We're back with more photos from our October homeland ministry trip!
On Monday we visited my 2nd cousin, Rebecca, and her family. Ellie and Ruby hit it off right off the bat. Thank goodness for cell phone cameras to catch the impromptu moments!
While Reni napped, Michael tried his best to join in with the girls, but in spite of what the photo above would indicate, he was pretty unsuccessful.
(below) Rachel, Rebecca's youngest sibling, is living with Nick and Rebecca and the kids while Rachel finishes out some schooling. It was a pleasant surprise to see her (in my defense, we didn't have our usual family reunion this past summer to catch up on news like that)! Rachel and I tried to give Rebecca a hand at making homemade buns for a church luncheon the next day. Let's just say they didn't win any prizes for uniformity in size or shape but thankfully Rebecca didn't seem to mind!
Reni has been a great traveler, happy so long as there is an ample supply of toys with wheels. Really, both kids have been fantastic travelers, enjoying the new people they have met and as well as seeing old friends.
While in Grand Rapids we parked our RV at the home of the Eernisses. Sharon used to work at Bethany (our adoption agency) and was a huge help to us while we were making our travel and court arrangements for Ellie's adoption back in 2006. On top of that, Roger has traveled to Albania to help on a construction project at the Bethany orphanage, so he knows of whence we speak when we talk about Albania! Even though Sharon is no longer at Bethany, we've kept in touch over the years with them having visited us in Kentucky in 2007, and us staying at their home for a Bethany adoption event several summers ago. Ellie is a big fan of their two dogs and Reni was a big fan of Roger's train table. The gift of the Lego cement mixer truck didn't influence Reni's feelings toward Roger either. Ahem.
Tuesday morning we made one more stop on our way out of Michigan and I sadly have no photos to share from this meeting (unless photos of sockets and prosthetic legs count). We were able to meet in person a mom I've only corresponded with via Facebook and e-mail until then! Her oldest daughter, Ella (10), is a bilateral amputee like Reni. While we didn't get to meet Ella because she was at school, we did get to have a wonderful conversation with her mom, seeing Ella's various prosthetics, hearing about her treatment and care over the years, and viewing first hand some modifications they made in their home to make life a bit easier for Ella. It was really, really nice to have made that connection (especially in light of the fact that we're meeting with Reni's Shriner's team in the morning). I have a feeling our paths will cross again!
We grabbed some lunch then said goodbye to Michigan as we started our trek down to Wilmore. We were glad to pull of the interstate just as it was getting dark to stay with Nathan's cousin Tim, his wife Marty, and their daughter, Tessa, in south central Indiana. It was Tessa and Marty's fall break week so though we were sad that our visit with Tim was rather brief as he had to leave for work quite early), we did enjoy a nice visit over breakfast with Marty and Tessa in the morning.
Now we are back in Kentucky for a few days! Our schedule is pretty full, but it feels good to be productive. We're grateful for some more speaking opportunities, as well as chances to make some more personal connections with individuals while we are back "home", as our kids call it. Right now though "home" is a bit of a nebulous idea...
No comments:
Post a Comment