May 2025 Memories! | Kentucky, Colorado, Concerts, and Nathan Turns 50!

Without a graduation ceremony, per se, Ellie longed to be photographed in a cap and gown.  I had aspirations of taking these photos in Albania, but in the rush to transition to the USA, it didn't happen.  With Mom's help, we captured some fun images in downtown Peoria. Perhaps I will share those in a separate post as we got some fun photos. 

Grandpa sought our help to sort through a box of special documents.  We found some treasures...

I didn't realize my great-grandfather had named his farm "Pleasant Plains Farm."  Doesn't that sound lovely?

Grandpa's grandfather, Orlando V, migrated to Illinois twice!  The first time, he bought ground on the corner of Wagonseller and Toboggan Road in Green Valley.  The abstract (?) for the ground contained this historical signature (above)!  When his wife died, he returned to Ohio to marry again.  The second time he moved to Illinois, he settled in Forest City, where my cousin now resides in the heart of "Section 29" -- Grandpa's affectionate (and literal) name for the home place.

We celebrated the end of Ellie's college writing course! We eeked our way across the finish line in that class!  She discovered she does not enjoy writing academic papers!

The first weekend of May we enjoyed a girls' weekend trip up to the western suburbs of Chicago.  

Our hosts were the lovely Ericksons.  Claudia invited us to a fundraiser for the charity, Mom's Not Forgotten.

It was a very girly Kentucky Derby-themed tea.  Below, Ellie poses with Don and Claudia's daughter, Becky.

Meanwhile, the guys launched a project at the farmhouse!  This is the closest I have to a "before" photo.  The plan?  To add a shower to the tiny powder room tucked under the eaves of the farmhouse.  They started by removing the dry wall to access an enclosed space.  The shower would be added behind the toilet below.  Travels would interrupt progress, but we eventually would finish the project the first week of June, thanks in large part to help from Dad W.

The day after returning from Chicago and the tea, our family took off for a 5-day visit to Kentucky.  We started with a visit to my college roommate, Lindsay, and her mom, Sandra, in Louisville!

The purpose of the trip was to change out Reni's knees so they could be refurbished at the factory.  His prosthetist replaced them with "loaner" knees to use in the interim.  We also visited our dear friends, the Gouges...

... and college friend, Skip....

... we had a few hours between visits so we selected new frames for Ellie, whose prescription had changed yet again.

We ran into our friend, Drew, at Joseph Beth while shopping for a mother's day gift!

We shared at Wednesday night Bible study at Daybreak Community Church.

And enjoyed coffee with the Adkins!

Thursday evening we had dinner with my fellow business major classmate, Natalie.

And on our way back home we had breakfast with the Suttons!  (We highly recommend The Porch in Georgetown!!)

On the way home Reni completed his final class for the spring semester.  It felt great for both kids to be finished with classwork!

To celebrate Nathan's 50th birthday coming up in May, I bought tickets for us to see Nate Bargatze.  It was two hours of constant laughter.  I had a headache afterwards, but it was worth it and we made a great memory.

Mother's Day we worshipped at Crosswalk...

...then we had lunch at Mom and Hannah's in Peoria and welcome Pam and Simon Wunderli!

We spent time at the farm, including helping Mom clean out some items in storage.

We found the license plate for the Planters van which we bought in Zurich, where Pam and Simon were living at the time.  They graciously drove it to Albania for Mom and Dad, then Dad evidently saved the plates when the van was registered in Albania!  In 2001!

Simon helped Nathan rip out the floor, including the subfloor so they could run plumbing for the future shower.

After Pam and Simon left, we met Brent for coffee to discuss his September visit to Albania.

Saturday, May 17 Reni enjoyed a car show in Delavan, while Ellie and I joined our friend Diana for a Lauren Daigle concert!

The next morning we shared at Cazenovia Mennonite Church, then enjoyed lunch with Joe and Judy Bachman...

,,,and Jim and Linda Shrock!

On Monday, May 19, we boarded a flight to Denver

...and spent 5 days of intensive debriefing and renewal.  Ellie found the instrument room, of course.

Then she enjoyed a bird watching excursion one evening after supper.

We were guided by our long-time friend, Andy, who guided Ellie on ways to track and identify various birds.

At the conclusion of our week's training, we met my friend, Mandy, for coffee!  Mandy helped with volunteer translation of The Chosen as our resident tech-y, and now works with Angel Studios subtitling all of their projects.  It was a treat to catch up with her!

We had the special treat of staying with my Aunt Dianna and Uncle Jerry. 

Ellie loved seeing where Uncle Jerry films all of his writing tutorials for the Christian Writer's Guild.

Through Aunt Dianna's friend, Stacy, we were introduced to the Doci's, who now live in Colorado Springs.  They travel regularly to Albania where Alban has a burden to help the Church serve families of children with special needs.  It was a lovely coffee and two hours never flew so fast!

Our last day in Colorado we visited the Scruton-Wilsons, friends of my parents whom I've known my whole life.  Rita Kay visited Albania in February 2024

Nothing makes you feel intentionally welcomed like your British friend welcoming you wearing a John Deere belt buckle, lol!

From there, we headed to the airport where we drove into skies like this over the airport!

With a hard deadline approaching for the completion of the bathroom project, we jumped right back in!  Reni got to learn how to cut vinyl planking and help his dad and grandfather keep working.

We ended the month with an incredible Survivor-themed 50th birthday party for Nathan, thrown by his sister, Rebecca!  It was complete with challenges, tribal councils, rewards, and torch snuffing!  Overall, we made some great memories with our dear Waggoner family!  

The Waggoner Family's April Episodes | 2025

Contrary to how it may have appeared, in spite of so much transition, April did not feel chaotic or stressful as one might think!  Perhaps after more than a decade of living in Albania and navigating transition, we have learned how to manage some of the ever-moving pieces of our lives.  

