Praises – Prescription discount for eyedrops; seeing God everywhere; remodel progress, slow but steady
Prayers – Weight loss, getting back in shape; roofer still needed; RV a/c, awning, leak(s), toilet seal
“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 ESV
Hello to our followers, family, and friends:
Devotion Thought: Living by faith is uncomfortable when the answer to many of your questions involves a “just trust me on this” component. God asks His followers to rest in His plan, relinquishing control over seemingly critical parts of their lives, including the big things like jobs and health.
May was a month of travel including some out-of-state music, sight-seeing, and visiting family! Before our adventures began John worked on repairing the center cross in front of Journey Church by fitting a new green-treated cross beam and torching it to match the other weathered crosses, and he also made some great potatoes for breakfast. Connie did a bit of yard work with some monster ant hills, grass thistles, adding a rose trellis, turning/loosening the clay berm dirt, and planting a bag of wildflower seeds/mulch. Connie started and John finished up reburying the front drain pipe, and we added a section so the back drain pipe ended in the culvert under the driveway. While mowing John got something in his eye, it cleared up a bit the following day, but a visit to the eye doctors the next day found something still there along with a swollen oil gland; all was taken care of plus a week of steroid eye drops ($84 at Walmart but pharmacist found a discount price of $35). Connie had another larger dizzy spell, possibly related to some heat stroke? In general, she has learned to take it easy, not turn her neck in certain positions, get up slowly from bed, and others usually do not notice when little spells happen (including John).
Musically, we were busy the first part of the month joining the Booneville Dulcimer Club for a practice, the Natchez Trace Visitor Center, and one nursing home. As we left home for the nursing home program, we had a small lizard peeking his head up from the driver’s headlight area – he stayed with us at least 20 minutes until we met a semi-truck coming the opposite way at 55 mph! We were involved with Sunday morning music at Journey Church and Cross Point Church before leaving the state, the monthly SALT seniors meeting at Journey Church, and one of the jam sessions in Iuka. Connie rewrote a song, sorted and organized some of our old song files, and started working on making sound samples from our recordings for our web site. Salty Strings received an invite from some Campers On Missions friends to entertain at their South Carolina gathering – that is what started our May adventures.
We ordered slam latches from the RV parts department but when we stopped to get them, they wouldn’t work so we ordered the correct ones ($120 each) online to arrive the 9th. Turns out on the 9th they arrived in Chicago (from Wentzville, Missouri), then went to Texas, and were in Memphis on the 12th so John taped up the hatches and latch areas for travel. Travel preparation started a week early; the trailer hitch was put back in the truck, John avoided the rainy days getting just a few tools and things packed up, our mail was on hold, and mowing arrangements were made with one of our renters.
Our small-town post office is a blessing! Connie called first thing Wednesday morning to find our slam latch order had arrived; we were able to pull off the road on our way by, pick up the package, and be on our way at 8:30 am May 13. Traffic through Atlanta wasn’t bad and we arrived at a SOWER project for our overnight stay around 4 pm EST; a long, overcast day with a few rainy spots. John got us parked, put on the new slam latches, and we had too many TV channels to choose from. Travel day 2 is always harder, even though a much shorter day and no pressure, we arrived at the Western South Carolina Fairground (Aiken, SC), to a warm welcome, got parked and mostly set up, were treated to a Chinese Buffet dinner in town, and went to bed early. John worked two mornings with the other volunteers putting up 1x12x12’ wood boards on the interior of a huge insulated metal building to be used for meeting areas at the fairground.
Friday we tuned and practiced for our concert following a great lasagna meal, and Saturday we relaxed a bit before a potluck meal, followed by us leading a jam session. We had to refresh our rusty memories for setting up our sound system for Friday night! Saturday brought quite a few participants, Connie accompanied a singer and flute with our keyboard, and we had time to share 3 songs. We met a few of these wonderful volunteers a year ago in Florida and it was so good to see them again and play along with a few of their songs. The Campers on Missions gathering ended after church Sunday morning and we started planning for the rest of our travels, did some mending, passed our trailer key to a friend ‘just in case’ something happened while we were away, and enjoyed some evening fellowship. When we returned May 29 to pick up our RV, we had a lazy day to get packed for the trip home, there were no leaks, we enjoyed another Chinese Buffet meal with our friends, and got our ‘tree’ passenger wrapped up for the trip in the shower this time.
