"A Season of Stories" - Christmas, 2003 - GWB Presidential Library and Museum

 

The "special exhibit" at the museum was a reproduction of the Christmas decorations that were in the White House in 2003. The theme for that year was "A Season of Stories" with recognition for all the story books that we know and love.This tree had large red letters as decorations as well as books all around it on the floor.

One of the book "illustrations" - this one of "Little Women".

This display had a number of Christmas gifts given to the Bushes while they were in the White House. In this picture is a Christmas stocking made to look like a cowboy boot, as well as a carving made from, I think, a caribou antler.

If I remember correctly, this is a picture recently painted by former President Bush and is being used on the Bush's Christmas card and other Christmas printings this year.

George W Bush Presidential Library and Museum Visit

Photo of brochure we received

I don't exactly know how long the George W Bush Presidential Library has been open in Dallas - I know it has been for a few years. But... familiarity breeds contempt, or so they say, so we had never gone.

Christian BOF friends, Keith and Ruth Ann, had shared a couple of days ago on Facebook that they were planning to go to the GWB Library, and I thought... hmm, that sounds like an interesting thing to do!

So, yesterday, we decided that, since we needed to be "out of the house" all day, and the kitties could stay in the bus (they get confined to the shower to keep them safe), to take in the George W Bush Presidential Library, on the SMU campus in Dallas.

This is the first and only presidential library we have visited, but I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I appreciated the personal information about the Bushes, and since I remember much about the time of his presidency, it reminded me of history through which I had lived.

I will create a number of additional posts with pictures and comments from all that we saw.

Elusive leaks... - updated!!!

Since we moved into the bus fulltime, we have noticed water leaks that occur at some times - particularly when it is raining. The worst leak causes the carpet next to Dwayne's side of the bed to become totally sodden. It isn't coming from the ceiling or the window in any obvious way...

The folks here at National Indoor RV tried a technique that they have available to them today - they create high pressure inside the rig, and then put soapy water on the outside to try to determine where there are leaks. Unfortunately, none showed up in the bedroom... however, there were air leaks around our entry door (which we are hopefully going to get corrected with some weatherstripping).

We are praying that our repair technician will be able to find the source of the leak that comes into the bedroom. That's our highest priority item on this repair visit...

Do you pray about everyday things? Dwayne has taught me this: whenever we have lost something (it seems to happen a LOT nowadays), we stop and pray about it, and ask God to help us find it. Sometimes we find the item right away, sometimes it is days later - but we always make sure that we thank our heavenly Father for helping us find it! So, it makes sense to us to pray for our repair technician to be able to discover the thing that is causing us a concern.

Updated on 12/9/2015: Mike thinks that he found the source of all of the leaks!!! Praise God!

The worst one in the bedroom he thinks was coming in around the window, and due to the "unfortunate incident with a close encounter with a tree" in the Sandy Lake Road campground where I took off the back awning on the passenger side. He thinks that the awning used to protect the window from getting water running down on it, but with the awning missing, the lack of adequate sealing around the window was the culprit. I guess we'll know for sure the next big rain, but for now, we're feeling confident that the problem is addressed!

We've made a round-trip!

If you click on our November-December, 2015 map today, you'll see that we have returned to the National Indoor RV Center. Tomorrow, they will hopefully be able to find where the leak is that allows us to get water on the floor next to Dwayne's side of the bed, as well as other items we want them to check. We are praying that they will have success!!!

Christmas party, visiting friends, and the sunset

Had a great time today at Faye's annual Christmas party, always a good time and good to see old friends and meet new ones!

On our way back to the campground, visited with Jackie and Rick - great to catch up and hear what they have been doing! Looking forward to a trip in western Canada based on their stories and pictures.

Back at the campground just before dark - got a picture of the sunset reflected on Miss Doozie's side...

Looking forward to being with our church family tomorrow - we plan to move the bus to the National Indoor RV service center so it will be there Monday morning for service.

Operation Christmas Child Processing Center Today

My friend, Miriam, let me know that Franklin Graham was going to be at the DFW area OCC processing center today, so I signed up to work 9am-3pm and was there when the celebration happened for him being there. There were a lot of volunteers there today: I worked with folks from Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Texas.

Some of the processing lines

A lady from Kansas and one from Texas working the other side of the line I was on.

One of the cute things I saw - this was white socks made into a snowman in the box!

Franklin Graham speaking; the kids on stage were the 6th grade chorus from Prestonwood Christian Academy who came to sing.

Franklin reminded us that our hope is not in the Democrats, or the Republicans, or in any elected official, but in Jesus. As Christians, we need to take seriously our responsibility to pray, and to vote!

I don't know for sure where the boxes that we processed today will be going, but over the past days, they have been destined for Panama, Ukraine, and Ecuador!

"Safety Truck"

I saw this video a few weeks ago: safety truck

Now that I spend a lot of time driving a vehicle that blocks the view of folks, and I am sometimes driving more slowly than passenger vehicles - especially on two-lane roads because I need longer reaction times - I really think the idea of having a screen on the back that shows overtaking vehicles what is in front of the truck or bus would be a great idea!