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Destiny got home from our Florida winter in time to compete in a Nazerene youth competition called Extreme. We found out the rules last minute, and realize the things we prepared over the winter, weren't going to work after all. YIKES! We quick ran outside with the camera for 2 shots, one landscape and one portrait, and hoped for the best. It was VERY brown in Kansas at the time, so we had to work with what we had. Bleh. I had her use my "big" camera, and after a quick photoshop tutorial, let her go to town. She did great!     Then the song, we went round and round and round, and at the last minute, she came up with Francesca B. "This is the Stuff" since she knew all the words from the radio. Here goes nothing...... You can watch the video here. https://www.facebook.com/daleandtonya/videos/10158469140160230/ She was super nervous and swayed alot, hee hee, but still got a 1 rating on both her photo entries and the song and moved on to MAX, the regional competition in Olathe. YAY! We decided to make a fun weekend of it, go to IKEA, book some essential oil classes and see our friends in the area.  I fell in love with these lamps from IKEA for our retro kitchen. LOVE the pop of orange! We got this HUGE hanging one, and the matching lamp one that will be altered for hanging above the sink.  To give you an idea of how huge and awesome this one is, let me share another pic with the kids in it, for perspective!  On to the FERCHOS for some F U N! Remember the RV family we met last Spring? I LOVE that the Lord orchastrated all the details for this amazing meeting. Dale and Dawson met, then Tiffany and Tonya, Sophie and Summer the dogs, and all those fun kids that fell stair step to each other and got along AMAZINGLY from the start. www.rvoilers.com/blog/meandering-the-midwest  It was a Ferguson Fercho reunion! :) We went to church together, hung out at their house several days, just talking and catching up while the kids played.  We drove in to watch the competition several times throughout our stay..... Avery found her photo right away!  We got to hear the College choir sing, that was super awesome! https://www.facebook.com/daleandtonya/videos/10158619012745230/?l=5483768151054113180 Here is Destiny's performance: https://www.facebook.com/daleandtonya/videos/10158618999545230/?l=3461767273288885427 We found out at the end of the weekend, that she got 2 perfect scores from 2 different judges on the Avery photo, the log one also got a 1 and her singing got a 1. YAY Destiny! Now that we had our girl back, we planned to hang out with Fercho's and get all caught up! Tiff took us to the Freezing Moo, a super COOL rolled up ice cream place!   I got the Pink Lady, which was vanilla base with graham cracker, fresh strawberries and sweetened condensed milk. I got to pick 3 toppings so I just did those 3 again, SUPER yum!  Watch how they do the ice cream rolling here: https://www.facebook.com/daleandtonya/videos/10158618924670230/?l=3876085257283225106 They had a printer so you could print your rolled ice cream selfie.  We also got to go enjoy a day at the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead. Free after 2pm during the week and SO DARLING!   It was a gorgeous warm spring day, and perfect for goat feeding, enchanted forest walking and playing on the barn playgrounds. They had so many cool animals, and exhibits too! The old school room was really neat too!  Check out these CRAZY rules for teachers of 1872!!!!!  The GIANT wind chimes in the Enchanted Forest was my favorite part. They sounded amazing! I made sure to get a video of it, but its on facebook, so use this link to go take a listen. www.facebook.com/daleandtonya/videos/10158618997645230/?l=419352533112005713 | Is that not the BEST sound?!  Hope you all had an amazing weekend and start to your week! Sending blessings and hugs from the Fergusons...
~T
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This is the year of WEDDINGS! So once again, I turned to Stitch Fix for my second ALL DRESS Fix! And once again, they didn't disappoint! I got my fix at my Momma's house, so I had NO shoes or accessories to try on with the outfits, but you can use your imagination. Momma was sweet enough to photograph this fix for me, and guess what?! She is going to order her OWN Stitch Fix now! She was impressed with the high high quality fabrics and fully lined dresses. MARKET & SPRUCE Maeby Knit Dress I found this one too baggy and shapless! Into the NO pile it went...  GILLI Viola Knit Dress This one was cute, but it kept wrinkling weird on top. SUPER soft, stretchy navy, pinky, purple and light blue fabric. Sad to see it go! Would've been darling with navy wedge heels! No pile.  SKIES ARE BLUE Phiona Embroidered Dress I LOVE this one! SO cute and pockets make me SWOON! Totally a keeper with cute sandals and red accessories. Casual enough for shopping, but dressy enough for an afternoon out or lunch with the girls. YES pile!  GILLI Ryland Knit 2fer Maxi Dress Darling long maxi dress, but heck no. I hate that the top fabric in NO way matches the bottom, and let's be honest, it is doing something super weird to my top half! No pile.  41HAWTHORN Erika Dress This dress is AMAZING! I feel like the photo is a bit too high to showcase the awesome lines of this dress, but use your imagination. Its really classy length, nice and fitted to show curves, but approriate and super perfect for a wedding with some dressy black heels and fun hot pink and black accessories! YES pile for sure. My fav! I will try to get a better photo of it at the wedding I will wear it to this summer.... :)  Ready to try Stitch Fix with Momma B? Use my referral link and then come tell me how much you loved it!
