Cozy greetings from our family farm house in Central Illinois! The fields are bare and the eye can see for miles out here on the prairie! At times we think there is a train gliding by in the distance and we realize it's just the wind...
After 52 days of travel it feels good to unpack our suitcases, buy groceries, and catch up on be-lated office work -- like posting a re-cap of some of our travels on the blog! It refreshes our soul to re-connect with so many dear friends we have acquired over the years, but I must shake my head as I review these photos -- I'm not quite sure how we did it! Both in the number of people we saw (yet we still didn't see everyone we wanted to, we focused on folks we haven't gotten to see the last few trips back to the USA) and in the amount of food we consumed -- it seemed like a lot of our get-togethers were around fantastic meals!
I will just start off where I ended at the conclusion of September, which found us passing through southwestern Ohio! We saw our friends, the Saunders-Todd families! Shannon was a dear friend from Asbury. We enjoyed supper out at City Barbeque as part of a fundraiser for the agency where Shannon works, recruiting mentors to work with at-risk students in their area. Her mom (Christine, center) is one of those mentors!
The next morning we had breakfast with my mom's cousin, David, and his wife, Janet. Janet faithfully prays for our family and sends me sweet reminders of that fact. Little is more encouraging than that! After breakfast we got to visit the hangar where Uncle David (a retired Air Force pilot and flight instructor) is building his own plane. It was pretty fascinating!
We were in the Dayton area to coordinate with Ellie's check up on her eyes at Cincinnati Children's. When we adopted Ellie, she had strabismus and amblyopia, both of which are virtually undetectable now. Her eyes are stronger, allowing her to get new glasses with a less intense prescription! Then, the next day it was off to Shriner's to get Reni measured for his next set of boots/legs. We'll just keep that news a secret until we're ready for the big reveal in a few weeks!
We spent about half of October in Kentucky. In spite of the length of our visit, we still didn't get to see everyone we wanted! And not everyone we saw is featured below -- but here are some highlights...
First, Ellie sporting her new glasses. Next, Nathan snapped a pic with Luke, a barista at Wilmore's newest coffee shop. His parents serve with us in Albania! Bottom right, we reconnected with our former history prof, Dr. Spann and his wife, Shelley, when we visited their church in High Bridge.
Ever since planning this trip to America, Reni was INSISTENT we time our visit to Kentucky to overlap with the Goat Roast during Asbury's homecoming weekend. We launched the event in 2005 and since then it has taken on a life of its own, though the food and activities remain largely unchanged! The goat was the best I've ever eaten, Reni was thrilled to enjoy Ale 8 (a Kentucky soft drink similar to ginger ale), and the kids managed to snag tickets for two trips through the box maze!
October 7 we shared at WGM's Global Cafe`. I got more than a bit sentimental. It was like nothing had changed in the 7 years we've been away (this was the ministry we led for 13 years), except Ellie and Reni are older, though still enjoying the attention of the university students!
Our days were usually filled with home school, with lunches and dinners connecting with friends from 18 years of life in Kentucky!
(Top left below) We enjoyed seeing Nathan's cousin perform in a wonderful play called Silent Sky, the true story of Henrietta Leavitt who worked at the Harvard Observatory in the early 1900s. Bottom row, second from left Reni poses outside the theater next to a statue from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe film -- Asbury's Media building virtually doubles as a film museum with some pretty cool film memorabilia that impressed the kids.
The kids also got their wellness checks where we got quantifiable verification that they have indeed grown since our last visit to America. I can't remember the specific stats except that Ellie has grown 8 inches in the last two years. I don't think that surprised anyone.
Bottom left, I am sporting a lovely Kentucky necklace that was gifted to me so I would know I have friends in Kentucky who remember us! Wasn't that thoughtful?
It was fall break during half of our visit to Wilmore, so it allowed Ellie and Reni extra time to hang out with some of their friends. One afternoon they were invited to go swimming at a heated pool! I think it was warmer in the water than out!
