Thursday, November 10, 2016

My Trip To The States

I have been really busy.  And, in sort of a funk, too.  I haven't written much lately.  I hope to write about a few things in the next few days.

I left for the States on September 2, which is about 2 weeks later than I normally leave.  And, I was about two weeks beyond ready.  I still love my job and love being in Honduras, but I am always ready to go to the States.  This year I did something different.  I flew to Baltimore.  I landed late on Friday night or maybe early on Saturday morning.  I had two full days with Linda and Larry.  I also got to spend some time with Erica and Zach and the boys.  It was a real pleasure to meet Zach and all the boys.  Those three boys really need to meet up with Nicole's three girls.  On Monday, Labor Day, Linda and Larry drove me to New Hampshire on their way to Niagara Falls.  I thought a road trip with them would be fun and I was not disappointed.











I had two glorious weeks at Nathan's and Julia's.  It may not have been long enough for me, but I am sure it was plenty long for Nathan and Julia.  I got to drive Camille to swimming 4 or 5 times.  I loved spending time in the car with her.  I took Camille shopping.  Julia and I went shopping for Thatcher.  We went to Portland one day.  Camille and I worked one puzzle and ate whoppers.  I laughed at Thatcher.  And, laughed at Thatcher some more.  I loved on the part of my family I do not get to see often.  I cried when I left.















I spent a day shopping with Kim in Oklahoma City.  The three girls here in Honduras benefited from that excursion.

Then my long road trip began.  I was scheduled to be in about 12 churches and had some other meetings planned.  First stop, Little Rock.  I met with the elders at Chenal Valley.  I also got to see Janet and Alison.  Thankfully.  It did not work out to see Janet later as I thought it would.  It was exciting to meet Alison's new baby Evan.  Then there was time in Hot Springs, Searcy, Columbus, and Tupelo.  Columbus is always enjoyable and, at the same time hard.  A bit harder this time than normal, but it was great to see everyone and spend several days there.



Susan and I ate late lunches, dessert for supper. We saw a late movie one night and took pictures at The Old Mill.  A wedding photo shoot was in our way, but we made this work anyway.  This was the mill that was used in the opening credits of "Gone With The Wind", my all time favorite movie.



I saw Corinth and ate at Abe's, drove part of the Natchez Trace, went to the Hermitage, Jonesborough, TN and Dollywood.






I ate with friends in Illinois.  Donna and I drove the Great River Road along the Illinois River with the top down on the Jag.



I cried as I left and drove to Murray, Kentucky.

After Murray, I headed to Branson.  That was so much fun.







At this point, I thought I still had two weeks left and I made the quick trip to Joplin for the weekend before another quick trip to Kansas City.


I left my phone on the charger Tuesday morning.  Anne, Olivia and I were having fun drinking hot cider, eating cider donuts and then a frozen cider for the trip back to town to meet Robert for lunch.  We came in and I was going to throw my things in the car and head to Topeka.  I had 31 missed calls from Nicole.  I knew something was wrong.  I called her.  Baby Paige was in the hospital.  I knew I was going to return home.

I stayed at Anne and Jerry's another night and canceled all of the rest of the appointments and changed my ticket.  I cried.  For Paige.  For Nicole.  For me.  I got up and left Kansas City early.  I made a nowhere-near-long-enough-detour to Enid.  I cried when I left Enid and drove to Oklahoma City.  I repacked most of the night and left early on the 20th.  I was sad to be leaving early, sad Paige was sick.  But I was oh so glad when I got home.

I drove 5206 miles and did not even make it to Topeka, Borger, Childress, Lakehoma and Ada.  I ate crab cake in Baltimore, lobster in Maine, barbecue in Kansas City, chocolate gravy in Mississippi, mexican food every where.  I could do my own version of" Diners, Dives and Drive-Ins".  I laughed.  I cried.  I prayed,   I worshiped in English.  I had so much fun.  God blessed my efforts and answered my prayers.  Casa de Esperanza will be blessed next year by your generosity.

Thanks to everyone who hosted me, took me places, bought my meals.  I love every one of you and am grateful for your friendship and the interest you have in the work in Honduras.











1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful story of your trip. God bless your work.