Monday, June 8, 2009


When we returned from Springfield on Sunday evening there was a message waiting for me on the phone. Anne had gone to pick up her new Lincoln TownCar and wanted me to cover her classes this morning. That meant that I taught 4 upperlevel grammar classes today. Whew!

We left as planned on Friday and arrived at Noel's at 8:30 pm. We stopped, and ate in Bristow, so that they wouldn't have to worry over us. We've learned that the fastest way to Tulsa is through Prague, and then connect to I-44 in Stroud. Saturday morning, we found our way to Evangel University on Glenstone Ave. We traveled on Chestnut Expressway which took us through an older part of Springfield. Since Noel lives in a newer home on the south side, it was new territory for us. The college is beautiful!! Rosslyn Academy (Nairobi) is owned by 3 denominations - So. Baptist, Assembly of God, and Mennonite. Evangel is Assembly of God. It was great to see former teachers, students, and office staff. The Kenyan school has grown to over 500 students and has a new swimming pool. It made me sad to see that the jacaranda trees and the view of the valley from my former first grade classroom is now the US Embassy residential compound. However, it makes sense because the new Embassy and the United Nations Headquarters is only 1 kilo from the Academy.

Bill and I stopped at Braum's for a quick snack and then headed back to Noel and Janice's. By 2 pm we were on our way to Silver Dollar City. I had promised to drive the gang, so Noel handed me the keys to his van. Mark, Noel's son, went with us also. It was late, so we only attended two shows - Gossemer's Magic in the Opera House, and The Jeerks, a group of 5 men from Sweden who dance and play unorthodox instruments. Since we had seen the Chinese Acrobats in Beijing, I had hoped that they would still be there, but the Magic was very professional and entertaining.

After the shows, we went into Branson to take Noel's family out to dinner at Bob Evan's. It has a large gift shop and the best banana and blueberry bread with every entree. The food is so "downhome"! While paying, I was almost tempted to buy a "belly button cleaner" for a friend of mine. Ha!

Sunday morning, we attended church at Lynn Street Baptist. It is a tiny little church of about 20 adults on the north side of town. How Noel ever found this church is beyond us! Anyway, everyone in the church is musical and plays or sings. Most of them are fantastic. I really enjoy listening to one fellow play the harmonica. He's quite good! The other thing I liked is that we sang about 6 of the old hymns---"When We All Get to Heaven" and "I Know Whom I Have Believed". I had almost forgotten some of those songs!

The traffice was light, and we returned home around 5 pm. We drove thru Sonic and brought home dinner. I was grateful to God for the safe trip and another relaxing time in Springfield. Noel seemed relaxed and didn't have any episodes with his heart! I think we took good care of him!