June 2025 | The Waggoners Go East and South!

Celebrating Ellie

Ellie with her great-grandfather, Forest VanOrman

On Sunday, June 1, we celebrated Ellie with a small party at the farm to comemorate the conclusion of her home school career.  It was a lovely time with friends and family.  Ellie, as she had never attended a graudation party before, did not know what to expect, but loved all the attention and love.

with her Aunt Rachel, Uncle Steve, and cousins

Finishing the upstairs bathroom project

In our previous post, I shared that we decided to try our hand at installing a shower in the upstairs powder room, tucked under the bungalow's eves.  The purpose was to provide a complete guest suite upstairs for the Artoni family who would be staying with us for 2.5 weeks in July.  But also, to add a second shower to a home frequently used for entertaining guests.

We had a tight timeline of finishing by June 6, as we had an early morning flight to Philadelphia on Saturday, the 7th. There were moments we wondered if we'd meet our deadline, but with help and many long days, we managed to complete it Friday afternoon!

Above, the shower pan is in place and Nathan afixes the moisture-resistent backer board to support the Flexstone shower walls.

With a low, sloping ceiling, they installed the shower head as high as was possible.  You can see they had many angles to calculate!

Reni was put to work learning some skills and helping Nathan install the vinyl planking (above) and caulking trim (below).

I have no photos of myself painting trim, ceiling and walls, (not important), but I wanted to show that Ellie helped too!  Below, she is pounding nails out of old trim so it can be painted and reattached.

Nearly there!  Now, Nathan caulks to fill all the gaps and create a seamless finish!

Celebrating the completion of a big project!

And the beadboard and marble tie-in with the look of the ground-floor bathroom for a cohesive look.

This project should last for years and years!

Trip to the East Coast

On Sunday, June 8, we shared at Port Community Church, a congregation of which Nathan's mother grew up in and the church where his parents were married!

We enjoyed Sunday afternoon at the home of Nathan's Aunt Melanie, Uncle Paul, and cousin, Elisabeth!

While we were in New Jersey, we were hosted by our regional director, Joy Phillips, who took the time to show us more of her home state, including a picnic lunch at Fort Mott.

From New Jersey, we drove to Maryland, where we enjoyed a delicious lunch of Chinese Hot Pot, made by our dear friend, Kristie!

Then we were on to Springfield, Virgina, to see my college friend, Jan.  Tuesday evening we enjoyed a Marine Band concert and rife demonstration/parade, in front of the Iwo Jima memorial.  It was so impressive!

Afterwards, we swung by Gravely Point where we enjoyed the thrill of standing just feet under the flight path of planes landing at Reagan National Airport!

Thursday we drove up to Vermont where we celebrated the graduation of my niece, Tua, from high school!

My brother-in-law's family, has a hardward and lumber store in Killington.  We enjoyed seeing their re-brand and instoor renovations!

Saturday was Ellie's 20th birthday and in the morning we enjoyed breakfast at Rutland's famous breakfast restaurant, Sugar and Spice, famous for it's locally made maple syrup, of course!

Afterwards we visited a nature preserve that rehabilitates birds -- an appropriate visit for our bird-loving daughter on her birthday!

A fun feature was a tree-top walkway that provided beautiful views!

And lots of stairs :-)

We celebrated altogether with my sister's family over pizza and birthday cake!

For Tua's graduation, I found this novel about the martyr, Perpetua, with whom she (almost) shares a name!

The highlight was a full evening of uproarious laughter playing JackBox games.

Turns out we have some very witty and creative teenagers... (the game provides players with various prompts and then the group votes for the best answers).

We had to drive back to the Philadelphia Airport and decided to make a stop to visit Mark Twain's home in Hartford, CT.

It was from this home that he wrote his famous works like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.  This happened to also be Father's Day, which felt appropriate since my dad was a huge fan of Mark Twain.  The guides provided the tours in costume, playing the roles of various individuals who worked in the household.  The stories were told with humor and wit, much like Twain himself wrote.  We couldn't help but imagine that Dad would have been in heaven to have such a job!

Next door was the home of Harriet Beecher Stowe!  Sadly, it wasn't open on Sunday.