https://www.stitchfix.com/referral/3137778 Hugs & happy shopping! ~ T We are having a ball at our Home Sweet Shed apartment, watching it start to come together has been so amazing! We have a LONG way to go, but I wanted to show you what's happening as of now......  Here is what you see when you first walk in the door. I am SO excited that my funky orange retro chair that started the entire "theme" of this apartment house, fits right where I imagined it would....by the future under the stairs library shelves! The kitchen is to your right, and the living room to your left of here. Our builder, Dan Miller, was out here less than a week working half days, and still got ALL THIS DONE! He is AMAZING! He will be back out in a few weeks with the windows that are on order. Paxton loved watching him work each day! And yes, it was chilly enough here for heavy coats. Sigh. Good thing I am excited to build this, or I'd be bemoaning the fact that we left sunny Florida for this! ;)  Here is from upstairs looking down into the open living, dining and kitchen area. That loft you see, is one step up from the upstairs, and will be our "Game loft". Like air hockey etc. I'd also like to set up a chair by the window looking into the forest. That rectangle window on the left will move over to the stud, and we are stacking a second window that opens above it. Floor to ceiling windows in the loft? Yes please! I am a BIG natural light gal! :)  This next photo is taken, standing in the game loft area, and looking into bedroom area....half bath to the left, then bedrooms. The open area Dale is in, will be a small TV area that I want to decorate with the movie theater decor I have had forever! I cannot WAIT for the FUN PARTS of this build, like PAINTING and DECORATING!!!!! :)  A family friend of ours from New York came out to help Dale put up a garden shed that matched the big shed. They got that thing whipped out in like 3 days! Thank you, Ray! :)   Hee Hee! I told Paxton not to get any paint on his clothes. So Undies it is! I am so thrilled how it turned out and matches our "Big" shed perfectly!!!! :)  Stay tuned, hopefully more progress to come SOON!  There's no place like home! :) Hope you are having a wonderful week! Hugs, T  We were blessed to be home for Easter, and enjoyed each of our families for this celebration of a Risen Saviour! Dale's 36th birthday fell on Good Friday..... We didn't have anything big planned, but as is tradition, the birthday boy gets to pick what we do that day, what we eat, or where we GO eat, if they want to eat out. First stop was headed up to his momma's restaurant for lunch. While we were there, he noticed a guitar case in the corner..... "Whose guitar?" he asks his mom. "I don't know!" she says perplexed. "Guess you better open it and see....." the kids and I chime in. Oh the look on his face when he realized HIS. Love it! He kept sputtering, "But - but - but I don't know how to play it...." WELL buddy, then owning one is a GOOD FIRST STEP! Right?! :) hahahaha Destiny, Avery and I had snuck down to the guitar shop on the guise of "shopping to use a certificate" Destiny had won at a downtown boutique....got a heck of a deal, and slipped the gift into the corner while Dale was in the kitchen visiting with his chef brother. We picked that gorgeous multi colored one they called sunrise or something, you can see it about 5 guitars back. The nice guy at Sparks music, Todd, threw in a case, a strap, pick and some instruction to boot! YAY! :)  As long as I have known Dale, he has wished he could play! Well, now is as good a time as any, since he is retired and has TIME on his hands! Besides, how amazing will this be, when we can all sit around a fire at an RV park, some quiet starry evening, and have worship time. (chills already!) He is already doing a good job using you tube to teach himself some chords.....  He sure must love us, because he picked MY favorite sushi place for supper, Freddy's for their amazing ice cream sandwiches for dessert, and Lego Batman movie for the kids afterwards. We have a cool domed screen movie theater in town that shows full length movies at a lower price. I love that you feel like you are moving because of the dome shape, pretty stinking cool!  Love the first Lego movie, I wouldn't waste my money on the Batman one, unless you need a nice place to nap! Dale and I both had a nice siesta. Shh, don't tell! The next day was our first Easter celebration with Gigi and Nana.....they had been hard at work preparing a two house egg hunt for the kids. They were SO excited I was actually going to let them EAT whatever was in those eggs!!!! Some had gourmet jelly beans (supposedly dye free), some had marshmallow eggs, some had chocolate pb, some had money, some had slips of paper that said book or movie. I unearthed a bin of gifts, New Testament Jesus movies and the Christian Bearnstein Bear books. PERFECT!
