It's been a long time!

I can hardly believe it's already November. We have been very busy. So I'll start from when we left
 Rochester.

We really enjoyed our down-time in Rochester, but we were eager to get on the road again. The beginning of October we were in Sioux Falls at a conference. We stayed with Don's sister, Ashley. The kids really enjoyed seeing their cousins again. After the conference we made the long trip to Montana. We followed my brother, Tim. It was two days of 10 hours each. The trip was uneventful. Wyoming was plain for the most part, but the mountains in Montana were certainly worth it! We stayed with my brother for two weeks visiting churches nearby. One week we stayed in a cabin for five days. The cabin was great and we had such a relaxing time there.

After Montana we had a meeting in Wyoming and then a missions' conference in Utah. The missions' conference was followed by another one in Colorado. The trip to Colorado was interesting. We drove a  few hours one day and a few the second day. Our hotel was in Wyoming and getting there was quite an adventure. We were driving through a blizzard just a few hours before our destination. The second day was sunny and nice and there was little if no snow in Colorado Springs.

Since the beginning of November we have been in Colorado. Some highlights have been teaching a Sunday school class of about 35 3-10 year olds,  helping Don in children's church with the same group and a trip to the dentist. A trip to the dentist isn't very exciting. I knew I needed to go eventually but kept putting it off. A toothache finally convinced me I couldn't put it off any longer.

We are currently staying in a mission house in Pueblo, Co. It's been so nice to be able to spread out and cook our own meals. The kids are enjoying having their own rooms.

We ordered new prayer cards recently and they turned out great. They have a different background picture and our family picture has been updated. Kathy was just 3 months old in the picture on our first card.

This Thanksgiving it will just be us. It'll be fun preparing my first Thanksgiving meal all by myself! I hope all of you have a fantastic Thanksgiving! Until next time...

Tabitha

And we are home...

We've been home for nearly two weeks now and I have accomplished much. I don't know what I'll do with the other weeks we're here! :-) I cleaned out the van a few days after we were here. This took a few days since we had rain two days during that time. But by  the beginning of this week it was done and Don took it to the car wash. He also vacuumed it out and it looks so nice I hate to fill it back up with things. Thinking about it I should have taken before and after shots because it is really shocking how messy our van was! We're going to be gone this weekend.  Hopefully by leaving some things behind and having things even better organized we can keep it clean better.

I also worked on reorganizing the rooms we occupy as well as they can be organized. Harry and Kathy's clothes needed to be sorted through and put away to be donated. This involved a shopping trip to pick up some new things for Harry. Praise the Lord for cousins that are older than Kathy! Her wardrobe for the winter is ready. A box of clothes from one of her cousins was waiting for us when we got back. This was such a blessing since many of her clothes were getting to be too short!

Clothes are washed, Don's suits have been dry-cleaned and I talked to our banker about having my new credit card sent early since we won't be here when the recent one expires. All-in-all it's been a pretty good two weeks.

Our next long trip out will begin with a conference in Sioux Falls, SD. From there we will head west. Pray for us as we consider what to do for Christmas. Christmas and New Year both fall on a Sunday.  Also, pray that God will help Don in setting up meetings and where to go.

Tabitha

Almost Home

 In less than 48 hours we will be home in Rochester. I've been looking forward to this for several weeks now and the end is in sight!  I will be so thankful to be able to settle into somewhat of a routine for a few weeks. True we are not home for good, but for a refreshing and that's always good. So, I'm hoping to try to do a few sewing projects, spend a few days alone with my darling husband, and yes, repack/reorganize the van. I know it's strange but I do love to reorganize and clean out things. With the temporary stay will come the desire to be in our own home, but I know in God's time we will get there!
 The next trip out then will be into totally unknown territory. I had been to a few states on the east coast but I have not been further west than ND, SD, and KS. We will be going to WY, MT, CO, UT, and maybe even as far as the west coast.

