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.
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
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!