We played Hand & Foot, the awesome card game with Skipo cards, and then ate Ham sandwiches, veggies, chips and all kinds of yummy stuff. We headed home by 7, for pie making, showers and early bedtime. It was going to be a busy Easter Sunday with Destiny singing in all 3 services with the youth, and Dale's big side of the family getting together after. The Easter service was fantastic and the worship had me in tears many many times. It just hits you at times, how incredible the gift we were given. The gift of VICTORY, the power of the BLOOD OF THE LAMB, the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus. The sacrifice. Wow.  We headed the 40 minutes out to the farm to spend the day with Dale's side of the family....I used to try to coordinate our outfits every year. This year, I was just happy to dig in our storage and find things that were warm enough for everyone on this coolish day! Hahah! Priorities have changed :)   Lunch was incredibly delicious, and as soon as they were allowed, the kids changed out of their nice clothes and headed out to see the animals and play with their cousins.  I have to show you, Avery and Pax made the CUTEST carrot dip....it was 2 things of cream cheese softened, green onions, a couple tablespoons dill and ranch dressing powder. Shape like a carrot, pat with cheddar cheese and allow to harden. Before serving, carefully lift top of carrot to add washed parsley. Serve with crackers. IT WAS DELICIOUS and darling!  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and a really happy Easter celebration! HE IS RISEN! Death had no hold on our Saviour.....Hallelujah! Hugs, T  The photos in the following post come from news sources, friends and family that took photos, as we were not here for any of this part. March 5th we got word that the area right by where we built our home sweet hub, was on fire. All our neighbors were being asked to evacuate..... We started praying and continued the rest of the day, the kind where you breathe in, and breathe out a prayer. They were able to get it out, and watched hot spots for a while, but a few days (a day?) later, it all flared up again, WORSE this time by horrific winds.   March 6th - The wildfire is 0% contained as of this morning. Firefighters are weary they have been fighting fires for 4 days straight. At this point we had no word on how many structures were destroyed. 10,000 people have been evacuated out of homes at this point, and schools are cancelled. Our area was evacuated again, and this time people were reporting seeing flames from their deck before pulling out. Things were getting bad bad bad! We had heard nothing about our property, but continue to remain hopeful that all was well. We were praying without ceasing for the firefighters and families effected by this tragedy! These are the last photos we saw of the area close to our home for days and days until they started letting people back in.....   We had no idea if our property was fine, or if there was damage from flying debris, or the fire itself. Because our streets grasses burned up to the property line that first fire, we were hopeful that helped to prevent new blazes. We felt so helpless! But if we were home there is nothing we could've done anyhow. Crazy feeling...so we lived it all through news outlets and facebook posts of friends.
