I ain’t gon’ lie—moving to Worland has been a difficult adjustment—even more so, in a lot of ways, than many of the places I lived overseas. I think it’s just that life for us, right now, is so full of transitions—marriage, moving, new jobs, etc.—and all of this in the same year. Also, every time I’ve moved away in the past, I knew for exactly how long (well, give or take a month or two). Though we both eventually want to return home to TN, we have no idea how long we’ll be away. We just trust that decision to God’s guidance and perfect timing.
We’re both homesick, but it seems to be hitting me a bit harder. I think it’s because I’d just recently been so long and so far away from home & my family, while I was overseas, that I wasn’t ready yet to move away from them again. It seemed I’d been everywhere and done everything and realized that, out of all that, building strong relationships with those closest to me is what matters in the long run. It always seemed like I had the tendency to love the world and neglect the few; now I’m becoming the opposite. I’ll never be able to mentally neglect the world—it’s just not how God designed me, but I now see quality as more important than quantity because of some of my experiences overseas. But, for whatever reason, God has us on the move again, and through it I see how God is further molding me for His service through this experience. I can also see Him doing the same for Jason, in a huge way, and how it’s all working together to better us collectively, as a unit, for each other and for the Kingdom.
Despite the difficulties in transition, we’re starting to feel like we’re beginning to settle in a bit—for one, we’ve finally got our stuff unpacked, and that helps! The church not only helped in that physical unpacking, they’ve also been VERY instrumental in helping us adjust. Worland seems to me like the type of town where an outsider would have trouble getting submerged in local life. Because we had an “in” with the church folk, we had an automatic way to meet people and get involved in church and community activities. We’ve already had so many experiences we wouldn’t have otherwise had if people didn’t know and trust us from the get-go. We’ve been invited to dinner, invited to camping trips, invited to go swimming, invited on nature excursions, and had lots of people want to just show us around. People have picked up our tab at restaurants, given us furniture, and given us discounts at stores (these sorts of things can happen in a small town void of the big business attitudes and monopolies that choke small businesses and personable atmospheres.) We had a rental house waiting for us, through the generosity of some church folk, and our cupboards filled with food. I’ve even had people in the church help me find odd jobs and seasonal work. Sometimes when I’m homesick I sing, “…sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came…” When I think about the church, however, I realize that everyone DOES know our names (for the most part) and they ARE glad we came—and this helps.
At the time we were moving, there were only about 2 houses available to rent in the town. While there weren’t a whole lot of complicating options, the decision was made even easier by the kindness, generosity, and hospitality of the church family renting the house we now live in. It’s not a big house, by any means, but it’s much bigger than the place we were renting in TN. It’s got 2 bedrooms, 1 ½ bath, a kitchen (much bigger than our last), living room, study, and basement for storage. It’s perfect for our needs, though our tastes may have decorated differently! (I can say this without qualms because the odd color schemes and wallpaper designs are a humorous topic for a lot of conversations around here!) What’s funny about the kitchen wallpaper is that it’s orange (the countertops are red), and it’s covered with pineapples, among other things—and Jason’s allergic to pineapple! We joke about it being the “room of death!” While the kitchen paper is funny to those who know Jason, those who know me will get a kick out of the bathroom wallpaper—pink cherubs with gold glitter. I’ve never been one for the color pink or gold. But in the end, its good to have something to laugh about, and the colors of wallpaper really don’t matter in the long run. The house has lots of cool features, windows, and closet space. It’s also in walking distance to everything, including church. We love the house and are very thankful to have the use of it.
We’re also beginning to explore our surroundings. We spent some time walking up and down the main street (Big Horn Avenue), looking in shops, and trying out the few restaurants that are here. We have a McDonalds, and Arby’s, a Taco Johns, an A&W Root Beer, a Subway, three Mexican restaurants, and a few mom & pop type places. There’s no Wal-mart (hallelujah!), so there’s more small-town business. We have 2 grocery stores: IGA & Blairs, and a Pamida (which is kinda like a Big Lots or small kmart or something). One of my favorite stores is the Tru Value hardware store—it’s got a little bit of everything. We also have a movie theatre with 2 screens!
Mostly, we’ve spent time exploring the surrounding areas—most of the land around us is BLM land (Bureau of Land Management—nationally owned), which is just a bunch of open sage-bush type land and badlands, etc. There are a lot of BLM dirt roads, so we just go driving on the ones Jasper (our little Honda) can handle. Eventually we’d love to invest in a 4 wheel drive vehicle so we can explore the other roads and actually get to the dump and other places when it rains :), but that investment may be a good ways down life’s road. The land here has its own beauty. Sometimes it’s such a contrast from the extreme lush beauty of TN that we feel like we’re on the moon. We have to remind ourselves that this brown-grey desert of a landscape is beautiful in its own way. When we appreciate it as such and don’t keep comparing it to TN, its own unique beauty comes to life.
