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| North Dakota Sunset |
Of our summer gone by, I could write pages and pages of the 4th of July celebration, of baseball games with losses and wins, of learning to make perogies, of special Canadian visitors, of a family wedding, of hours and hours at the pool, of countless chats with my mother, of visiting downtown D and learning about small town life. I could tell of the chats on the brother's back porch, listening to music and reminscing of times and people gone by and how different our presents look than we always imagined but that doesn't make them any less the present they are. Of dreams of the future and most of all how everything that isn't right today will be right someday when our King comes to reign forever and ever!
I could share how my heart swelled to overflowing to see our kids get to know each other and enjoy each other for a whole month! The hard part about getting to know your nieces and nephews better is that you miss them all the more when you say goodbye. And do we miss them. There were many tears at goodbye time. There always are. There always will be. Until. Until Heaven where there will be NO goodbyes and NO tears! We long for that day but until then we will enjoy the glimpses of heaven we get here on earth. The here and not yet. That is the beautiful complexity of the Christian faith journey. Here is so good and yet so hard. And yet! Our future with Jesus will be even better. Wow!
I will share a few of the hundreds of pictures I have of our month long journey to, in and back from North Dakota!
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| I had good intentions of taking a picture at each state border, but really who has time to stop FIVE times and take a picture on dangerous two lane highways, when kids were often sleeping and mama couldn't wait to get to her mama's house! So, we have one picture of one state line! |
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| Day One-no wonder I was tired! |
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| Day Two-arrived at my parents at 4pm. Not bad eh? We ate snacks all day long so we didn't need to stop to eat and we blazed through five states in two short days! |
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| We made it to Grandma's house by Tuesday afternoon, July 2nd. We left our house on July 1st at 4:50am. I was one tired driver but very happy to be with my family! |
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| A day at Theodore Roosevelt State Park-North Dakota Badlands |
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| She's definitely one of my favorite people in the world |
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| Nothing like mentioning to your long lost Canadian friend who you literally haven't seen for nearly 17 long years, "hey why don't you come see me in North Dakota-it's a lot closer than Texas!" And come she did and brought her dear parents and sister with her. What a JOY. These precious people are my Canadian family-the ones I spent every holiday and possibly weekend with during my two years of Bible College when I wasn't able to go home. Almost 17 years ago the four of them made the trek to California for our wedding and Kristi and Chantel sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness" during our wedding ceremony. The fact that they made the effort to come spend four days with us in ND and get to know my children meant the world to me. |
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| Mama Whiteford and daughters taught us how to make perogies. The first time I ever heard of or tasted perogies was at their home in Canada and I never forgot them. They gave us a cooking lesson and then fed us a delicious dinner that night of sausages, perogies dripping in melted butter and topped with sour cream and bacon bits. Yum! |
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| Then there is the wedding in Oregon my mom asked if I would accompany her to. My little girl cousin, J, married her sweetheart in Oregon on July 21st. Still can't believe my much younger cousins are growing up and getting married. It was such a joy to be there and get to spend two very short but sweet days with some of my mother's family. Mom and I met up with the twin, the other J, in Denver and shared a flight to Oregon late Friday night. |
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| I have always called him Uncle Michael, but he really feels more like an older brother to me. Getting to see him, even if ever so briefly was just wonderful. |
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| Father of the Bride and his older sisters. Just missing Uncle John who wasn't able to make it due to illness. We sure missed them. |
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| Ah, two more of my favorite girls ever. |
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| The darling bride and groom. Almost wedding time! |
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| Could he be any cuter? I seriously thought about just bringing this one home with me! |
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| My mama and I |
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| Night before the big Departure Day-last pictures, last supper. Not a few teary goodbyes. Many "see you soon." |
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| To say I love these precious people is to put it mildly-we definitely left a piece of our heart in North Dakota-I wonder how many times we can leave a piece in Brazil, California and now North Dakota and still be okay? Like I said at the beginning of this post, heaven sure is a sweet anticipation. |
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| The tye dye shirts turned out so fun! |
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| We are always missing someone special-so just for the record this is me with two of my three brothers. Someday we will again have one of all of us together. Someday. |
Mount Rushmore
I honestly was not too excited about stopping at Mount Rushmore on the way home but a certain little boy had mentioned it a couple times and it really wasn't that off our path so off we went. I was pleasantly surprised by our few hours there. It really is an amazing place. We met amazing people and were so very glad we took the time. And talk about beautiful country. Wow. I so enjoyed all the states we drove to and this gorgeous area of South Dakota that is home to Mount Rushmore monument. God's creation is just stunning and I thoroughly enjoyed all He allowed us to see.
We arrived safe and sound on Friday evening, August 2. It was so very good to go, to be there and so very good to be home. It felt like we were coming home and we thank God for that. We were so glad to be reunited with husband and daddy.
We hit the ground running as school start day was just around the corner. Clothes were washed and ready for school in record time as well as backbacks and school supplies. A few moments of consternation were felt when some homeschool curriculum was opened to find incorrect textbooks had been ordered but it has all worked out nicely. Little Man settled nicely back into his routine at the same school, teachers he already knew thanks to being at small school last year and buddies he was excited to see after summer break. Little Woman has had quite an adjustment as she is now a Freshman in high school and this year has been quite a bit different than her fairly laid back year last schoolyear. Let's just say mama and girly have had quite a 10 days back to school. We will find our way by God's grace but if you think of us as we start year 2 of homeschooling, please lift us before the Throne of Grace! We need it!
Until next time, may He get all the glory and honor!
Jama
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