It's a pleasure to see some of our former student friends grow their families and find professional success. (Bottom left) we got a tour of the Adkins' horse barn where they board and train horses on their small farm.
Bottom right -- we celebrated the news of our permanent residency visa with a silly photo in traditional hats.
(below) Top left: One day we drove up to Louisville to meet my college roommate, Lindsay, and her mother, Sandra, for a long lunch. A real treat!
Top Right: Then we met our friends, the Klines, in Frankfort on the way back to Wilmore. We hadn't seen them in several years -- we met in Hungary where we worked at a couple of English camps together, but have kept in touch over the years.
Bottom left: Our friend, Charlotte, treated us to Blaze Pizza and great conversation. I've become a new fan of ricotta on my pizza and love Charlotte even more!
Bottom right: A sweet friend from Daybreak Church surprised us with a gift card to Malibu Jacks and encouraged us to take the kids out for a couple hours of 'not work.' How thoughtful was that?
Before we even arrived in Kentucky, my friend Rebecca H@ake made sure to invite us to a wheelchair basketball open gym. The group meets on Thursday nights at First Alliance and folks are welcome to try out the sport of wheelchair basketball. Secretly I've been looking forward to the day when Reni would agree to try adaptive sports, but he has long resisted, not identifying himself with 'that community' (as disabled). He reluctantly consented to attend, and he (along with Ellie and Nathan) hopped in chairs.
We all had a bit of a learning curve to pick up the rules which are slightly different than for able-bodied basketball. By the end of the hour, Reni had made 5 baskets, which is no mean feat considering that in this situation, one is shooting from a seated position and for any additional momentum, one must shoot while rolling... The hoop is lowered for competitors under age 13.
Below Top Left: Another morning over Asbury's fall break, Charisse invited us to join her "Turkish Coffee" coffee club. We were joined by fellow colleague, Andy Bowen, and had some great, stimulating conversation with these women!
Top Right: my friend Delia recently moved to Jessamine County from Georgia and contacted me earlier this fall to tell me that she had 6 Albanian speaking students in her kindergarten classroom! We had a wonderful conversation with her and the ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher about Albanian culture and the ways in which the education system and methods differ.
Bottom row: more Asbury friends! And we haven't even included photos of everyone we met with!
We eventually left central Kentucky and made our way through Ohio. We stopped for lunch Saturday (10/19) in Cincinnati with some former Asburians... then stayed the night with another sweet family, hosting us on behalf of Faith Memorial Church. Bottom left you can see Nathan speaking at children's church. These kids have sent their offering in years' past to help the work in Albania! From there we hit the road again and a few hours later were crossing the state line into Pennsylvania!
Sunday night 10/19 we met these dear friends, the McCreadys. We became friends when their oldest was newborn. Now she's a freshman in college! (gulp)
Bottom left: we stayed the night with our friends, the Stevensons. Ms. Sue had some great crafting activities out for the kids to do (or at least I assume they were for the kids -- Reni sort of jumped in and went to down with glue, googly eyes, and foam leaves, ha ha).
Bottom right -- we had brunch on Monday with our friends, Bill and Jackie (siblings and roommates). They loaded the kids down with all kinds of candy and sent us with tubs of homemade fudge. If that doesn't show love...
Bottom left and right: Tuesday, 10/21. we made our way down towards DC where we met with the Lu family and the Harris'. We knew Kristie from some of our earliest days in student ministry and now she's married to a nice husband, Jack (who made sure our vehicle was road-worthy for the next leg!) with three kids of her own! Then we had supper with friends we made our first three years in Albania. I love that we can pick right up where we left off!
Wednesday we visited my dear friend, Jan. She took us to a great park on the GW Parkway to see the changing leaves, then we visited a few Smithsonian museums in the city. Reni wanted to buy virtually every mineral for sale in the gift shop near the gemstone collection. We wrapped up the day with a free guitar concert at the Kennedy Center. Ellie was in heaven, but Reni got bored, so we went outside and watched the crew team practicing on the Potomac.