The thing I love best about being out here is all the rock formations, the open space (virgin land not raped by industrialization—land closer to the way God intended it), and the dry heat. There’s also a lot of fossils and dinosaur tracks, etc. Worland has been known to have some of the coldest temperatures (35-80 below) in the nation and some of the hottest (100-115 isn’t odd here). Strangely enough, to us it doesn’t feel all that hot or cold. We think its cuz there’s less humidity. We’ve experienced some cold, sub-zero temperatures already, but we may be changing our tune when we experience the heart of winter here (I despise being cold!—pray for us!). One of our favorite places is a nature trail hike in the badlands called Gooseberry. It’s got a lot of interesting rock formations and desert colors and rattlesnakes(!), etc. When we get sick of the BLM lands, we travel up into the Big Horn Mountains (in the background of the house pictures) where you can see lots of elk and moose, depending on the time of year.
We’ve also taken time to explore some of the surrounding towns (usually 45 min-1 hr away). We went to Cody (imagine Gatlinburg except about 10 times smaller), which was more citified and touristy. Cody has a rodeo every night during the summer and a wild west gun fight reenactment every evening. There’s a town called Greybull which we like—has a few nice shops, etc. Thermopolis is only about 30-45 min away. Its claim to fame is the largest mineral hot springs in the world. It really is interesting to see—the mineral deposit formations, etc. It’s also nice to soak in the hot springs! Thermop. is a nice town—several shops and restaurants. It has a health food store I like to frequent. Our favorite town by far, though, is the small town of Ten Sleep (about 300 or so people—which, I guess, is midsized, considering there’s a town nearby with a population of 10). It gets its name from being the middle ground between the Native American’s winter grounds and summer grounds (ten sleeps from the winter grounds, ten sleeps from the summer). It has a couple of shops (one we like called Dirty Sally’s) and a restaurant we like called Crazy Woman Café. They get their names from that Jeremiah Johnson movie (with Robert Redford), which was about events in the area. It’s a beautiful areas and a neat town.
People say Worland’s a small town (around 6,000 people with an elevation of about 4,000 ft or so) and there’s nothing to do here, but that just depends on your interests. I guess its all in perspective. We still very much miss home, but when we do, we try to drink the lemonade rather than focus on the lemons. We’re enjoying exploring and seeing new things and places. We’re thankful for the chance to experience life in another place.
We’re both homesick, but it seems to be hitting me a bit harder. I think it’s because I’d just recently been so long and so far away from home & my family, while I was overseas, that I wasn’t ready yet to move away from them again. It seemed I’d been everywhere and done everything and realized that, out of all that, building strong relationships with those closest to me is what matters in the long run. It always seemed like I had the tendency to love the world and neglect the few; now I’m becoming the opposite. I’ll never be able to mentally neglect the world—it’s just not how God designed me, but I now see quality as more important than quantity because of some of my experiences overseas. But, for whatever reason, God has us on the move again, and through it I see how God is further molding me for His service through this experience. I can also see Him doing the same for Jason, in a huge way, and how it’s all working together to better us collectively, as a unit, for each other and for the Kingdom.
Despite the difficulties in transition, we’re starting to feel like we’re beginning to settle in a bit—for one, we’ve finally got our stuff unpacked, and that helps! The church not only helped in that physical unpacking, they’ve also been VERY instrumental in helping us adjust. Worland seems to me like the type of town where an outsider would have trouble getting submerged in local life. Because we had an “in” with the church folk, we had an automatic way to meet people and get involved in church and community activities. We’ve already had so many experiences we wouldn’t have otherwise had if people didn’t know and trust us from the get-go. We’ve been invited to dinner, invited to camping trips, invited to go swimming, invited on nature excursions, and had lots of people want to just show us around. People have picked up our tab at restaurants, given us furniture, and given us discounts at stores (these sorts of things can happen in a small town void of the big business attitudes and monopolies that choke small businesses and personable atmospheres.) We had a rental house waiting for us, through the generosity of some church folk, and our cupboards filled with food. I’ve even had people in the church help me find odd jobs and seasonal work. Sometimes when I’m homesick I sing, “…sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came…” When I think about the church, however, I realize that everyone DOES know our names (for the most part) and they ARE glad we came—and this helps.
At the time we were moving, there were only about 2 houses available to rent in the town. While there weren’t a whole lot of complicating options, the decision was made even easier by the kindness, generosity, and hospitality of the church family renting the house we now live in. It’s not a big house, by any means, but it’s much bigger than the place we were renting in TN. It’s got 2 bedrooms, 1 ½ bath, a kitchen (much bigger than our last), living room, study, and basement for storage. It’s perfect for our needs, though our tastes may have decorated differently! (I can say this without qualms because the odd color schemes and wallpaper designs are a humorous topic for a lot of conversations around here!) What’s funny about the kitchen wallpaper is that it’s orange (the countertops are red), and it’s covered with pineapples, among other things—and Jason’s allergic to pineapple! We joke about it being the “room of death!” While the kitchen paper is funny to those who know Jason, those who know me will get a kick out of the bathroom wallpaper—pink cherubs with gold glitter. I’ve never been one for the color pink or gold. But in the end, its good to have something to laugh about, and the colors of wallpaper really don’t matter in the long run. The house has lots of cool features, windows, and closet space. It’s also in walking distance to everything, including church. We love the house and are very thankful to have the use of it.
