Blog #400 - Christmas 2023

 

Merry Christmas and Blessings for The New Year!!

Craig and I pray that you have put your hope, faith and trust in Jesus Christ for your happiness and future Blessings of Eternal Life!

WHY?

To have your hope in a person, a government, your job your 401K, your savings or any other thing has to be a bit discouraging and will end without hope.

WHAT?

Is there enjoyment in this earthly life that we live!  Yes!!!  The Lord would have us enjoy all that He has provided for us and realize that He is sufficient and everything else in this life is a bonus!! 

WHERE?

We are still snowbirds.  We live in Arizona during the winter in the Park Model that you see above.  During the summer, we still travel in our Motorhome and spend time with family and friends. Family is a bit spread out.  Todd lives in South Carolina, Jeff in Indiana and Tana is in Colorado.

We are in Colorado because we have a new family member born to Tana's Daughter, Kyra and her husband, Jacob.  Our first Great Grandbaby's name is, Taytum Rose!  We have driven to Colorado to meet her and to help them move into their new home that's about 15 minutes from Tana's.  We will also attend Taytum's father, Jacob's, College Graduation at the University of Colorado and also his Commissioning Service as an Army Officer in the National Guard this weekend.

There have been other great events happening while we are in Colorado.  Yesterday we were able to spend some time with Craig's brother, Jim and his wife, Lynne, and also our sister-in-law, Carron!  It's always such a blessing to get together with them and we all miss Craig's older brother, Chuck.

Carter, Tana's eldest, has completed his four years of service in the Marines and joined us at Tana's last night with his girlfriend for dinner.  They will be coming back today to bake some Christmas Cookies (a family tradition).

This is our Bounder parked next to our Park Model in AZ.

HOW?

In John 3, a religious man, Nicodemus, came to Jesus at night and asked, "What must I do to be born again? How can someone enter his mother's womb a second time".  Jesus explained to him that there are two births, one from a physical birth in water and one for a spiritual birth from on high by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus further said, "no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."

Nicodemus only knew of the Old Testament Prophecies of the Deliverer that would come into the world.  We now know that Jesus was born and died to remove the sins that made us deserving of eternal separation from God.  He has provided a way for us through that Spiritual Birth.

Have you been Born of the Spirit?

Jesus is always ready to welcome us into His Kingdom, so simply agree that you believe in Him and the sacrifice that he made to pay for your sins and that you want to be born again.  By doing so, you seal your eternal destiny to be with the Father for an eternity and you will also receive the Power of the Holy Spirit to help you be an overcomer in this world.

Jesus said, "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.". John 16:33

Jesus is the Prince of Peace and He will freely give this peace to all of us!!!

It's this Jesus, Emanuel (God is with us) that we celebrate at this Season!!

Love and Blessings,

Craig and Kathy

2019 Christmas Greetings

Have a very Merry Christmas and a 

Blessed New Year!

A customer of ours when we had the Hardware Store in Colorado, would walk in the front door and say, "Greetings and Salutations", so I will start out with that. Always so wonderful to hear from you all and see how things are going for you and your family.  Here's an overview of some of ours.

We spent last year from Oct to April in our Park Model in Wellton, AZ.  That's about 20 miles east of Yuma. We have some Christmas lights up and the Park is looking a lot like Christmas.

28320 E. County 11st, #17, Wellton, AZ  85356

I'll back up to cover a few things that happened as we left AZ last April.  Our, son, Jeff, had shoulder surgery and we went back to Indiana in April to help finish projects at the Church he works for before Easter Services.  Just after Easter, I got a call from my Mom's Home Health Nurse in Las Vegas that Mom wasn't doing well and should not be alone.  I flew out and then Craig flew out to help with what was Mom's last two weeks on this earth.  We held a Memorial Service for her back in Indiana on June 29, 2019.  She passed on May 7 and would have been 94 years old on the 29th. She is greatly missed! We sold her condo and took care of her things there and bought a Van to haul things first to Colorado for Tana's daughter, Kyra's HS graduation and then on back to Indiana. 

Barry, Cooper, Kyra, Collin, Tana and Carter

Kyra is now attending the University of Wyoming.

 We started our one thousand mile drive back to our home in Indiana. In all of our travels, we have never hit a deer.  And, technically, this one ran into us in Ohio at about 3am.  We weren't hurt and could continue to drive the van on to Indiana and get it fixed for $800.00 and then sold it to Jeff for a work vehicle.

We  continued working for our son for the rest of the summer months and managed to keep plenty busy.  There was a big Hoffman reunion in August and we made a trip to Minnesota for a little fishing in late August.  It was cool and windy and the Walleye weren't biting, but we still enjoyed our time and managed to catch enough fish to eat and even take a few home. We went to Lake Wabedo.  It was the first lake in MN that I ever went to as a child.

