Musings on life, parenting, Jesus, and more...

We rolled into Oklahoma City Monday evening and decided to stop and see the Memorial for the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. I was living about 5 hours away near Branson, Missouri when it happened and remember seeing it all over the news. 168 people were killed and many more injured. The suspects were aprehended and authorities learned that they were acting in retaliation to the governments actions at Ruby Ridge and Waco in 1992 and 1993. One was sentenced to death and was executed in 2001. The other received life in prison. A friendly security guard offered to take our picture and told us it was a tradition for kids to dip their hands in the water and leave their handprints on the wall, so that’s what we did. We spent the night in the Bass Pro parking lot, which was right next to the Bricktown area of downtown OKC.  The Bass Pro shop itself was a fun way to kill an hour or so the next morning while Rob worked.  The kids loved trying out all the trackers...

We fled the fires and smoke today and finally got some sunshine and fresh air for the first time in almost a week. I booked these flights over a week ago, before the fires in Oregon started. We discussed changing our travel plans, especially as Oregon went to Level 2 evacuation status on Thursday (be packed and ready to leave at a moments notice) but ultimately getting out of town seemed like the best option. The air quality at home is considered hazardous and all of us were beginning to feel the effects of breathing so much smoke filled air. 💨  Flights to Denver were only $40 each so we opted to fly there and rent a car to get back to Kansas (about a 6 hour drive.) It was beautiful and sunny the entire drive. The kids were great travelers as usual and I think we were all just happy to be breathing fresh air. We got into Greensburg pretty late, the 2 hour time difference put us there after 11:00. Jason has pulled our RV out and plugged it into electric for us so we could just clim...