It seemed we had plenty of hot days throughout the month, wherever we were. Thunderstorms and heavy rains a few times before our travels, with more severe Mississippi storms after we left. The fairground in South Carolina was in the 80’s by 8-9 am and plenty of humidity! South Carolina continued to have storms while we were away with lots of wind and rain. Early mornings were nice for porch sitting in Virginia, in general not quite as humid but still hot, and only a bit of rain towards the end of our visit.
It was a tough month for exercise with all the different schedules. Connie determined to walk every other day while at the fairground and at our sons in Virginia, starting with 20 minutes then 30 minutes. The fairgrounds were part field roads and part houses with a large white barking dog tied outside, a cat standing guard inside a fenced yard with a “beware of dogs” sign, and lots of plants including cactus, rabbit’s foot clover, wisteria with pods, and the pine cone graveyard. Walking was harder in Virginia with all the hills. We did some swimming earlier in the month and will have to do a lot more to lose the 5# we each gained during our travels.
We had one date night in May and were able to attend both our churches before leaving, what a blessing to have friends and congregations praying for us. In other news: John researched a ‘free replacement window’ ad that led to a meeting with a huge price tag that we declined. Connie tried one more time to print our mailed April newsletters in color, the printer is officially dead now, black and white photos are pretty ugly. After some heavy rain we found a bedroom ceiling light was full of water (over Connie’s side of the bed) so we are keeping watch and trying to find this leak. And, like everyone, there is always something else to fret about. Our dining room awning went out and didn’t want to come back in (it did later in the day but we haven’t tried it since).
May 20 found us back on the road headed to Fredericksburg, Virginia to be with family. It was a great travel day, almost all on the interstate, 480 miles, 9.5 hours, with stops to add DEF and change drivers. Along the way was a large thick group of blooming mimosa trees, a Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church, and the muddy brown Pee Dee River which we joked about. Our almost 5-year-old granddaughter was with her mom at a birthday party so we had a bit of time with our 6-month-old granddaughter (first time in person) and son. They have a wonderful place for us to stay! There were lots of movies, teething baby rocking, puzzles with older granddaughter and grandpa, morning quiet reading or rocking time on the front porch, blowing bubbles, Sunday morning church, a very interesting bug on the porch, and walks through the now full subdivision. We had a great Memorial Day breakfast brought in by our daughter-in-law’s family, along with some great fellowship and catching up since our last visit a year ago.
The first morning in Virginia was cold and rainy, and Connie forgot to pack a jacket, her toothpaste, and hair brush! So, a trip to Goodwill and Walmart was in order. They live in a newer subdivision and it was time for the second coat of asphalt on the long, uphill driveway; the last four days of our trip we hiked up and down their front lawn to our vehicles. We took their family out to Chick-fil-a for a belated anniversary lunch after stopping at the library (picked up lots of books for the older granddaughter, and a couple of free Christian books for us). They took us along for a double birthday party with Mexican tacos, all the sides, Horta (Connie loves this pink milky drink), and a live band. There were some pretty special meals for us as well – waffles, lots of bacon, brisket, grilled shrimp and salmon, Brussel sprouts, Korean BBQ with fried rice, and of course ice cream. They made sure we had some things to do as well. Connie’s task was to cut some glass for a broken double-sided picture frame; the first glass was too thick for the frame so there was a last-minute trip to Walmart purchasing two very cheap frames and cutting them to fit, it worked great. John had several things including a trip to Lowe’s for ideas for wood for a wall frame in our son’s guitar room, helping put together yard maintenance items, and the must do trip to the coffee shop.
