We're in those blasé days of winter now. The exciting holidays and breaks are over. Now it's just school and cold. 

I recognize this now though, and it doesn't scare me like it used to. When you're young, you think the feeling you're currently in will last forever. But it doesn't. Life is made up of much and many and various. And I really don't mind the cloudy, low-key days ~ they mean staying home and getting cozy.

 

Jon made a Lego 'Shoots and Ladders' to entertain his brother. And himself.

Harrison finished up his PT boat at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. (School project) 

This was our first time doing epoxy. It dries really quick! And it's expensive! We liked working with it, but we'll need to find a different source than Hobby Lobby.

Now, I talk about cloudy, cold days. I really don't have much grievance here in Texas. 

We have so much sun! Today it got up to 80º. 

But a week ago, all of us got snow. 

Liz got snow in Joplin. Phoebe and Phillip got snow in Vandalia, MO. And we got snow here in San Antonio. Ours was a slushy, sleety kind of snow. It would rain, sleet, and snow all in the same minute. The neighbor kids and our boys got out there and got soaking wet and cold and made slush-balls. It was exciting. 

Liz' snow didn't stick in Joplin. Phoebe woke up to snow blanketing the ground in Vandalia and enjoyed it very much for all of us.

Jon graciously played Scrabble with me. 

He beat me so bad! I think this game was 422 to 242. I really enjoy Scrabble even though my score may not show it.

I am overjoyed to see kids playing at the playground. 

This particular park is near our library and has a small wood, rocks on which to 'parkour,' and a stream/wetlands area to cross and climb down into. I'm very thankful for this being so close to our house. Our library is still closed, but it has also been a blessing to us. The kids used to go there to hang out, partake in the programs they offer, get books (of course). We miss our librarians.