Spring was Blooming and We Thought Winter Was Behind Us

Sunrise on Goose Lake -
A short walk from our place in Sulphur

April came in like a lion with Easter temps in the low 40’s.  Burrrrr.  After using the AC in the RV on April 6^th we woke up to freezing temps and snow as well as a 4.6 earthquake!  Flowers and trees have been budding and blooming for a few weeks now and they must be wondering what is going on.  Always expect the unexpected in Oklahoma where nature is concerned.  We are surviving our 6^th winter in Oklahoma in our motorhome and am yearning for spring temps to kick in and hold on.  We had very little in the way of snow, ice or rain this year but we did have several very cold days and nights.    

Sunset on Lake Arbuckle - A mile
down the road from our place

In November 2e spent three weeks at our 2^nd home in Jenks, OK (our friend, Priscilla’s) to enjoy Thanksgiving with her and her family (our adopted family) and take care of her and her pets while she recovered from surgery and again over Christmas while she visited family.  We get to spoil her critters while she is away and keep them from being boarded.  When one of her dogs sees us show up, you can see it in his face and body language that he knows Momma is leaving.  He perks up pretty fast though.  Most of the winter was spent making multiple trips to Oklahoma City for John’s health.  Scans, getting referred to a new doctor that specializes in his type of cancer and starting a new monthly treatment of injections that must be administered at the infusion center.  John is doing well and tolerating the injections well.  They make him a bit sick at his stomach the first day but nothing he needs medicine for.  It’s the other end that is causing him to take daily medications! 

Until March 2018, we hadn’t heard from John’s attorney on the legal case that was filed close to a year ago by a former patient for months.  Although this was a really large blip in our lives when it first came up, it’s now like an irritating fly buzzing around.  Who knows how long this thing will go on, but we are not going to let this stop us from moving forward with any plans. 

In March we returned to our 2^nd home in Jenks to house and pet sit again for several days while our friend finally took a fun trip!!  We were also at a point where we could now focus on getting the motorhome windshield replaced and other maintenance issues done that we had put off for months  while several detours occurred in our lives.  While in Jenks, we took the RV in to get work started.  The first windshield didn’t fit and there was a question of possible structural issues, but the glass folks insisted it was a bad windshield and they were right!  The second one fit perfectly.  The ice maker than was repaired and we were finally able to get our ‘home’ back. 

Sunset on Lake Arbuckle

The day we picked the RV up we drove straight to a tire center for an alignment and four new rear tires.  Thank goodness we have a tire budget to allow for replacements every 5 years.  They are expensive!  We then parked at the A-AAA RV Park where we lived for five years just outside Oklahoma City to see friends and take care of repairing our combo washer/dryer and replacing batteries in the RV.  John and I were able to pull the washer/dryer out ourselves and get it into the jeep to deliver to a repair place.  We’ll stay where we are until that gets fixed.

Since John gets injections every 4-6 weeks we aren’t going to be able to travel for 2-3 months at a time, so we must plan our summer trips a bit differently.  We hope to head to Iowa to see Maggie’s son, Chad, as well as friends in Branson and the Ark in Williamstown, KY.  We will then pass through Oklahoma for an injection and head west to Colorado, New Mexico and meet up with some family in Albuquerque. 

It is such a blessing to have so many friends and family that keep us in their prayers.  God has answered one prayer after another this past year.  He guided us home from Glacier when John was having health problems and to all the right places for medical help as well as a very affordable co-pay for extremely expensive injections.  Most recently, while in the middle of the windshield install, we were encouraged to try to get insurance to pay and they did – a few thousand dollars!  All thanks to a rock chip.  Insurance wouldn’t cover the original problem, so another prayer answered by a rock.  We still have some hurdles ahead of us as John changes insurance companies in May for a few months before going on Medicare next year.  We are praying for doors to open so we can continue to afford the injections and that the scans will show the injections are doing their job.

Thank you for your prayers and friendships.