We got home on Monday and Wednesday were back at the airport again!  This time we were flying to Honduras for WGM's international leadership meetings and 115th birthday celebration.  Imagine our surprise to run into former Albania team member, Ethan Smith!  And we got to meet his wife and new son!

We flew to Chicago, then on to Houston, where we landed at 1:30AM!  The frugal folks that we are, we attempted to spend the night at the airport -- we even brought a couple of compact air mattresses for the occasion, with the idea of taking turns resting on the floor.  We failed to anticipate the brightness of airport lighting -- or the slippery-ness of the inflatable pillows.  Needless to say, we did not rest well! ha ha but we made it on our 9AM flight to San Pedro Sula, Honduras!

It was such a treat to visit Honduras!  For Ellie and Reni, it was their first time to visit central America.  I was also thrilled to meet my friend Alex, from the Chosen volunteer translation team, in person for the first time!  We were tickled to discover that we're only a month apart in age.  She was a joy to meet, and had such a precious testimony of her family's conversion to faith in Jesus.

While in Honduras, we were blessed to visit a ministry of WGM called "Arms of Jesus."  It's a school and day program for impoverished children who live near a garbage dump.  The kids were so friendly and gave us a tour of their school and a short costume show featuring outfits they created from recycled materials!

The days were comprised with morning Bible studies, worship, missionary testimonies, and strategic discussions.  Each table was decorated with a centerpiece to represent a different field in which WGM has workers.  We were asked to bring items to represent Albania/Kosova, and this is what we fit in our suitcase! :-) And no, those are not real olive branches -- thanks to Wal Mart, I was able to order this lovely cluster of silk branches and light-weight wooden vase!  They are accompanied by two alabaster figurines of communist-era bunkers.

Below, one of our evening sessions, when the electricity went out!  The strategic dicussions were so valuable.  We were intentionally mixed and assigned tables so we could hear what folks were doing in various parts of the world.  I was personally challenged and stimulated hearing the practices of other colleagues that I want to take back and implement when we return to Albania in September!

Both Ellie and Reni were in social heaven.  Reni ran around with a whole pack of teenage boys. :-) Below he is with just two of them, whom he met at our last conference, two years ago.  In the 9 days we were at the conference, we didn't eat a single meal with Reni -- he could always be found at the teen table...

During meal times, Ellie would get up after completing her food and wander around the dining room visiting with different folks.  Below, she's with her friend "Bob" (actually, Dr. Bill Ury of the Salvation Army, our keynote speaker), with whom she enjoyed a great theological discussion.  

On Sunday we left the conference facility and took an excursion for the afternoon.  Ellie and I signed up for a bird-watching tour by boat.  It was beautiful to get to see nature and spend time with Ellie!

It was finally time for us to head back to North America.  We were soooo tired -- so much time with dear friends and colleagues (that feel more like family), late nights, lot of walking... nights in a strange bed.  We were beat, but going home refilled!

Before we returned to the farm, we made a stop in Kingsland, Texas, to visit our friends at Pack Saddle Fellowship.  We always enjoy visiting this church.  They do such a great job serving their local community, we are always challenged by them. I may have forgotten that the last time we flew to visit them, it was into Austin, not Houston, so we had quite the drive from the airport.  We arrived at 12:33 am before sharing at church at 10:45.

We always stay at the home of our dear friends, Gordon and Carol.  I felt so much at home with this amazing collage of artwork from Albania in the guestroom where we stayed! 

Carol made Ellie a graduation cake and had this banner hanging for her!  Wasn't that just the most thoughtful, sweet gesture?

Gordon and Carol live on Lake LBJ, and Ellie remembered they had a kayak.  She loves kayaking. 

On Monday morning we had breakfast at a mexican restaurant with the missions committee.  I can't remember ever eating breakfast at a mexican restaurant!  Ellie was relieved that they had pancakes!

Before we knew it, our visit was over!  We would fly back to Illinois on July first, and prepare for the Artonis' arrival.

Check back in August for what's sure to be another month filled with many wonderful connections and experiences!  Thanks for your prayers!