Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Yosemite - FINALLY but still in the rain and snow!

So let's pick up where we left off in our last post.....

We were heading to Turlock Lake Recreation area in California.  Following that GPS thing, we ended up in the middle of NOWHERE!!!  But the cool part of the nowhere was that it was actually in the middle of hundreds of acres of grapes and hundreds of acres of almond trees.  Mile after mile, as far as the eye could see, it was absolutely beautiful.  


We realized we were actually lost when it told us to turn down a dirt road that was a dead end :) We then grabbed the phone to call for directions, HA, no service...Gotta love it!  Daddy and I unhooked the car and got our rig turned around in one of those almond groves/orchards/fields whatever the correct wording is for that.  We went back down the road 1/2 mile before we were able to make a call, got the ranger, just a few (left out by the gps) turns and we safely made our way to the campground....


So as I mentioned we were in the middle of all of these farms, then we saw a beautiful lake in the middle of nowhere and right over the hill was the campground in a beautiful lush GREEN forest.  It was like a little oasis in the middle of all of the farms.  God heard our cry and blessed us with not only green, but with a forest!

Our plan while we were here was to do a night or two so we could go to Yosemite and explore all of it's wonders.  Well, the weather had other plans....The forecast for the 3 days we were there was 70%, 100% and then 80% chances of not only rain, but thunderstorms and SNOW.  Obviously, we canceled our trip to the park.  While we were looking at the weather, I thought of Proverbs 16:9 "A person may plan his own journey, but the Lord directs his steps."  Isn't that the truth, we can plan it, but He directs it!  We took a few down days to re-organize and to purge...Funny, living in the rv, though it is small we still seem to collect all kinds of stuff that we need to purge every so often.  Plus being one of the only 2 campers in the campground we were blessed with an awesome campground host who showed us a white owl, and told us to keep an eye out for wildlife.  We saw the owl, a fox, tons of beautiful birds and a mountain cat of some sort...but, our host was great!

We also knew it was time for Secret Church.  This is where they bring attention to those around the world that actually live in persecution and they can only meet secretly, but also is designed like the secret churches where it is all just Word being taught and they take it and then go study it.  David Platt has now done this for years, and he explains that Secret Church is like drinking water from a fire hydrant.  If you have never attended one, make plans now to attend next year or you can go online and watch his past ones.  There were over 50,000 people in every state as well as 101 countries all doing Secret Church together.  What an awesome thing to be a part of.  


Ok, so as I said, we wanted to attend Secret Church, I went online to see where in California they were participating, only 9 cities in all of California! I have to admit I was a little disappointed thinking, there is no way one of those cities would be close enough for us to attend.  BUT instead, GOD gave me a HAHA, I GOT THIS moment, as He always reminds me of...One of those 9 cities was Modesto, which was only 45 miles from us.  HOW AWESOME IS THAT!?!?  All of California, Only 9 cities and ONE is right beside us.  PRAISE GOD!  So, I immediately got on the phone with the church to get info and to register for our attendance, not only were we welcomed to attend but they also said we could just pull our rv over and park it in their parking lot.  So beautifully God directed our steps and we headed to Modesto for SC and to crash in their parking lot Friday and then headed to Yosemite on Saturday.  


We could see this from our
window, just love this!
We arrived Friday afternoon and were greeted and welcomed and set up our spot, even had electricity for us to plug into...It's the little things we have become so thankful for!  Headed into SC with about 20 other folks from Neighborhood Church in Modesto and had a wonderful time.  Instant friends and family.  This was their first time doing SC, so it was a real pleasure to enjoy that with them since we were seasoned SC attenders...LOL  While we were there, we also were able to talk to folks about Yosemite and the ins and outs of the park.  Great wealth of information.  We checked the weather again and ahhhhh MORE RAIN!  Since this was the absolutely last day we would have the chance to visit, we decided to pull out the rain coats and do it anyways....and we were so glad we did!





What a beautiful trip into Yosemite it was.  We got to see it from a totally different perspective from all the pictures we have seen along the way.  During those few days while postponing our trip, it snowed, and snowed like 4 inches.  It was absolutely  BEAUTIFUL, and the rain we had, made all of the waterfalls so full and flooding.  The clouds in the pictures, the snow on the ground and the waterfalls made our day even more special.  God's glory, His creation and His beauty.  What a majestic place it was.  Though we planned a picnic lunch, it ended up being a sandwich at one of the pull-offs since all the tables were covered in snow, silly Floridians don't think about that concept...LOL   Even though the weather was not the best for site seeing, it was perfect for the day that was ahead of us, the way God planned for us to see the park.  Just beautiful!!!

When we know the ONE who is control, we rest in that peace!  What a blessing He had in store for us!

Enjoy the pics, and the SNOW was so beautiful!  So grateful to get to see the park like this!  It was a special treat that we so greatly enjoyed!

Keep us covered in prayers as we make our way to Alaska, touring sites along the way.  What a beautiful and amazing country we were so blessed to be born in.  If you don't travel,  START!  There is so much out here that I never knew was out here, and the amazing beauty God created right here in the good ole USA!  

Serving God by Loving Others ~
Kristi
Bob & Carol
Galatians 6:9-10


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C/O Mary Beth Gervais
24100 NE Hwy 314 
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Our stop at a little farm store in California
First signs of color - and lots of it!!!
And YES, I did take a picture of each flower :)


 Too beautiful NOT to share :)

Campground
Fields on the way in
Grapes
Our wonderful host



  MODESTO - SECRET CHURCH




RAINY SNOWY YOSEMITE


See, we weren't the only ones
going on a nasty day!



It was also Zack's birthday







 

















A rock slide, we were
re-routed. Scary to
think it could happen
anytime...
Full front view of rockslide
This was on our way
to the park.