Tabitha

It's been a while

 Yes, it has been a few weeks and we have been busy! I'll just quickly go through the places we were before we got back to the midwest.
 While staying in New Jersey we visited a church on Long Island. On the way back to NJ that Thursday we drove through NYC and stopped at Liberty State Park to see the Statue of Liberty and Staten Island. Since it took us a few hours to get there we decided to skip going to the Islands and just took in the view from the mainland. It was pretty hazy that day and some of NYC was barely visible. We had a good time. Harry was excited to see the Statue since he had heard about it on a CD we had recently bought him. We ate at the diner there. It had a miniature Statue inside and Harry kept asking if the man was holding a flashlight! LOL!
 We stayed in NJ a few more days and then went to MD. From there we began making our way back west. We had a meeting in KY and OH before going to see my parents in IL.
 I really enjoyed seeing my parents again! I found out the day before we drove down that my brother, Tom was coming for a visit. So I got to see him and his family also. Aleksis and Ashton, my niece and nephew, were going to be there for a week. We had so much fun playing games, talking and being crazy!  The guys went fishing one day and the fish they caught tasted pretty good. I can't believe how much these kids have grown!  We had so much fun together that week!
 Sadly it came to an end. We headed north into the Chicago area and here we have been the past few weeks excepting one meeting in WI.
 Harry still amuses us with something every day!  Last week we were at a preaching conference. One afternoon we were waiting in the van while Don was getting changed in the hotel room and Harry asked me what he was doing. Me: "He's changing to go golfing with the preachers." Harry: "Oh...one day I can be a preacher!" Me: "Well, you be whatever God wants you to be, a preacher, a teacher, a storekeeper,...whatever God wants you to be."  Harry: "Yeah, I'll be what God wants me to be...I think He wants me to be a preacher!"  LOL!!  What will he say next?!  At night he's been praying "...bless us when we go help the Cashners in Scotland, and as we evangelize,..."  I don't know where he heard such a big word!  He is such a sweet kid, and yet other times! :-) He's looking forward to when he turns four and keeps telling people he's 3 but will be four on his next birthday.
 Kathy turned 16 months and will soon be 17 months. In the past 2 weeks she's had four new teeth come in. When we get back to Rochester I'll have to switch out all her clothes!  All of her dresses are getting too short! She talks so much and is a little parrot. Harry and she will jabber at each other in the van and then start laughing.  Sometimes the can have such a good time together!
 Along the way we've seen more playgrounds, had a few picnics and I've been shopping. Yesterday we were planning on going to the Brookfield Zoo, but the weather forecast said rain. Instead we went to the Shedd Aquarium and were glad we changed our mind. It didn't begin raining til after we were inside. The aquarium was really nice and it was an enjoyable way to spend the morning.
 Tomorrow we're going to visit with my family, brothers, in Marseilles, Il. Next Monday we'll be in Rochester!  I'm looking forward to being "home."

Tabitha

The East Coast

Wow! We have been so busy and seen so much in the past few weeks. We had one other meeting in Pennsylvania after being in Emmaus. We stayed with the Gables in Schuylkill Haven, PA. We really enjoyed the few days we were there. Since it was right before the 4th of July we were able to go to a fire works display on Friday night.
Saturday, July 2, we headed to Long Island. Harry loved all of the bridges we passed over, we did not love paying the toll! It took us an hour to get over the George Washington Bridge. While sitting in traffic we saw 23 or 24 different license plates.
July 4, we drove up to Fishkill, NY to spend the week with the Morrisons. We did a lot that week. When we arrived at the church we immediately left for West Point to see the fire works. The drive there was amazing. It was a very scenic route along the Hudson River. Don and I agreed that it reminded us of driving up Loch Ness. We had a really great time there. I'm glad we got there early because it was packed! The band played a few patriotic selections. They didn't start fireworks til 9:30. It had already been dark a while. Kathy didn't like the fireworks, but daddy was able to calm her down and she actually fell asleep. Harry loved the fireworks! We didn't get home til midnight and both kids fell asleep on the way home.
Friday we were going to go to NYC but only Don went. The kids had been up a lot during the night so we decided to let them sleep in. He really enjoyed it.
July 11 we drove south to Odenton, MD for a mission's conference. Don preached that night and the next two night were Bro. Castner to Chile and Bro Olsen to Zambia. I had met the Castners years ago so it was nice seeing them again. We went to Washington D.C. on Tuesday. The men walked around the Mall and the ladies toured the Smithsonian. It was so hot out. We enjoyed the air conditioned museum! We ate lunch at the museum and then walked over to the White House. Kathy fell asleep and Harry was tired from wlking by the time we left. The next day, Wednesday, Don watched the kids during nap time while I went with the group to Fort McHenry. It was much cooler out then it had been the previous days. I learned a lot about the battle of 1812 and how "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written. As we were about to leave the fort a park ranger came in and said they had to take down the flag because of storm warnings. The flag was a copy of the original; 15 stars and stripes, 32'x40'. So most of us in the group and others visiting that day were able to help put the flag away. It was a neat experience.
It has been great the way all of the things we've seen has been around the 4th of July; Indepence Hall, Liberty Bell, West Point, Washington D.C. and Fort McHenry. There's only one more thing I want to see before we head west again which will be in about 2 weeks and that is the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I'm hoping to talk Don into going there this Friday since were only about an hour away:) We'll see...
We left Maryland last Saturday and are now in New Jersey. This Wednesday we'll be on Long Island again, then after that Maryland again, then we begin to head west :(! I do like the east!!!
The Cashners will be heading to Scotland next month. How I wish we were going with them! We are still at about 36%.  I know God will get us there in his time! Keep Praying!

Tabitha

Pennsylvania

Out of all the states we've been to I believe I like Pennsylvania the best so far. It's such a beautiful state!! There's also so much history here. I love a lot of the towns with the very old, narrow, tall houses and porches. Many of these towns are built along a hill and some of the streets are steep. They have more of an old world feel about them.
We've driven through the Appalachians...literally. I don't know how many tunnels we went through from Pittsburgh to Lancaster.
On Wednesday we took another family picture. After we crop it a little we're going to print out a few to send to our supporting churches. Here's the one were going to use:

Tabitha