Saturday, August 21, 2021

Spectacular Saturday

Stacia, Allie, Me, Krista 

I had a spectacular day with the girls at Victory Bible Camp.  It all began when Krista received an email from the PWOC President at JBER. She must have been reading through old files and came upon my bio. One item in my ministry bio is that I "stood up" the PWOC at Elmendorf in 2002. Elmendorf is now  1/2 of JBER (Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson).  They were having a fall kick off event and invited me to attend as a thank you for that investment in their group.  

The nostalgia began when we drove up. Ah - that logo - planet P-WOC.  How old-fashioned I thought it was - and the NAME  at our first base.  Now, I love that logo and all it calls to mind. I thought of the faces of the dear women who had given the old logo a facelift.... I thought of the boards I've worked with, the work on the regional and international boards...all the women. 

                                    

We learned at our very first assignment we weren't responsible for what came before or after our time at a location. We were called to be obedient and faithful in our season.... moving as often as we did in the Air Force, we  didn't often get to SEE the results of seeds invested in locations....you hear of groups that fall apart, groups that survive, and sometimes you just hear nothing. 

Today, I sat in a room full of women. I knew none of them. I was told there has been a strong PWOC from that small beginning back in 2002. I was thanked for investing in what they are doing now.  It was humbling. It moves me to tears. All the times one wonders - "Is this really making a difference?" 

I got to see some of what God has produced over the years from that simple seed planted 19 years ago.  

I caught a bigger vision of what God was up to when he called us into the nomad life of  the  Air Force Chaplaincy. 

Victory Bible Camp brought back memories....we had several retreats up there in our years at Elmendorf. Krista attended several Club Beyond retreats there. Allie had lots of memories from Victory too.  It's always been beautiful - it was exciting to see all the changes made since we were there in 2005. 

I did a thing....I remember riding a horse at Diamond Bar X in Montana. I may have ridden again at Victory on one of our PWOC retreats - but I don't remember  clearly. LOL In any event - horses frighten me. HOWEVER - I told Stacia I would go riding if she would....and Allie and Krista wanted to ride.  The thing is I've gained weight in the last year, my feet hurt all the time, I NEEDED to do something hard...and next I'll do something a bit harder...building resiliency. 


Krista (on horse) Allie, Stacia and Carol in background

Pardner - the red - mine - I spent a lot of time
 trying to get his head UP

I planned to take photos - but this is the only one I got on the trail. LOL I was busy trying to keep Pardner moving at a walk - not a trot. LOL  I cannot BELIEVE this is the only photo I got of Stacia riding her first horse. She was a pro. 


Krista was slower than the girls to get off her horse so I got a photo. 


Though I've gained 25 of the 50 lbs I lost back...I am sharing this photo. I can do hard, scary things...still. 

BTW my KNEES were killing me. I don't remember THAT from riding at Diamond Bar X.  And this morning (writing on Sunday) I'm moving a bit funny. LOL  Michael says I AM 25 years older....

After the horse ride we walked around and enjoyed the views....


            


Matanuska Glacier - when we lived here before we would go explore the glacier during free time at retreats.  I hear you have to pay now and it's not near the fun. 


Carol, the gal in the middle, is  a wing chaplain on the Elmendorf side (I am quite sure I butchered the title but you get the gist). She and Krista met at our home and we drove up to Victory together. It was fun to spend time with her. 
Stacia, Carol, Krista 

Check out the FREE t-shirts we received - above. There are some perks to being part of a military faith community....with salaries and building paid for all those offerings go straight to ministry.... I spent quite a bit of time checking out the 5 studies they are offering (free again) to the ladies this year. 

Of course we enjoyed spending time with the Chaplain.




The glacier


These poor young ladies. I got the time wrong and thought we were leaving at 9:30. Krista and Carol showed up at the house at 8:20. They woke up to Krista pounding on their door and yelling at them to get going. LOL It was a dry shampoo kind of day and they were off...without a single complaint. 

Stacia and Allie are champs!

Yes, fall is coming....strangely, we have more yellow leaves here than they did up in the higher elevation. 

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