Beautiful Wyoming! So in love with Glendo!

Having always been a "small town" kind of girl, there is no wonder why I fell in love with Glendo right away.  Population being 200 and change, it had me upon arrival.  Four blocks deep by six blocks wide, small town charm was all over it! The school was K-12 and I think they said there were 69 students in all.  We parked at the church and got all set up.  This area even had chickens. Ali was a hoot, her first time seeing chickens, but they are best of buds now.  She goes to see them every morning and every evening to tell them hi.

So, as we plugged into Circle G Cowboy Church, it was completely understandable that they have this whole "community" thing down pat.  Every Sunday afternoon they come together at 4:00 for Bible study time and at 5:00 they have a potluck dinner together followed by worship and a sermon.  As Mandy, one of their members, (whom we immediately hit it off and shared many many laughs together) shared with me, she loves the dinner fellowship every Sunday because it allows them to all keep a check on each other. If someone is not there, they contact them to see if they are ok. Fellowship time is a time to just come together as a faith family.  I can say one thing, as we shared our Sunday meal together with them, yes, it was great!  Lot's of laughter, lots of connecting, time spent together in fellowship around the table before worship. It was really, really cool.  So I can only imagine how close everyone would become over time doing this every Sunday.  What a sweet experience for us.

We originally came thinking we were going to be coming along side of Circle G to help with

their booth at the Wyoming State Fair in Douglas.  We did help in the booth by passing out tracts and talking with folks. This was the first place we met Mandy and her husband, Bo, and their children.  Like I said, lots of laughs were shared. We were also able to talk with Pastor Marty and his wife Lynda along with their children.  As we worked the booth and got to know the people a little more, it hit me how completely different our cultures were. Even though we were from the same country, our cultures were totally different.  We were completely out of place. Yes, I'm sure that as we walked by they said to one other, "they aren't from around here." lol  We were real foreigners in a different land.  But how awesome to have so many different cultures but believe in the same One True God.  I love that! Speaking of different cultures, that reminds me, as we were sitting at the pro series rodeo, I looked at mom and whispered, "don't question anything or say anything out loud, we will talk about it later" we were such fish out of water there.  It was quite funny, but WOW was it AWESOME!!!!  Well, until a poor little calf broke his leg, which made me really sad, knowing they would have to put him down.  But other than that, it was really GREAT!!!  Oh, and something else that was really cool about the fair, there were so many children in the competitions, showing from chickens to taxidermy - they all did great and they all received ribbons and placed - so WOOOHOOOO YOU KIDS DID AWESOME!!!!

The camp, where Lynda is the director, is called Mountain Top Baptist Assembly. It is located outside of Casper which was about an hour away from Glendo.  We planned to go and visit so we could see the camp.  God being as awesome as He is, allowed us the blessing of being able to go for the weekend and help Lynda with a Men's Retreat.  She asked us if we would mind helping in the kitchen, cooking for 60. WOOOHOOO - as you all know - that is a dream job for Mom and I.  We LOVE the kitchen!!!  We went for the weekend and were responsible for the meals, service and clean up.  Yes, it was lots of work, but soooooo much fun.  Dad, of course, loved it because he got to talk and hang out with some men for a change.  Ali loved being up there too, she got to stay in a real house so she had a bit more room and had tons of new smells outside to explore.  It even dropped into the 30's while we were up there.  I won't say it was snow, but is was a really heavy frost,I guess.  Oh how I love the cold weather, so I just cherished it while it lasted.

We did get to do a little bit of exploring while we were here too.  There is so much history here and I wish we would have had more time to see it all, but thankful for what we did see.  Our first stop was at Register Cliff. There was spots where people had carved their names in the side of the mountain with the year and sometimes where they were from.  Let me tell you the awe of standing there looking at names of travelers from back in the 1800's that came all that way, pretty much by foot (I'll explain that later).  I just stood and imagined what that must have been like to know you make it that far on your journey.  Truly a site to see.  

We then stopped at the Oregon Trail Ruts, again, WOW at the history.  The mountain was crossed by so many wagons they actually wore ruts into the rocks.  I guess I never really thought about how many people actually come across the country in wagons, but they estimate between 300,000 to 350,000.  That blew my mind, so when I say the ruts that were about 3 feet deep, it all made since.  

Finally we went visit Fort Laramie, which was one of the stopping points from the old west that wagon trains used to stop on their way from Missouri to Oregon.  The more history I saw, the more history came alive.  Seeing the old structures or what was left of them, hearing stories and seeing old artifacts that were saved was so cool and so educational.  Yes, I learned a lot about that time period.