 March 6 evening Facebook post on my wall.... Fire crews are forming a line on north edge of Hutchinson along the road. Standing in the gap between the city and fire. They just told the firefighters to only fight the fires you can reach from the road!!! THIS JUST GOT REAL. A HUGE area of the rural properties is being evacuated, literally from our old house north east of town, to our new property north west. WOW. Oh Father, we cry out to you for rain, for protection, for your power and presence. Wake the people that need to get OUT, grant safety for those traveling away from the fires now. Give the firefighters energy and stamina that only comes from you, protect them, Father. Protect the people, the animals, and the homes in the path of this blaze. Calm the winds with your hand, Jesus. We need you now, to surround Hutchinson, Ks with your protection, mercy and grace. We ask all this in your mighty name.....Amen. (so be it!) I am far far away from Oz, but my hometown is near my heart tonight! I will pray long and hard for you all! I am praying over our home there as well, that was already spared once today, praise you Father! xoxoxo ~T From fb news outlet "At 7 a.m. the fire was 0% contained and estimated to be 1/2-1 mile wide, 25 square mile area was evacuated and most are still unable to go home."  There were other fires too, all at the same time, in Oklahoma and Texas! We are so thankful for the fire fighters and the days and days they were out there risking their lives to save peoples homes! There are some heart wrenching stories about total loss of lives, animals and livelihoods in those ranching areas. Our town lost 7 houses total and we were told that only one life was lost, from smoke inhalation. It could've been so much worse! We saw SO many houses with burned marks up to green grass where sprinklers and fire fighters kept homes safe. It was within 15 feet of many homes!!!! Including our neighbors house..... We found out the fire had burned down our road, literally straight for us. The winds switched and the blaze turned left, went around our precious neighbors home, and kept burning the entire prairie behind her place. WOW. Wow wow wow. Sometimes, there are just no words.  March 23 As we walked our property today for the first time since the wildfires, I had complete chills and utter disbelief, at how close the fire was to our place.... I was even more shocked to see 3 distinct burn spots out back, that clearly never spread. As in, we can see where the log burned but nothing to the left or right is touched. I can only assume the fire fighters were near by (Thank you to those hard working heros!) or the hand of the Father is miraculously shown here! And GLORY to my Father in Heaven for sparing our home so clearly......the closest tree that burned, is 20 feet from our shed. I am also so blown away and blessed by the nudging of a spirit filled friend, who called to encourage us to plead the Blood of the Lamb around our belongings, WEEKS before this occurred. I have no doubt this is the answer to that prayer and testimony of the POWER of the blood fo the Lamb! Thank you, Jesus! Lots happening around here this week, the builder came. I will show you photos soon! :) Hugs, T Here is a slideshow of the trees from our backyard: Many April Fool’s Day’s have come and gone without me “celebrating”. However, there were a few occasions I participated in the fun of it all. The first trick I ever played on Dale, was filling his toothbrush with Orajel. It was so stinking funny.... "My mouff is num......why ith my mouff numm?" Hahahahaha! But, the BEST April Fool’s joke I played on Dale was this: Meet Elvis. Our lovable mutt who has since gone to doggy heaven. You’ll need to know who he is for this story to make any sense.  So, many many years ago, I called Dale’s phone while he was at work, hoping he’d answer, but it went to voicemail. Darn. Oh well, this could work on voice mail. So, I started working the tears and tearful voice up, as it was time to leave a message. When he played it back, this is what he heard: ”[sob sob sob] Dale? [sob sob sob] Elvis [sob sob sob] Blood [sob sob sob] Dead!” And hung up. Oops! I instantly feel guilty. I hadn’t lied, right? I only said 4 words with pretend sobbing in the middle. Oh man, what a mean message! With no chance to go back and say “April Fools” at the end, I quickly called him back and left him a second message laughing hysterically and telling him it was all an April Fool’s Day joke. There, now my conscience was a peace. The rest of the story I had to hear from Dale and his brother: Apparently, Dale had just stopped over at his brothers house, to hang out between insurance appointments, when he saw he had missed a couple calls from me during his last appointment. He quickly called voicemail to retrieve messages. He hears my sob message and in an instant, springs to his feet: “I gotta go!” he yells, throwing down the remote and bolting out of the house. “What the heck?!” says his brother, watching Dale run full speed out to his car. About the time Dale reaches his car door, and flings it open, fully prepared to jump in, speed home to my rescue and see poor Elvis’s demise, he gets my second message. “Ah, geez." he says. "She got me. SHE GOT ME!” he yells back to his brother. Hahaha, this is still my favorite April fools memory! One year we saran wrapped the door the kids have to walk through before coming to the kitchen, another time, we tried to switch the boys into the girls room and the girls into the boys bunks while they slept. We had just about done it when toddler Pax pops up, NEW BED?! Darn it! We got Dale good with a mid dinner water glass switch. He took a huge gulp of water one drink, and by the time he picked it up again, it was 7up. He about spit it across the table! hee hee :) It's harder to think of tricks in our tiny