Here are a few pics of our trip to Dallas.

The City of Little Rock Arkansas.

A HUGE cross in Illinois. Beautiful!

We got our first load assignment last night. 990 miles! We are going back up north to the city of Chicago. The weather/temps here have been wonderful and refreshing. Just to put a light jacket on or none at all and walk outside without feeling the chill of winter has been very refreshing. We are in Dallas.. the city is about 10 miles away. When you get on the 20 loop it's awesome to look and see this city standing alone as it seems. Lately when I've gone with Ralph the cities, which have always amazed me, put me in mind the city of God. I can't fathom what the city of God looks like. If I'm in awe of the way Dallas looks, or Chicago, or Indianapolis, or Colombus...what is going to be my reaction when I see His Great City. Gold, Diamond, Crystal, Pearls, Precious jewels of all sorts will make up that city. The glory of He Himself will be our light! Our cities are polluted with sin, fog, trash, rust etc...and yet i am still amazed at the beauty, especially at night when the lights shine all around. Yeah....Lord, I want to live in the house of the Lord forever! amen

The World Around Me

The world around me (annie) is quite different. We are inside the terminal waiting for a 'company car' so we can drive to Walmart and pick up a new blowdryer. Mine broke a few days ago. It had been wanting to fall apart on me for the past year now..and here we are, on the road and it decides to take a dump. In the motel we had a blowdryer so I was ok. I didn't get a shower today... I can't stand walking around with wet hair. Anyway... that's all trivial...

My husband is being amazingly calm as we still set here in Dallas waiting for a load to go ...somewhere...anywhere. Coming from driving for Walmart and hauling walmart frieght only and having his own set days... this is a stretch for him. He keeps saying that God is building his character. Today, He must be building mine because I'm starting to get a bit concerned about this whole thing. Our time together however, has been great up to this point. It's been good being together, hanging out and looking forward. That reminds me of a scripture that I have been writing down the past few weeks. I don't have it in here with me right now, but I think it's Exodus 14:13-15 14 states let the Lord fight the battle and we just need to be still... be at peace. Prior to that it states in 13 that that which held us in captivity prior would be gone out of our lives from that day forever! 15 states that God directs us to move forward!

The other scripture is Psalm 127:1 in the midst of reading this scripture a few weeks ago the scripture read: The Lord is your 'stronghold'. Woah!! a stronghold?? the LORD... what a new and wonderful way to look at what a stronghold is. I'm always associating a stronghold with something negative. It is great to see this positive stronghold. I truly want the Lord to be my Stronghold. What an awesome stronghold to claim, eh?

There have been many encounters with people here. You can tell wisdom from just plain crowd following. Negative foul attitudes. I naturally spoke my faith when asked how I stayed so young looking, which brought up a good Christian conversation. Which in turn took Ralph and I into a crazy conversation with a man (her husband) who believes that God comes down to earth with a helmet to keep him from being contaminated by environmental hazards. The conversation came to Obama and the question was asked why my husband didn't vote for him and he said abortion.... both their ideas to support abortion were world hunger, abuse etc... rape... Why don't people understand that if we just lived by God's laws that crap wouldn't even be. Kill babies, take God out of school and what else are you gona reap, eh? The man began to down large churches and etc. the typical why I dont' believe in God scenerios and finally Ralph said, "Hey, you're making this more difficult than what it is. You believe in the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. It's simple... get the Father, Son and Holy Ghost." He also 'mentored' a couple of guys. Not that he knew he was 'mentoring' at the time but he was. The one time was to a 58 yr old man who was continous in his pursuance to let me know what he thought about me. It was to the point of sickening and Ralph was finally to the point where he told him he needed to put effort into his own wife..he made another comment about his wife and Ralph said, "You know, there's more to a person, there's spirit, mind and body." An hour later or so the man came back and apologized to Ralph and I. Ralph was kind.. though he wanted to let the guy have it. But I think his kindness worked some conviction instead of condemnation. It was good.

Then the second guy was a young trucker complaining about his job. All in all Ralph was a positive note compared to the whole of the atmoshphere of complaining truckers.

So, here I am today on Valentines day. And though we are not hooked up to a load yet, we were able to take the company car to Walmart and get a bit of shopping in. So we came back and fixed sandwiches, ate some fresh carrots and broccoli with dip and some chips and cheese all on our bench seats and table. It was nice. Then we watched a dvd teaching by Lester Sumrall.