Our next adventure was a mini-vacation staying with our church friend’s sister and husband near the coast in Newport, North Carolina. We had a leisurely travel day about half each interstate and highways. It was quite a surprise to find beautiful black dirt, gold fields (wheat or barley?), tobacco fields, 2’ high corn fields, a cabbage field, and a row of large pine trees with about 4’ deep pine needle mulch at the base. After some rain we arrived around 5, unloaded our things, and they treated us to a wonderful seafood dinner at a restaurant along the ‘sound.’ Our prayers were answered for dry weather the next day for sight-seeing. We were driven on a tour of Morehead City, Beaufort (the Maritime Museum was closed, but a boat building shop was open and we toured a few shops, saw some beautiful flowers, received a free piece of fudge, and some great boats), Harker’s Island (some Canada geese with two goslings, the ferry to Cape Lookout lighthouse and Shackleford Banks where there are some wild horses was closed), and a local thrift shop where we purchased a book, frying pan, and wardrobe bag (they work great for our pillows) all for less than $5. We attended a potluck and study at their church (Acts 16:20-25, shackles are not what we thought) meeting some more of God’s wonderful family! We gained a back seat passenger for our trip home; they dug up a 5’ popcorn tree, bare roots wrapped up, for us to get back to our friends in MS. After getting rained on at the fairground (SC) we black bagged and tied it to keep in as much moisture as possible until planted, now it’s up to God.
We left mid-morning May 29 for our last travel day without the fifth-wheel. (We hit 22 mpg average once!) We took the long way heading east to catch the bridge to the Emerald Isle for glimpses of the water and beaches, the highway was 35-45 mph and it didn’t look that long on the map, then followed back highways to Interstate 20. There were fields being prepped for planting, a few tobacco fields, and a peacock wandering about in someone’s yard. John took over driving with a rainy start on the interstate near Florence, SC, then hit three windy drenching downpours along with rush-hour traffic around Columbia, SC. We arrived, the rain quit for us to unload at 5:45pm, slightly frazzled to enjoy being back in our RV. We had excellent accommodations while away, but there’s still no place like home.
May 31 we were back on the road headed to Mississippi. We split the drive, going 244 miles to our overnight about 10 miles into Alabama (Heflin). There were several slowdowns going through Atlanta, the roads seemed especially bumpy, we gained an hour getting back to CST, and it seemed we stopped every hour for fuel or bathroom breaks! John chose this spot because they had a restaurant on site, thinking breakfast; wrong, it was called Damn Yankees, had an interesting owner (also manager of RV park), a bar, but some good pizza (to go) for our supper. The next morning, Sunday, we met our neighbor overnight travelers, found they were Christian and we had prayer before leaving and encouraging each other. Another 234 miles and we were home, June 1st. All total May 13-June 1: 7 travel days, 2174 miles, 4 locations, and we’ll see how many days to get back to normal life!
Devotion Thought: Most American adults believe that culture plays a role in establishing moral norms. However, a majority also agrees that “the Bible provides us with absolute moral truths which are the same for all people in all situations, without exception.” Absolute truth has its source in the Lord. No human can think up or discover a new truth. As you study and assimilate His Word into your life, you can count on the Holy Spirit to guide you in the truth.
Did you know: Mother’s Day was held in Boston in 1872 at the suggestion of Julia Ward Howe, writer of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” But it was Anna Jarvis, daughter of a Methodist minister who made it a national event. During the Civil War, Anna’s mother organized Mother’s Day Work Clubs to care for wounded soldiers. She raised money for medicine, inspected bottled milk, improved sanitation, and hired women to care for families where mothers suffered from tuberculosis. In her mother’s honor, Anna persuaded her church to set aside the second Sunday in May, which was the anniversary of her mother’s death, as a day to appreciate all mothers. Anna organized a letter-writing campaign to establish a national Mother’s Day. President Woodrow Wilson then proclaimed the first national Mother’s Day as a “public expression of love and reverence for the mothers of our country.”
“And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.” Deuteronomy 6:24-25 ESV
Until next month – thanks for traveling with us!
John and Connie Nicholas
Salty Strings Music Ministry
Contact Information:
Mail: John & Connie Nicholas
Salty Strings Music Ministry
30A Hwy 367, Burnsville, MS 38833
Phone – John 909-336-8910 or Connie 909-336-8912
Email – SaltyStrings@hotmail.com
Facebook – Salty Strings Music Ministry
Web site – SaltyStrings.com
ONLINE DONATIONS via PayPal through our web site
TRAVEL PLANS AND UPCOMING LOCATIONS
** June-July – Mississippi, remodel work, music
** August 1-21 – SOWER Project, Union Grove, WI; friends and family
** August ?-September – Clinton, Illinois area, family, volunteer work, friends, music
** September – Hopeful visits Litchfield, Carlinville, Macomb, IL and Kirksville, MO