Wichita, Kansas: July 10-13

Brian was stationed at McConnell Air Force Base from Nov 85 to May 89. It was a very special time in our lives because it was the first real home Brian and I shared after we were married. The first year of our marriage was apartment after apartment while Brian was in training. Bethany was only a month old when we arrived in Kansas, Jordan was born there, and I was expecting Aaron when we left. We met some very special friends in Kansas that have remained friends over the years.

The first thing we did was visit base housing to see what our first house looked like. We were not surprised by the addition of an entrance gate into the housing complex that wasn’t there before, but we were surprised to find our house and the adjoining house completely gone. Everything else was pretty much the same: the base ball diamond across the street, the surrounding houses, etc. But 2800 Arnold Blvd exists no longer. We took a picture anyway because the tree Brian planted as a sapling just before Christmas in 1987, was still there.We stayed with our dear friends, Cathy and Paul Lavender. These two special people led our 2:7 Discipleship group for two years. They had a huge influence on us as we grew in our Christian walk as adults. We had a great time together. Saturday morning we did a little site seeing in down town Wichita. We stopped at the famous HatMan Jack’s. I hear that this is where the rich and famous buy their hats. They were even scheduled to do the hats for Michael Jackson's up- coming tour until his untimely demise. We purchased our Tilley hats there. I think they look just great, but our kids threatened to not claim us as relatives if we wear them near them.


We then visited The Keeper of the Plains. The Keeper of the Plains is a 44-foot tall steel sculpture standing at the point where the Big and Little Arkansas rivers join together in downtown Wichita. This land between the two rivers is sacred ground to the Native American people. This impressive sculpture just gets more impressive with age and patina. It really takes my breath away every time I see it.

Paul, Cathy, me, and Brian

Rich Mullins mentions the sculpture it in his song Calling Out Your Name.

Where the sacred rivers meet
Beneath the shadow of the Keeper of the plains
I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name

I call it my Kansas song because every time I hear it, it reminds me of our time in Kansas.

That evening the Lavender’s took us to an impressive production of Taming of the Shrew. And we reminisced as they reminded us of when they came to me in The Princess and the Pea way back when at the Derby Community Theater.

We enjoyed going to church with old friends…new building, but old friends. We hadn’t seen some of them for at least a decade but the great thing about these friends is that when we walked into church Saturday night (a little bit late) they recognized us immediately, stopped the music they were playing and gave hugs all around. It meant so much to me. The following day the Lavenders had them all over so we would have time to visit and catch up on each others lives. It was great. We talked like it was only a week ago that we left. These are truly special people. It made me think of how heaven will be when we join loved ones who have gone before. What a day of rejoicing that will be!