RV house we now live in, but we did our best. Here is a breakdown of how the day went: We started the day with school and chores. I carefully wrapped a rubber band around the kitchen sprayer, so whoever ran it, would get a watery surprise. Poor, poor Avery got sprayed with a rubber band wrapped kitchen sprayer during morning chores. She turned on the faucet and WOOSH! She is short enough it got her face and neck. She stood there for a second completely dumbfounded before reaching to shut it off. She thought it was hysterical! So did her siblings! One down, 4 to go. ;) Destiny was at a youth event and wouldn't be home until the next day. So, I simply texted her that we had changed our mind and she needed to come home:   We were rapidly approaching supper, and I had yet to trick the men in my life....we were cashing out some Book Its at Pizza Hut, so I had a devious idea hit me on the way home.  I was going to take out the boys personal pans and put something gross in the box. They, of course, wanted to devour the pizza as soon as we got in the door, but I made them go wash up and put on jammies for bed, to buy myself some time. I quickly hid their personal pan pizzas inside the large pizza box, and grabbed 2 brown banana I use in my smoothies and dropped them inside. It was actually about the right weight, and felt very "real". Yessssss! Now, we wait....... Ty opened his box first.  Then it was Paxton's turn......his look in this image says it all. Avery found the whole thing quite hysterical!  Ahh, so funny! And yes, I gave them their pizza back right after this photo! In the end, I never did figure out something to do to Dale. I will try try again! Mr. Ty got me good.......I took a HUGE swig from my water bottle and spewed it all over the place when it was apple cider vinegar. GROSS!!!!! Little troublemaker! I dumped a glass of cold water on him in the shower later to get him back. Before you feel sorry for him, know that he has done this to me 3 times, NOT on April fools day!  I hope this made you smile and brightened your day. I am always honored when you come visit us on our blog! :)
Hugs, T  2 years ago today, we handed over the keys to our home of 12 and a half years. The only home we have ever known, actually, and set out on the biggest adventure we had yet to experience. If you have done some reading on this website, you know the Lord moved BIG, 3 times in 3 days, to make it clear we were to hit the road. And boy are we glad we listened! But lets go back 2 years....we were hopeful, we were excited, but this moment, captured below in a photo, we were scared and mourning a big chapter closed. This final moment, of no turning back, was VERY difficult. Were we doing the right thing? Would we regret our decision? What if we didn't like life on the road? What if we wished forever more, for this home back?  This is the home we came home as Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson. This is the home that we lost 4 little newly growing Fergusons in utero, and after a season of fear and surrender, brought 4 beautiful incredible miracles home to. The 4 little Fergusons you know today, in this place,the only home they have ever known..... We laughed here, we had water fights in the kitchen, played flashlight hide and seek, made forts under the table, played games by the fire in the living room on cool evenings, knelt for prayer on these floors, cried out on the sidewalk WHY in the early morning hours of sunrise. We watched snowflakes lazily falling from the kitchen window while baking banana bread in our kitchen. We made steaks (long story) and s'mores on skewers over the fireplace here, went for a walk in the pasture to watch the sunset, and buried beloved family pets out back with homemade wooden crosses. We planted gardens here with excited children, got chased by mean roosters, and celebrated new life as a baby chick would peer out from under momma during egg gathering time. We planted fruit trees in Papa's honor, watched the windmill lazily turn in the breeze, built a tree house for the kids, and watched them zipline out of it. We cried, mourned and fought for our marriage here. We celebrated beauty from ashes within these walls, as a new in Christ couple, and restored family. We loved on Papa in his final weeks, here, in this place. These sticks and bricks that form walls. These walls that house laughter, love and so so many memories.... How on earth can you ever put into words, the things that make a house....a HOME? I couldn't. So instead, this is what I put on facebook that day:   We handed the keys over to a family the Lord hand picked for us, to make the transition even smoother. We are thankful for them and their love of our home, an answer to their 2 year long prayer for a country property!  # What a leap of faith and blessing this adventure has been.....and continues to be. We plan to continue to travel and see state #48 this year and pin it on the map. (Working on Alaska and Hawaii sometime too!) We are excited to hit all the states again, and see more amazing sites and meet more amazing people. There is so much more out there to do, experience and see, and our bucket list continues to grow.....
 I wouldn't have even dared to dream up this kind of life for our family, and I love that the Lord just knows what we need and allows us the blessing of walking in His perfect will. I am forever grateful for a Father in Heaven, who makes beauty from ashes, and blesses our obedience 100 fold. ❤ You could tell me today, "Tonya, I will give you back the keys to your home and country property, but in return, you have to give me the RV keys and stop traveling." And I would tell you, no thank you. We don't need sticks and bricks because.... Wherever we are together, THAT is HOME. Hugs, T  |
Tonya Ferguson
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