End of school year

It is that time of year - many end of year activities.  Our Arkansas grandchildren have already finished school and have started summer jobs!  The Wisconsin ones still have a little more time.  We have several graduation parties to attend next weekend!  Our niece is graduating from K-State!

Our Awana program has come to an end.  How I've enjoyed teaching the 3-5 year old children!

Every week they would find Psalm 119:11 highlighted in the little Bibles we hand out.  "I found it!!"  Then we'd sing the song of that verse:  

"Oh, Your Word have I hid in my heart....

that I might sin against You,

that I might not sin, that I might not sin,

Your Word have I hid in my heart."

Over the 2 year period, these little ones memorize 85 verses and review them too.  I generally had 8-10 kids in my classroom and there were about the same # in the other class too.  I enjoyed teaching the combined classes the Bible story.  They also had singing, puppet time and game time.  I've been teaching since 2009.

Awards night was last Wednesday night.

On Mother's Day, there was child dedication.  I was thrilled to see 3 of my Cubbies up on the stage!  Some were sibling dedications.

"One generation shall praise Your works to another

and shall declare Your mighty works."

Psalm 145:4

My young mother's Bible study group that I co-taught with my young friend Sarah, came to an end in April.  Several missed our last session due to conflicts/illnesses.  Sadness.  We are already looking into what we should study next fall!   We had women from 5 different churches!

I am also in a Bible study with peers my age-ish and we still have a couple of weeks to go before we finish.  We plan to meet off and on through the summer for what we call Coffee and Conversations.

Our community life group from church is taking somewhat of a break this summer.  One of the couples left this week to live in their cabin in New York State for a few months.  

Some of us went to see the production of the play "Voiceless" at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility.  

The residents made the meal and also served it.

The men had to play both the male and female characters in this play.  Great job!  Some of them had LOTS of lines to memorize!

Looking forward to a break and a good summer.  We haven't made too many plans yet, but we are going to be celebrating 50 years of marriage!

Back roads Arkansas to Kansas

Before leaving Josh and Staci's, we looked at our atlas.  What roads had we not been on before?  We highlight roads we've been on in yellow.  We made a decision and took off.

We hadn't been through Tontitown on our way out of Josh's for awhile and was surprised that the church was no longer there - just the steeple.  Evidently, deterioration forced them to take it down.

412 to Siloam Springs where Josh and Staci met, at John Brown University.  We've been on this highway many times.

We noticed that Siloam has a Whataburger!  We had to go past our turn off just a little bit.

We ordered a burger and onion rings.  We had them cut the burger in half so we could split it as we weren't that hungry.  We thought it was kind of pricey.  But it was delicious!

We backtracked to Highway 59 and headed north to Gentry.  And from there we went west on 116.  It was kind of confusing, because the map had 116, but in Arkansas it was named Highway 12.  We went too far north and had to turn back.

I have friends who would love this place!  It is right at the Arkansas/Oklahoma border on 116.

We had gone to early service at Josh's.  We passed many small churches that were still in session, celebrating Palm Sunday.

This church had cow skulls on the banister!

The road was mighty curvy.

412 Alternate - beautiful country!

We could smell smoke and it was a little concerning as it was windy.

We saw some smoke but luckily we drove out of it.  Further on, we saw that there had been a fire here.  The dirt was blackened and some trees damaged.

A guy was hitching a ride in the back of the pickup.

Lake Hudson

At Salina, there had been some flooding.  We stopped at a gas station and they said that some homes were flooded.  They had had several days of rain.

I marked our atlas as we went.  A week earlier, there had been a tornado sweep passed Owasso.  A fellow school mate of mine from Japan lives 1 mile from where that tornado hit.  We wanted to visit her, but she wasn't home.

At Claremore, we took 169 north for a short distance, and continued on Highway 20.

We were in Osage Nation.

We pulled off to see Skiatook Lake.

Hominy was home of an All-Native American football team in the 1920's.  The Hominy Indians beat the New York Giants in 1927.

More fires had swept through here.

"Due to Ralston's close proximity to the Osage Reservation, where liquor was banned, saloonkeepers derived a thriving business before 1907 statehood and prohibition.  In 1903 seven saloons operated on Main Avenue."

Do we turn?  Or go straight?

Straight, of course!

We took an undesignated road into Ponca City.

Maps said "Continue on 9 mile road for 5 miles."

The Salt Fork Arkansas River

In Kansas, we pronounce this Ar-Kansas.

Took Highway 60 into Ponca City.

In Ponca City, there is a mansion called the Marland Mansion that we would love to go see sometime.  It is not open on Sundays, so we will need to do this another time.

We took 177 north.

Blackwell, Oklahoma.  We always see the outlet mall from I-35 when we are on the turnpike, but I'd never been through town before.  Al said when he was in highschool and custom cut for a farmer from Pretty Prairie, they stopped here to purchase a chisel plow.

Old gas station

We went through a little town called Braman.  

We saw a sign that Braman was the home of Kasie Head.  Who?  I looked it up.  She was Miss Oklahoma in 2002.

Bridge out.

 

We decided to hop on I-35 at this point and headed home.

We were able to highlight more new roads that we had never adventured on before!

It is always such fun to see parts of America that normally would be missed by taking interstates and state highways.