Memory Journey Day 8 -12
Location: Iowa Park, Texas; Seymour, Texas
Although we say we are going home to Iowa Park, my parents moved here after I left home for college. We moved around a lot for my entire “raising” years but after I moved out of the house they settled down in this small bedroom community outside Wichita Falls, TX. This may explain why I always had to run and stop them when we moved to get in the car. (just kidding, mom.)
This afternoon we drove to Seymour, Texas. The next 24 hours became one of the most memorable experiences of my life.
http://www.cityofseymour.org/
Day 8 and 9 (Saturday & Sunday, July 1 & 2, 2006) - What happens when you return to a special place and special people after beingseparated for twenty years and two days?
A slight glimpse of eternity!
Saturday night and Sunday morning was a great reunion with many friends who influenced our lives. It was a joy seeing our eternal friends. I was also very pleased to see so many of our “kids” still involved in church.
(See “My Father” page 108 and “Michael” page 64 in the book for more about Seymour.)
My father was raised in Seymour and baptized in the church I later served in twice: Full-time, Feb – Dec 1978 and part-time 1984 – 1986.
I enjoyed both times and view these times as some of our most productive ministry experiences. The time I am most proud of is the short 10 month 
period, probably because I was full time. Even though we had to take Michael to Dallas for weekly treatments for his “club feet” we still had weekly bible studies, weekend activities, after school recreation for Grade school, open gym times, a two week mission trip to Denver, retreats and lots of fun. I had wonderful help from parents and an amazing church family that supported us in unnumbered ways.
I love this church family more than I can express.
I am now convinced, when I left the church in 1978, I left prematurely, out of the Lord’s will. It took several years for us to recover from this miss-step. God blessed, but I missed a greater blessing and hurt the ministry by not seeking the Lord when a few things didn’t go the way I thought they should
Sunday evening we returned to Mom’s house for an evening book signing. We had great response, including Paula (my daughter-in-laws mom) who came from Decatur, Etoy, my brothers mother-in-law and many of Mom’s friends. One of the most exciting visits was with Marie. Marie is Dr. Balch’s daughter-in-law. (See “My Father” page 108) Dr. Balch was a pastor in Seymour who won my father to the Lord. 
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Day 10 (Monday, July 3, 2006) - I worked on spreadsheets today for my day job, IBSA.
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Day 11 (Tuesday, July 4, 2006) - A day for rest. Enjoyed the day with Mom.
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Day 12 (Wednesday, July 5, 2006) - Travel day to Odessa, TX.
We decided to take a detour through Olney.
(see “Mema’s House" page 33)
My maternal grandparents lived in Olney.
It was heartbreaking to see a cleared lot where Mema and Papaw’s house once stood. All that remained from the ground scraped level were a few bushes that used to keep me awake on windy nights as they scraped against the window screen, a few fence posts and one end of the clothesline.
One lone sunflower stood in defiance of the cleared ground.
We also drove by the church where I accepted Christ as my savior.
(see "Beginning of My Eternity" page 86)