We’re also beginning to explore our surroundings. We spent some time walking up and down the main street (Big Horn Avenue), looking in shops, and trying out the few restaurants that are here. We have a McDonalds, and Arby’s, a Taco Johns, an A&W Root Beer, a Subway, three Mexican restaurants, and a few mom & pop type places. There’s no Wal-mart (hallelujah!), so there’s more small-town business. We have 2 grocery stores: IGA & Blairs, and a Pamida (which is kinda like a Big Lots or small kmart or something). One of my favorite stores is the Tru Value hardware store—it’s got a little bit of everything. We also have a movie theatre with 2 screens!
Mostly, we’ve spent time exploring the surrounding areas—most of the land around us is BLM land (Bureau of Land Management—nationally owned), which is just a bunch of open sage-bush type land and badlands, etc. There are a lot of BLM dirt roads, so we just go driving on the ones Jasper (our little Honda) can handle. Eventually we’d love to invest in a 4 wheel drive vehicle so we can explore the other roads and actually get to the dump and other places when it rains :), but that investment may be a good ways down life’s road. The land here has its own beauty. Sometimes it’s such a contrast from the extreme lush beauty of TN that we feel like we’re on the moon. We have to remind ourselves that this brown-grey desert of a landscape is beautiful in its own way. When we appreciate it as such and don’t keep comparing it to TN, its own unique beauty comes to life.
The thing I love best about being out here is all the rock formations, the open space (virgin land not raped by industrialization—land closer to the way God intended it), and the dry heat. There’s also a lot of fossils and dinosaur tracks, etc. Worland has been known to have some of the coldest temperatures (35-80 below) in the nation and some of the hottest (100-115 isn’t odd here). Strangely enough, to us it doesn’t feel all that hot or cold. We think its cuz there’s less humidity. We’ve experienced some cold, sub-zero temperatures already, but we may be changing our tune when we experience the heart of winter here (I despise being cold!—pray for us!). One of our favorite places is a nature trail hike in the badlands called Gooseberry. It’s got a lot of interesting rock formations and desert colors and rattlesnakes(!), etc. When we get sick of the BLM lands, we travel up into the Big Horn Mountains (in the background of the house pictures) where you can see lots of elk and moose, depending on the time of year.
We’ve also taken time to explore some of the surrounding towns (usually 45 min-1 hr away). We went to Cody (imagine Gatlinburg except about 10 times smaller), which was more citified and touristy. Cody has a rodeo every night during the summer and a wild west gun fight reenactment every evening. There’s a town called Greybull which we like—has a few nice shops, etc. Thermopolis is only about 30-45 min away. Its claim to fame is the largest mineral hot springs in the world. It really is interesting to see—the mineral deposit formations, etc. It’s also nice to soak in the hot springs! Thermop. is a nice town—several shops and restaurants. It has a health food store I like to frequent. Our favorite town by far, though, is the small town of Ten Sleep (about 300 or so people—which, I guess, is midsized, considering there’s a town nearby with a population of 10). It gets its name from being the middle ground between the Native American’s winter grounds and summer grounds (ten sleeps from the winter grounds, ten sleeps from the summer). It has a couple of shops (one we like called Dirty Sally’s) and a restaurant we like called Crazy Woman Café. They get their names from that Jeremiah Johnson movie (with Robert Redford), which was about events in the area. It’s a beautiful areas and a neat town.
People say Worland’s a small town (around 6,000 people with an elevation of about 4,000 ft or so) and there’s nothing to do here, but that just depends on your interests. I guess its all in perspective. We still very much miss home, but when we do, we try to drink the lemonade rather than focus on the lemons. We’re enjoying exploring and seeing new things and places. We’re thankful for the chance to experience life in another place.
3 comments:
Great pics! The church is beautiful! So have you found any caves to explore around there yet?! Tell the McClouds hi for me :-)
This blog made me laugh and cry! OH, how much I miss you guys and Wyoming. Worland and the surrounding towns truly do have their own quirkiness that you have to love. Keep writing, sis, you are wonderful at it! Love you.
~Char
Thoroughly enjoyed reading about all your adventures and seeing all the photos! It helped us to feel like we experienced it right along with you! It seems a little weird to be writing on here since you are physically here visiting and not far away in Wyoming...so the rest of my comments I will tell you in person! :) Great job on the blog! Love you guys! Hope to see you soon as well, Jason! Sorry you had to work!
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