 Todd, Jeff, Craig and Tana.

Haley, Todd, Jennifer, Hunter and Ryan

Tana's Family 

Cooper, Carter, Barry, Tana, Collin and Kyra

 Jeff's Family

Kristen, Rachel, Jeff, Kara and Ty

 Grand kids 

Carter, Haley, Kyra, Kara, Collin, Kristen, Cooper and Ty

A  chance to dance, too.

We closed up our Indiana home and headed to Arizona with a few days spent with Barry and Tana in Aurora, Colorado.  This is our seventh year coming to Tier Drop RV Park and we love the people here, our little Park Model, the church and of course, the warmer weather. We do miss all of our other dear family and friends across the country and want you to know that you are constantly in our hearts and prayers.

Born in a stable, what a wondrous event, when God Himself became a man.

He dwelt among us, took our sins upon Himself, was crucified, buried, ROSE FROM THE DEAD and now awaits the day when we will all be joined together with HIM and all believers!

Love and Christmas Blessing,

Craig and Kathy

Merry Christmas from Craig and Kathy

2018 Christmas Letter

I haven't written a blog in a year. I'm not sure how often I will write a blog, but I thought I would send this out as a Christmas Letter this year.
The Motorhome has been sold and we now own two homes. One in Crown Point, Indiana and another small Park Model that we purchased in Wellton, AZ.

Since we no longer own the Whale, I have made a change in the name of the Blog from, "Tales of the Whale" to "Tales of the Way". Considering that we sold the RV, we didn't think we would be traveling as much, BUT... we have.

We feel blessed to have a home here with all of the good friends we have made over the past 5 years.  We live in AZ from late Oct to April.  Park Models are small, but compared the the Motorhome, we have plenty of room.
We usually spend Christmas with Mom in Las Vegas, but this year we are staying here and enjoying the Park's festivities. We'll go up to see her in Jan to take down her decorations.

 Christmas lights and hanging flower baskets is not something we used to see.

We drove 1900 miles in late Oct. to get here.  I'll try to highlight through our time in Indiana.

We worked with our son, Jeff, doing projects for Bethel Church Ministries.  They keep us very busy, but we were still able to get in a trip to CO in May for Carter's HS graduation.  He is our third graduate.

Carter with his siblings, Cooper, Collin and Kyra.

In June we celebrated our 48th Anniversary with good friends, Vern and Kathy in Michigan.  We always enjoy our time with them.


In July we attended my 50th Class Reunion.

In late July our Colorado family joined us in Indiana for a reunion.  

 We enjoyed some pool time at Jeff and Rachel's.
We also spent a few days at Pine Lake, Indiana getting to do some swimming and boating.

Our oldest son, Todd.

Cooper, Ty, Haley, Kyra, Kristen, Collin and Carter

It's not easy to get all of the grand kids together, but we did get a few to cooperate.
Craig flew out to Las Vegas to help Mom fly back to Indiana for three weeks to be a part of the family gatherings. Each year there is a large Hoffman Family Reunion.  This year, it was at Lake of the Four Seasons in Crown Point, Indiana.

Mom enjoyed her time in Indiana (her home town) and then, Todd flew with her back to her home in Las Vegas, NV.

We tried again for a complete family picture, but we were still missing some.

We made it out on Jeff's friend's private pond to fish a few times.

In Sept, Craig's brother, Chuck and his wife, Pudge, came for a visit.

We made a long drive to Ely, MN to fish on Moose Lake.  We were right near the Canadian border and it was beautiful!  Todd and Jeff joined us for part of the week along with Jim and Marie V.  They are old time fishing buddies.

Sunrise in MN

As the summer drew to an end and our time in Indiana we really enjoyed the family time that we could fit in.

Todd, Jennifer, Kathy, Rachel, Kara, Jeff, Craig and Ty.  They all get pretty irritated that I want to take pictures, but these are precious to me while we are away.

We had a very busy last few weeks in Indiana wrapping up projects, but we were able to pull out for the 1900 mile, 2 1/2 day trip to Wellton, AZ and Tier Drop RV Park.  These were some of the faces we were anxious to see.

We got settled in to the Park Model and a couple weeks later we drove up to Tempe, AZ to meet our daughter, Tana and her daughter, Kyra, who was running her last Cross Country Meet.

My younger brother, Dave, lives in Scottsdale, so he drove down to have dinner out with us.  It's always good to see him.

Tana and her daddy.

We drove to Mom's in Las Vegas (300 miles) for Thanksgiving.  

We had a nice dinner out instead of cooking. Mom's friend, Minerva, joined us.

We decorated Mom's place for Christmas before heading back to AZ.

I LOVE the sunrises of AZ. Just in case you hadn't noticed.

