Lost Days 04/10-12/22

Sequoyah State Park, Hulbert, Oklahoma

Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring him back to you.  Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back.”  But Jacob said, “My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead and he is the only one left.  If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow.” ~ Genesis 42:37-38      Reuben is still trying to reassert himself as firstborn in his father’s eyes, offering his own sons as collateral (can you imagine?!?).  But I think maybe Jacob still has not forgiven him for his indiscretion back in Chapter 35.  I looked into that a bit and discovered that his premature claiming of his firstborn rights would’ve been cause for an immediate and irreversible demotion.  I think Reuben is either a man of great hope, or a man who lives in denial.  Which do you think he is?  Which are you?  As a parent on the outside looking in, I can understand Jacob’s reluctance to allow his youngest son, Benjamin to go off with these men.  He may have even suspected that they did something to Joseph.  Although we’re still thinking that Benjamin is a young lad, he wasn’t.  He was a grown man in his early thirties!  Certainly he had a family of his own by now.  But his father still protects him.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.  I’m still as protective of my 30-something sons as I ever was – at least as much as they’ll let me.  😊

Church this week (the 10^th) was at First Baptist in Wagoner.  What a difference from last week!  We were inundated with well-wishers, even after we’d told them we were only there for one week.  Introductions by the pastor and so many others.  This is the way it’s supposed to be, and we felt very welcome.  Worship and teaching were also both very good.

In the afternoon, Blaine went off by himself because I just felt a little off for some reason.

Our last day at Sequoyah (the 11^th) was nothing like we’d planned.  In fact, it was most definitely NOT planned.  During the night, I came down with some kind or horrible bug that attacked my digestive system in a most gruesome and unrelenting way.  We considered food poisoning, but Blaine (who has a more sensitive stomach than my ironclad one) and I ate the same exact things with the exception of a few pretzels I had.

Bless my wonderful husband!  He took excellent care of me, even making me some homemade chicken and rice soup sans chicken.  And jello of course.  And other things I know he didn’t really want to do.

We were supposed to be visiting a Native American museum.  sigh……

By moving day (the 12^th) I was well enough to do some things, but far from feeling myself.  By the time our 181-mile, 4-hour drive was over, I was much improved, but not wanting to take any chances, I took it a bit easier than I usually do on moving day and decided to forgo the bbq pork sandwich we had planned for dinner in lieu of finishing my soup.  Blaine said the sandwich was excellent. It was a good indication that I was still unwell, when I didn’t feel a bit envious over his dinner vs mine.

Table Rock State Park, Branson, Missouri

So here we are in the infamous Branson.  When we did a search for things to do, pretty much everything that came up was shows of some sort or other.  We did buy tickets for one several weeks ago, settling on The Haygoods.  Just like in Lancaster, PA, there’s a Sight and Sound Theatre that’s performing “Jesus”, but we’ve already seen that one.  We were hoping for one of their older ones like “Jonah” or the new one in Lancaster, “David”.  More on our show for Thursday’s post, save to say, if you ever have opportunity to see one of Sight and Sound’s performances, we strongly encourage it!  They’re immersive and wonderful!

So, I have to tell you about our FaceTime visit with three of our grandkids tonight.  Other than the joy of seeing them and talking to them, Blaine presented a grand illusion!

The two-year-old, Cooper (who’s a real pistol by the way 😊), was eating pretzel sticks.  When I mentioned I had pretzel sticks too, Blaine quietly said, “Go get me one”.  He then proceeded to ask Cooper if he could have one of his sticks and Cooper held it towards the screen.  Somehow, Blaine positioned his stick to make it look like he was pulling Cooper’s right through the screen!!  Oh how I wished I’d taken a picture of their astonished faces!!!  So wonderful! LOL!!! Blaine’s really good at that kind of stuff!