ON THE ROAD AGAIN…BUT THIS TIME WITH AN EXTRA GUARDIAN ANGEL!

Jules’ Journal:

By: Julianne Lillie, 2/18/23

Extra Guardian Angel:

Many of you have heard by now that my precious Grandma, Jeri Wilson “Great Gram," passed away Friday, February 3rd. We were able to be with her that day and said our goodbyes as she moved on to be with her Lord and Savior in heaven. The last few months we’ve been home we were able to spend a lot of time with her and those moments and memories I will cherish forever. So thankful for this extra time we got to be with her.

Her funeral was Friday, February 10th in Clinton, Oklahoma at FBC. It was a beautiful celebration of her life where all 4 of us grandkids got a chance to share what she meant to us and our fond memories with her.

In addition my daughter, Jaycie, honored Grandma’s wishes of her playing “Here I am to Worship” on the violin to start the funeral service. That was one of Grandma’s favorite worship songs!

All the family was able to come, even my cousin Ryan (who is a missionary overseas) was able to fly back for the funeral.

All the girls wore one of her many “Grandma Green” scarves in honor of her. And many of us wore her fancy jewelry as well.

It was really a neat way for us girls to celebrate her love for fashion and glitz! This time with family was truly healing for me and provided me time to grieve and reminisce.

While we were home, I wanted to help my mom clean out her apartment at Tall Grass Living Center. My Grandma loved to keep EVERYTHING, especially pictures & cards, so there was much to go through and I didn’t want to leave all that work for my dear mother. So the 4 Js made daily trips up to Bartlesville for a week and got everything cleaned out and divided amongst our family. The hottest items were of course the Jeri Wilson original oil paintings! My Grandma had an amazing gift of handling a paintbrush and could turn a blank canvas into a gorgeous farmhouse scene or bouquet flowers in no time! Her art room’s walls were a divine art gallery! And all of her paintings that weren’t already spoken for by family, were quickly snatched up by her friends and staff at Tall Grass. I’ve already hung up my new paintings in the house and they will forever remind me of the amazing woman and gift my Grandma was to me. Here's a photo of one in my entry:

And it’s even more comforting to know that we now have an extra guardian angel in heaven watching over us as we set out for the second half of our trip! She will certainly be with us in our hearts every step of the way.

Basketball Wrap-up:

Jett was able to play most of his basketball games with his 5th grade OPA Lions team. He will miss the last 2 weeks of practices & games, but his teammates promised they would finish strong for him and coach Jason!

Jett was able to leave on a high note as he scored 6 points in his last game: one 3 pointer, one 2 pointer, and one free throw!

His fan club in attendance that game was so proud of him!

Exciting Adventures Ahead:

It was hard saying goodbye to all of our family and friends, but we are all 4 excited to head West in search of new adventures and hopefully warmer weather!

Our 2nd half of the trip is a little shorter than the first as it’s only 5 months. We plan to return end of July so that we’ll have 2 weeks to settle in and gear up for the next school year at Owasso Preparatory Academy (OPA). We left out early yesterday morning and are making our way to Page, Arizona. We stopped over last night in Amarillo, TX and will stopover again tonight in Albuquerque, NM. And then we’ll plan to arrive in Page, AZ by Monday afternoon. The plan is to spend a few weeks in Arizona and then we’ll make our way to Southern California. Early March we’ll be in San Diego and will zig zag our way into Nevada slowly making our way North. We’ll enter into San Francisco by late March and continue to zig zag our way into Utah (April) slowly continuing North as Spring enters. We’ll plan to tour northern California in mid-May then onto Oregon, reaching Washington by Jun. 1st. We certainly want to make sure most of Washington, Idaho, Montana, & Wyoming are thawed out by the time we get there!

We are looking forward to seeing friends and family that live in the western half of the USA. And we do have some family & friends that are making arrangements to travel and meet up with us along the way!

Jett is most looking forward to visiting San Francisco as he wants to ride in a trolley up the steep hills! Jaycie is most looking forward to meeting up with family in Utah, the Redwoods, Grand Tetons & Glacier Mountain National Park! She is also looking forward to capturing amazing photos & videos on her new professional Sony camera she got for Christmas! Jason is looking forward to exploring the larger, unique National Parks such as Grand Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, Joshua Tree, Grand Tetons, and Yosemite. But the thing I’m most looking forward to is meeting my new niece as we travel through Utah in April! I’m looking forward to all the baby snuggles & cuddles I can get!

Last night in our stopover in Amarillo, TX we were able to make our mark on Cadillac Ranch with spray paint.

Jaycie captured these beautiful shots with her new camera. She has such a great eye!

We also got to say hello to the 2nd Amendment Cowboy.

Today we continue west and just entered into New Mexico. We took a super short detour through Tucumcari on old Route 66. This town totally reminded us of Radiator Springs from Disney’s movie Cars. At one time it was a booming little town where everyone stopped for fuel & rest. But now mostly dust & tumbleweeds are left. We had to stop and stretch our legs and snap a few pictures. It was a fun little stop!

As we continue on our way west we’ve all been sharing some fond memories of Great Gram! I came across some fun pictures of when I was younger and would go on motorhome trips with her and Grandpa. She instilled in me a love for traveling and adventures at a young age.

She loved the New Mexico landscape and culture and often painted mesas and adobe houses. We know she’s looking down on us from heaven and is proud of us for continuing on our adventures! We are super honored to carry on her legacy of RV’ing and are extremely thankful to have an extra guardian angel watching over us.