We have spent the last three weeks remodeling our "Arizona Room" and turning it into our bedroom with it's own bathroom.

We installed new flooring

 

 Craig had to do some tricky maneuvers to install the new plumbing.

I just came back in from a walk outside to hear a wagon of Carolers singing to us all for Christmas.  What a wonderful season remembering the birth of Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us!

Merry Christmas and New Year Blessings to you!!

Craig and Kathy

Merry Christmas! And The Whale Swam Away

Merry Christmas!!

It's been a pretty busy year for all of us but with the celebration of the Lord's birth rapidly approaching, it's time to take a deep breath and just enjoy the season.

I am going to have to regroup on my whole blog idea. In this past year we have purchased a home in Indiana and now a Park Model home in Arizona for a winter home.  We SOLD the whale.  SO, my dilemma is what to do with my travel blog called, "Tales of the Whale".  I'm open for suggestions.

This past June we decided to buy a half duplex in our hometown of Crown Point, Indiana.  We flew to Colorado to pick up our storage unit belongings and drove them back and moved in on June 6th.

 This address:

470 Cochran Dr

Crown Point, Indiana 46307

We got settled in and put the Whale into storage.  It seemed strange to do after living in a Motorhome for four years.

We worked with our son, Jeff, doing construction projects for the Churches that he works for all summer long.

We had planned a family reunion trip to the Ozarks for July.  So, we got the Whale out of storage, loaded it up and drove it to a campground near to where all the kids were staying. We enjoyed Todd's boat, the water and the time together with our children, their spouses and our eight grandkids.

Kathy, Craig, Tana, Barry, Jeff, Rachel and Todd

Todd and his daughter, Haley

 Jeff, Rachel and children Kristen, Kara and Ty

Our Daughter, Tana, husband Barry with their children 

Carter, Kyra, Collin and Cooper

 Our Grand Children

Cooper, Ty, Collin, Kyra, Kara, Carter, Kristen and Haley

  The whole gang

As fall began to approach, we started making plans to spend our fifth winter in Wellton, Arizona.  We have grown attached to other "snow birds", "winter visitors". that come each year to the Tier Drop RV Park.  We have made friends from Canada, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon, and Texas.  As we made the 2,000 mile trip down with a stop in Colorado to visit family there, we started thinking and praying about what we would do with the Whale.  It becomes too costly to drive that long of a distance back and forth and then to pay for summer storage, so we decided we would put the Motorhome up for sale or at least cover it and leave it in Arizona.

We really are amazed at the sky painting the Lord has for us in AZ.

I posted on Craigslist and in just a few days we had a couple, Donnie and Marie, come to look at it.  She wanted to take it right away, but they also had a few other RVes they wanted to look at.  We began to wonder where would we live and what would we do with all of our belongings stored in the Whale, if it were to sell.  So, we began our search for a Park Model.  They are basically a small version of a mobile home.  

We took some time to drive up to Las Vegas to spend Thanksgiving with my Mom and our daughter and her four kids also came down to spend some time with us.

We found a well cared for 1989 Fleetwood Park Model for a very good price at another Park about five miles on the other side of Wellton and we paid a guy to take it apart and reassemble it here in Tier Drop.  We had to get approval for it all, but they got right to moving it after Thanksgiving.  It was quite the process to move it in three parts.

 The first step was to take it apart.

 The main part was brought in first. This started on Nov. 30th.

 Next came the Arizona room

 The third part was the porch and awning

 We spent our first night in the Park Model on Tuesday, Nov. 5th

 The couple came back to buy the RV and so we were able to pull it next to the Park Model (home #33) and empty it out, wash it and drove it away on Wed. the 6th.  It was sad to see that home be driven off, but it's not far away, just across 11st in another Park.

This is now our morning view.

We are still working on putting things together on the inside, but here are a few pictures:

Kitchen

Bedroom




Bathroom

Most Park Models are about 400 sq ft.  We are allowed to add Arizona Rooms.  Ours adds about 156 sq ft extra.  Currently, we are using it as a second bedroom/storage room.  It's still a work in progress.  The place came furnished and then we added in everything we had in the RV, so we are stuffed with stuff.




Arizona Room

 Our address from Oct to March
28320 E. County 11st #17
Wellton, AZ   85356

It's been a whirlwind of putting things away and finding room.  33 (because it's our 33rd home), came furnished so we now have more stuff than we came down with.  There were totes full of Christmas decoration and hangers already on the roof, so we put some up.

 

We will be driving up to Mom's in Las Vegas to spend Christmas with her.  Our oldest son, Todd and his fiance, Jennifer, will be flying in along with my younger brother, Dave and Cathy from Phoenix.

We pray that you are able to enjoy the wonderful blessings of the season!

Blessings,
Craig and Kathy