Thursday's goal was to make it to Tennessee and reunite with John, our helper/intern/assistant for 11 months in the village. We hadn't seen him since Christmas day last year! But on our way we stopped for lunch with our friends Sam and Liz in Roanoke, Virginia. Sadly, I can't find our photo from that lunch together!
We arrived in Johnson City, Tennessee where we had a lovely evening with John and his parents. The next morning we visited Jonesboro, the oldest town in the State where John's family is from originally. They had some really neat little shops, including a vintage candy store with odd sodas, and then John's mom, Sarah, joined us for lunch at a great cafe downtown where we were introduced to some amazing pie (and I'm not really a sweets person)!
Friday afternoon we drove through a GORGEOUS corner of North Carolina to make our way to Toccoa, Georgia. Thanks to our dear friends, the Santors, we have made friends with a whole crew of folks at their church. In fact, Saturday night we had a great big reunion of folks from the group that came to Albania in August 2018.
After church Sunday morning we headed back up north slightly to Anderson, South Carolina. It was only my second time in that state, but oh my. It's just lovely. We saw our dear friends, the Mattoxes (bottom left). Ellie dubbed Margaret, a talented artist, the "professional scribbler" and it was a treat to see her little artist's studio, in addition to just spending time with the family on THIS side of the ocean (we met in Albania when they were there to adopt their youngest in 2017).
Later that night we had supper with some more folks from their church (above collage, lower right), including my now-in-real-life-friend, Sydel (below). Yep! Can you believe it? Never in my life have I met someone else with a name so close to mine!
The next morning we had a VERY quick tea with the Carrolls (below, top left). They are college friends from long ago, but because they live in Uganda, our paths rarely cross! In fact, it was just by chance that our name was brought up in conversation that they learned we were going to be seeing their neighbors, so they reached out on Messenger to let us know we were going to be in their neighborhood! They returned to Uganda just three days later...
Below, top right: We met a new family preparing to go to Albania! Margaret had met them and arranged for us to meet. We look forward to seeing them in Albania in the spring!
Below, bottom left: After more than 20 years of hearing their names, we met Roger and Cherie Mullins, directors of Hope for the World. The organization has sponsored orphanages in Albania since the changeover in 1991, including the Hope Center where we volunteer on weekends. They were extremely gracious and kind. Cherie gave Ellie many pointers on the piano and Ellie was thrilled for the one-on-one instruction.
Below, bottom right: We were thrilled to see our friends, the Georges, for the first time on American soil! It's kind of strange, when you think about it, to have American friends you have only ever known outside of America. We were graciously hosted by their friends, the Brumms, whom I had connected with on Facebook a few years ago (April has been a great champion for the Handmade in Albania project)
On our way out of Georgia, we got to meet up with Ben and Shannon, meet their new son, and meet Shannon's parents for the first time! Several years ago Shannon traveled on a team with us to Bolivia. It's so meaningful to us that she has stayed in touch over the years and we've gotten to know her husband, and now her growing family!
Our last stop in the month of October was in Gainesville, Georgia. We hadn't been to Florida in seven years and so we were thrilled when we were able to have a reunion with a special group of people who came to Albania in 2013. We were also thrilled that my mom and sister, Hannah, came down to join us! We stayed at the home of my mom's closest cousin, Connie, and her husband, Randy. They took us to the Butterfly sanctuary at the University of Florida. Ellie posed above by a shark jaw skeleton at the attached museum. We played games, the kids swam in their pool and collected lizards, and we played a new-to-us game, Code Names, while hanging around to answer the door for Trick-or-Treaters (Reni was particularly intrigued by this American tradition).
After weeks of moving every night, it was nice to have a couple of nights in one place!