Our last visit out and about was to Esterbrook church right outside of a tiny community of 52 (in 2010).  We were told we had to see it while we were here.  It was a little log cabin church that was built back in 1946, which they still hold services in today.  Let me start with the trip to get there.  We had to travel 22 miles down a dirt/gravel road, our poor little car.  I think we are the only ones in Wyoming WITHOUT a truck!  Anyways, the road took us through pastures where open range cattle roamed.  It was rolling hills and miles and miles of seeing no homes, no people, nothing but God's beautiful open plains.  Marty told us to go either early morning or late evening so we could see wildlife.  We went in late afternoon, and he was right on, we saw tons of birds, lots of antelope and a few things we weren't able to identify, and of course some beautiful cattle.  They were huge!  Definitely NOT like the ones back in Florida that I 'm used to seeing.  Then we got to the church just before the sun was beginning to set.  What was so great about this little church building you ask?  It was built facing a mountain with a huge (pretty much the whole wall) picture window with a mountain in the back ground.  The church is left open at all times for anyone to come in and see it and to leave notes or just to pray.  Absolutely beautiful, worshiping our Creator would be NO problem at this church. As I sat in the pew looking at the mountain, after the ride over, I was overwhelmed.  I am so thankful for that experience, for that time to sit in Awe of my God!  

As we left for our almost hour ride back home, the sun was now setting, what a different

view of the pastures and hills.  Just breathtaking at times. We were able to stop and get some pictures, but they just don't do it any justice.  I again thanked God for blessing us with the sites we were seeing.  It was just phenomenal. 

On our way back home we saw two momma deer and their babies. One had twins ... they were soooo stinkin cute.  At this point we were over half way back and the little deer families were all we saw.  Mom said this was the time the wildlife should be out. I had wished we could see something else, and as we came around the corner up on a ridge and there was a giant something...LOL...I guess it was an antelope because we saw so many out there, but it was all alone on the ridge off in a distance with the sun setting which shadowed him.  Yes I took about 20 pictures of it, but none captured the presence he demanded or how he captivated us when we saw him.  It was the best of the best of sites, moments, and experiences of our time in Wyoming.  All was captured in just that one moment.  

That is the stuff I wish we could share with you.  Just trying to explain it sometimes I think makes me sound crazy,  I truly believe God gives us these rare moments that are to take our breath away to show us that He is very much intimately involved in our lives.  If we don't slow down and look, we will miss it.  I praise Him so and love Him all the more for those moments He gives us.  He is the Creator, Holy, Most High, God Almighty, The ONE True God, and He is so intimately involved in His children's lives, how can you Not worship and fall in love with a God like that!?!

What a great last night here - Marty & Lynda with the kids and Bo and Mandy came over to say goodbye!  Colten made yummy brownies for us as we shared our last few laughs together here in Wyoming.  If you are ever in Glendo, Wy, look them up, you will have a great time! There are no goodbyes, only so longs!  Until next time, here ~ there ~ or in the air!

Our last night of  family fun!
(minus Bo and Mandy's kids)

Marty & Lynda Roark

Bo and Mandy

With that, I will wrap this post up. We pull out today to head to Devil's tower (hate the name) and the mountain with the big heads on it (AKA Mt Rushmore) LOL.  So we will keep you posted as we go. Not sure where our next electric camp sight will be, so keep us in your prayers.

Love you all - 
Serving for His glory,
Kristi
Bob and Carol
Galatians 6:9-10

Linda leading worship

Some of the pieces the kids taxidermy work
that they have displayed at the church

Love this in the youth room

Love it!

More pieces

Now that's some wood!

Brother Marty preaching at the fair

Circle G doing worship at the fair

The flag and they even prayed before
the start of the rodeo - it was great!

Really cool how they ALL stood
and took off hats out of respect

No boots - no cowboy hats - no belts
no button down long sleeve shirts -
Yep - we were totally our of place!

The human pyramid -
these are some of the
wonderful kids from the
youth group and Brother
Marty's kids - They were
all a great group of kids!

Bo and Olivia

and Max

Armadillo Egg

Inside of egg -
bacon - chicken - jalapeno - cheese
Deliciousness

Indian Taco -
Indian fry bread & taco
fixins - More Deliciousness

Our road conditions on the way to Mountain Top Baptist Assembly in Casper

Kitchen crew

2 of these - lasuagna
for 60

took us forever to see out the windo

amazing dessert creation

Humon fooze ball - made out of pallets
and pvc pipes - it was sooo cool!!!

fencing to keep out the elk and moose
as well as boundariues for the kids at camp

some of the beauty we missed on the way
UP the mountain we got to see
on the way DOWN the mountain

at this point we were already half way down

some of the names on the mountain

actual gravesite
they would wait until they
got to a stopping point
to bury those that did
not make it.

they are standing in the ruts

looking directly at the ruts

HA - wonder if they
played chicken foot?

A studebaker wagon, apparentily
before trucks there were wagons!
The guy shared that the wagons were
for carrying their belongings and
supplies, that they all walked
along side of the wagon unless
they got sick.  Walking from Missouri
to Oregon...WOW!

Our trip to Esterbrook

antelope

one of my favorites!!!!

our twin babies

To God be the glory forever and ever, Amen!