Hastings OK – Page 2 – The Home of all things Susie Raffey

Dave & Susie's Digital Scrapbook (DS), PBI to OKC & back March 2018, Road Trips by plane, train, or automobile

The Revival in Waurika

As I am not a huge fan of organized religion, my immediate reaction this morning upon hearing of the “Bible Quest Worship & Drama” schedule for the week at my parent’s church was, I hope my parents won’t want to come to this every night. Church every night, oh, that just seemed like a lot.

Ten minutes into the service, my thoughts changed to, I hope my parents want to come to this every night! It was awesome! One of their brochures says it best – You’ve never seen anything like The Master’s Storyteller. His name is Wesley Putnam, of Wesley Putnam Ministries.

Tonight, Elijah came to life as a New York Bronx cop. Tomorrow night we get to see Gideon as a Yiddish version of Barney Fife. The music was also amazing. A little mini-revival, is what I would describe it as, although I have never been to a revival before. I just know that it is absolutely entertaining and soul shifting – girls and boys young and old alike laughed until they cried and then tried not to cry when their heart started to stir. I saw it. I felt it. Powerful stuff, and I am grateful that I get to be a part of it at the First United Methodist Church Waurika, where I have been a visitor ever since I was born. I used to be visiting my grandparents, now it’s my parents.

On the way back to their house in Hastings, I took pictures of the sunset. Not bad, considering it is through the window.

If you ever have a chance to see Wesley Putnam, The Master’s Storyteller, I highly recommend that you do. Until then, you can find him at wesleyputnam.org. (And yes, we plan on going every night. I am so excited!)

Dave & Susie's Digital Scrapbook (DS), PBI to OKC & back March 2018, Road Trips by plane, train, or automobile

Hola from Oklahoma!

Hola, Hello, Hi, from Oklahoma where the air is dry, and sixty-five degrees and sunny seems like the perfect day. That’s how it was the day after I arrived. On Wednesday, however, when I flew in, it was in the 30’s, and I sure was thankful that I opted on bringing along the extra layer of warmth even though it meant carrying it from Florida, where it was in the 70’s at 5:30 a.m. when I left. Because, if you know me, you know there was no room in my carry-on for a jacket.

And yes, I was glad to have it, along with my hooded layer and my gloves while waiting for my parents to pick me up at 9:45 a.m., which was a little eerie. Never have I seen no one in an airport baggage claim pick-up area. There were three cars at the curb, but no people. Seriously, I was the only person around, at all. I found that so completely odd and I took a picture. Three, actually, looking one way, straight ahead, and then the other way.

Maybe it happens all the time, I don’t know. I am surprised though.

So my parents picked me up and we went to the buffalo ranch and spent the night, where I have no cell phone service. Therefore, Dave could not get a hold of me. The last he knew when he had talked to me, I was standing on the curb at baggage claim in the Oklahoma City airport where I had an eerie feeling because there was no one else in sight.

Was everything okay? Was something going on? Was I okay? Well thank goodness Dave didn’t torture himself wondering any of this. No, that is not Dave at all. He was more concerned that I knew he did in fact call. And I am so glad I have grown-up.

The sunrise in Hinton is something I love seeing every time we stay there.

Here, you can see the buffalo.

The next day we drove to my parents home and when we pulled up, my dad said, eyeing his garden, “Alright, we can pick asparagus for dinner!” I walked out there, looked, and said, “Where?”

He showed me and I said, “Oh wow!”

I picked enough for us to have for dinner, with some left over. I also left some in the garden to pick the next day. I have never had such fresh asparagus in my life. Man, it was excellent.

Dave & Susie's Digital Scrapbook (DS), PBI to OKC & back March 2018, Road Trips by plane, train, or automobile

The Garden Gym

My dad and I shared some laughs today when I started to ask what a hoe looked like. “Here it is,” I hollered upon seeing it, just as the image of what I was looking for came to me. I hurried over to the garden where he was waiting to show me where to plant potatoes.

“No problem,” I assured him, “I can hoe a row for poe-tay-toe!”

In fifteen minutes, I was feeling muscles in my back that I didn’t even know I had. Thank God they are not the same ones required to do the “asparagus cutting squats.” Between the two, I should be getting tone while growing good food – talk about a win/win.

20180313_162016 — The row of potatoes I planted

And speaking of winners, it was another hit last night as The Master Storyteller played Gideon. Tonight I am looking forward to the story of Jonah and the whale. I’ll be there at 6 p.m.! (Spoiler alert – he already said he is not playing the whale.)

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Happy Birthday Dad!

For your birthday dad, you get to drive two and a half hours to come get us from the airport! (Thank you, by the way!) Happy Birthday!!!

The only reason Dave and I did not miss our flight that morning is because we were the only ones on it. We got lost trying to find the long-term parking lot at the Fort Lauderdale airport and wound up paying more for parking than we did our airline tickets combined. At any rate, I couldn’t imagine my dad driving to DFW for nothing. I suppose it could have been a good reminder that their cell phone doesn’t belong in the kitchen drawer, but thankfully, we made it. And like I said, we had the plane all to ourselves.

Dave knew exactly where we were as we were flying over this west coast spot. Not that I doubted him, but I thought it was pretty cool when I compared the photo with the map to check his accuracy. And right on, he was! The GPS on the photo verifies it as well. So honey, here you go, the award for knowing where you are!

We got to Hastings and my dad gave us a tour of his Okra project – a drought-resistant variety he had been working on. We were looking forward to some fried okra with dinner.

He informed us that they had planned to take us to a barbecue they had been invited to for dinner and they weren’t planning on cooking. I tried to hide my disappointment, knowing that my dad would go out of his way to make some if he knew, which he did. He made some fried okra and served it up as an appetizer before we left for the barbecue. That was my dad.

We then went to the strangest barbecue I have ever been to. All due to my expectations, of course.

FPL was hosting this “barbecue” for Cotton Electric customers in Jefferson County, Oklahoma, which I thought was pretty funny!

The following day, we drove two hours north to the buffalo ranch. That would be the Wichita Buffalo Company at Sandy Springs Farm, owned and operated by my dad’s cousin. It is truly a sight to see.