One exception might be traveling in the midst of an ongoing school year for the kids -- that, we admit, was not ideal -- but they have seemed to have managed that relatively well.  

In my March post I shared that we received a lovely team of volunteers who came to serve the Valued Treasures (VT) ministry. They were led by our colleague, Tiffany.  Her husband, Bobby, documented their activities and gets credit for the next three images. We hosted them in our home for lunches and dinners -- which we loved because it allowed us to get to know them better as well as hear about their activities each day.  Below, they debrief in our living room after supper.

One of the members is a retired music professor.  She brought and gifted these music bells for the students to learn how to play music.  Ellie is thrilled to continue this with them next fall when we return.

We departed for the USA on Thursday morning.  Below, Ellie continues the tradition of enjoying a soft pretzel in the Vienna Airport.

We had a great itinerary that allowed us to land in Peoria in the late afternoon.  I got this great view of the Illinois River and downtown as we descended.

We spent our first few days in Peoria with Mom and Hannah.  Nathan and Reni are always happy to tackle handyman projects for her while we are around -- this time including hanging a new television for her.

Less than 48 hours after landing we celebrated Dad Waggoner's 75th birthday with supper at the farm!

On Monday we went to visit my Aunt Miriam and Uncle Don in Eureka.  We stopped at the local baker's market where Gigi treated the kids to their choice of treats!  Welcome back to America!

The Bachmans (above and below) came and dropped off fresh eggs, sausage, and (frozen) blueberries from the farm!  We are so spoiled!

By the end of our first week, it was time to head to Kentucky.  Within a few minutes of arriving at the WGM student center on Asbury's campus, we bumped into some colleagues.  And Ellie is up enough on college rivalries to realize this pose would make for a humorous pic! ha ha

Saturday morning, we enjoyed breakfast with our "Albanian" brother, John! :-)

They were cutting down some trees at the student center so the kids helped with splitting and moving firewood for a bit!

Sunday morning we shared at High Bridge Church -- sadly I forgot to take photos!

Sunday evening we shared at Global Cafe.  Below, Reni hands out some treats from Albania as door prizes. :-)

Monday, Reni took an official tour of Asbury's campus.  We were thrilled to meet up with former student and dear friend, Jeannie! 

Ellie enjoyed some special time Tuesday morning with our friend, Diana, who visited us twice in Albania.  Hanging out with Diana meant Ellie didn't have to bide time at Shriners during Reni's appointment.

Reni's legs are still fitting him really well.  Eric added 3cm of length so his feet would touch the floor when seated.  It was also decided to refurbish his knee joints since they were still under warranty.

Then dinner with the awesome Mungillo family!

Coffee at Brewster's Wednesday morning with Diana and the Browns! <3

Lunch with the Landerholms! 

Dinner with college classmates!

Morning coffee (Thursday) with the Boyds in Wilmore!

...then afternoon wellness checks at A Caring Touch Peds... 

Thursday evening we continued our tradition of Fiesta Mexico with the Powers!

Friday morning we hit the hiway to return to Illinois.  We opted to drive home through Cincinnati.  I discovered that we could visit President Taft's childhood home for free, so guess where we stopped to stretch our legs?

We stopped in Anderson, Indiana to attend the visitation for the father of some dear friends. Our color-coordinating outfits brought smiles, even on a somber occasion!

It was a pleasant surprise to see our friends, the Johnsons, tap us on the shoulder while we waited in line.

We got back on the road shortly after 5PM.  This sight (below) is so rare, I had to snap a photo.  But it speaks to the week we had!

We returned to Illinois to move into "the farmhouse" as our home base for the remainder of our stay. I had to chuckle while organizing the pantry.  I guess my mom is worried she may not have just the right size coffee percolator! lol

Our first Easter in America since 2012!

We hosted Easter dinner at the farm...

My Grandpa Van even joined us!

Rebecca brought this game to play after lunch.  I wasn't smart enough to understand it, ha ha.

The Waggoners.  Just missing Micah.

On Monday after Easter we remembered the life of my father's brother, my uncle Rick.

It was held at Forest City Church -- a place rich with memories from attending mother/daughter banquets with my Grandma Van, many a church service on summer sleepovers with my grandparents, to over half a dozen piano recitals, and even a wedding!

With Mom, my cousin Justin, sister Hannah, and Grandpa

Tuesday morning we had a lovely visit with my "Church Mom" -- Sunday school teacher, Kay!

I can barely remember a time in my life when I didn't know Kay!

Wednesday, we attended the funeral of Ken Emme -- married to my dad's cousin, Diana. 

Funerals are somber occasions, but also a way to see so many people from my childhood I wouldn't otherwise likely connect with!  This time, the service and fellowship meal was held at the Lutheran church just down the road from the farmhouse!

Friday Nathan traveled to Starved Rock for a guys retreat. 

While he was away, we stayed up in Peoria with Mom and Hannah, who happened to have the day off of work! Hannah helped me package dozens and dozens of Albanian mountain tea to share with friends.  Ask us for some if we forget to offer it to you!

Sunday morning Ellie practiced with the worship team at Crosswalk Fellowship.  She will play the cajon with them whenever our travels allow us to worship with them (about once per month between now and when we depart).

Nathan has not had satisfactory vision since our last visit to the US.  The first doctor had a lot of concerns from his initial inspection of Nathan's eyes and referred him to a specialist in the Chicago area.  After running more thorough tests and getting new glasses, it was determined that surgical intervention was not necessary, thankfully!

That about wraps up our month of April!  Thanks for following our journey!  Hope to see many more dear friends in the upcoming weeks and months!