I better sign off for now.. this is getting a bit lengthy.. anyway, we can always use your prayers. Always! thanks everyone!

Ralph and Anne

Dallas Texas!

Today we are in Dallas! Ralph is taking some of his company training on the computer, so it has given me some time and opportunity to journal a bit. I tried to get online earlier through wifi in this room but it wouldn't allow me to. So I journaled on Word. That was good to do. I tried again and was able to get online. I wanted to be able to update this page while on free wifi. I told my hubby it was meant to be so I would just go into my word program and journal. :) Why waste air minutes, eh?

We arrived in Memphis Ark. Friday to sign papers and pick up the Volvo. It is an awesome truck...so 'homey' inside. I was able to unload all the suitcases and put items away yesterday and help Ralph set up the cb radio. We had some complications with that (the radio)and it gave us a bit of a test. All was good though, in the end. :) I had one suitcase filled with books! lol, no I'm not kidding. I had two Bibles, a Beth Moore 90 day with Jesus the One and Only book, My huge massage text book, two binders with massage study notes and materials, my anatomy color book and another anatomy book, a book on the Holy Spirit by Lester Sumrall, a couple of writing how to's books and yes a few more plus notebooks, colored pencils and etc. Also have my laptop brief case and my camera case with camera and video cam. And all the accessories that go with all that! Lord have mercy! lol I think Ralph scratches his head silently multiple times a day!

Oh yeah, I have my portable stepper (used that this morning) and arm weights. I'm hoping my weight issues don't 'spread' in this journey. uhg.. We have 'time' on our hands at the moment since we are not officially 'hired on' and running loads, so the time on the stepper was good to have this morning. Not sure how often that will happen, eh? I may be able to step while the truck is moving. Truly it's difficult to do much when the truck is moving.

We had some GREAT news when we signed for our truck Friday. We signed papers through a conference call with our sales representative who was working in Green Bay yesterday. She told us that the day before they had a meeting about interest rates on new purchases. They were lowering them for new buyers. So she brought up the fact that we hadn't signed for our truck yet and that she would be closing with us the next day. She was able to get us a lower interest rate, which saved us 125.$ a month on our truck payments!! Right away we just said. "Thank you Lord

I will post more later. I have tons to talk about. Ralph's generosity with a stranger and his kindness with a 'socially handicapped' driver... ;) the sights and more...(I don't have my camera with me to download and post recent pics.. I will soon!)

I DO need prayer! It's truly a different world for me. Going on various trips with Ralph is fun... but knowing this is my life now can choke me like a flood at times. I miss Ang. I choke when I think about not being there for her if she needs me. I'm her momma and it's a hard thing to accept. I miss the babes.. all six of them. I didn't get to see the other three before i left and I wanna see 'em. Addie, my sister-in-law, is full of so many responsibilities right now that I feel bad for not being there for her also. I know my son is fine. I cried a couple of times before I left about missing him and he just laughed at me. I love him! I do! My boy!

love and blessings,
annie ~and ralph :)

Almost time...

My baby girl and her precious family! Angela and Jeff and their babies, Jaden Noah, Jakeb Moses and Abigail Faith.

Well, time is winding down.

My baby girl just left my house. She and I both know we can't make too big a deal about this. One little hint that she's not going to be ok without me around all the time and I will feel sick. Seriously sick!

She knows that it's going to be a good thing for her dad and I. She's noticed a happy change in her dad lately. She loves her daddy! Her and her family lived with us for 7 months this past spring/summer. It was a GREAT thing! Because her dad of course is a trucker and he traveled all the years she was growing up there was a bit of a missing link. Nothing too bad, just missing. The time that they lived here was a great bonding time for her and her daddy. It was definately God ordained for healing. When he came home at the end of the week he would love on her babies and hug on her. He would tell her how pretty she is and that she's his girl. It was a time when as 'grown ups' they could relate and love each other respectfully and openly. This is not what I planned on writing about tonight... but I don't like to be too heavy handed with my writing. I generally go with the flow.

Tomorrow we pick up our rental car and early Thursday morning we take off. I'm excited at times and other times I'm a bit hesitant. It really is a big deal and such a change of who I am in taking this HUGE step.