Other tidbits from the 1st week

The campground we stayed at the 1st week was really just an RV park, maybe 20 hookups. Not really any families on vacation, just us(harvesters), a pipline crew(that was headed to MN ironically!), and some other random people once in a while. It was nice that we had a lot a space. There were bathrooms, 2 showers, and laundry available. They really stunk and were kind of yucky. I think there was something dead in the trash by the door. It would not have passed my Aunt's test for cleanliness that's for sure! But that shower felt so good at the end of the day and I was just thankful we didn't all have to use the bathroom in the camper.

It is usually around midnight when everyone gets back and can shower. One night Ben fell asleep on his bunk clutching his towel and shower stuff waiting for his turn to shower. We couldn't even wake him up, he was out.
There are a lot of cattle grazing in this area.
We were in the area of the Chisholm trail, 1 of 3 trails that were used in the 19th century to herd millions of long-horned cattle from Texas to Kansas. Makes me think of old western movies.
We were also close by to Waurika Lake, a 10,000 acre lake, it looked amazing, but we didn't have time to take a dip.

When I got back from picking up the door, Jon asked me to come drive combine so he could fix the door. After a 5 second refresher course I was all alone to drive that big machine with a 30 ft wide head. The last time I drove combine was Dec. 7, 2009; and that was corn. I had never combined wheat, and these guys cruise pretty fast (around 5 mph or more if the going is good). So I refamiliarized myself with the machine and started out around 3 mph. It took me a few rounds to get comfortable with setting the height just right for the wheat, but after that I was good to go. I finished the night off in the machine. I have to admit I was nervous after the problems Brian created, but he was driving much faster than I was. I just wanted to do a good job and NOT BREAK ANYTHING!! Jon said I was doing a better job after only a little while than Brian did after a few days, so that made me feel good, really good actually. I unloaded on the go into the grain cart while still combining for the 1st time that afternoon also, I felt rather proud of myself ;)
When I was combining, there were big storms in Texas, and to the west of us, but we only got a few sprinkles and could keep going. We were able to see this beautiful rainbow though! The encouragement was needed, it had been a week filled with trials and tests and was just plain hard. I know God is always with me and that he won't give me more than I can handle, but He just seems so far away sometimes.
"If I can endure for this minute whatever is happening to me, no matter how heavy my heart is or how "dark" the moment may be---If I can but keep on believing what I know in my heart to be true, that "darkness will fade with the morning" and that this too shall pass...