Ah, we're so close to home!
We love our home,
rain and all. : -)
"I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD,
the deeds for which he is to be praised,
according to all the LORD has done for us . . "
Isaiah 63:7a
We have soooooo much to praise and thank our Lord for!
These are many of the things that He has done for
us before and during this trip of a lifetime!
So many of you, our friends and family, praying for us before and all during our trip!!! Thank you!!! Our Lord answered your prayers in so many wonderful ways!
Ted was blessed to be able to get 3 weeks off of work.
Lydia and Richie were able and willing, and sacrificially took
care of our animals twice a day! And they
also looked after many other things while we were away. What an incredible labor of love and HUGE blessing. We couldn't have done this without all their help!
The Holborn’s generously offered us the use of their trailer.
It has been awesome! It made our trip possible, and pleasant! : -)
The Smith’s kindly offered to take Anna to their house and
give her lots of TLC! They even sent us pictures and a video, so we
could see her while we were away.
Some very Dear Loved Ones surprised and blessed us tremendously
with a very generous check for use on our trip. We were
sooo very blessed by this!
The social workers and a judge were willing to give us
consent to take Brielle all the way to the east coast.
Our beloved Michigan family was soooo hospitable to accommodate
us and feed us for a few days. We were
sooo blessed that most all of them in that big, busy, wonderful family were able to
come up to visit with us! This was
truly a major highlight of our trip!
We have all stayed healthy other than a little stomach
virus, that only affected 3 out of 10 of us!
That is amazing, considering we
have been sharing such close quarters, water bottles, etc. and have been in many public places with
masses of humanity!
Our truck has performed its big job flawlessly with camper
on top and pulling the trailer for a total of 7,530 miles!!!
No accidents, tickets, or running out of gas. : -) (The latter, even in spite of a broken gas
gauge, and quite variable MPG with hills, wind, etc.)
Both issues that came up with our rig were noticed before
they became serious problems. And we
were able to get them fixed the next day in 3 hours. The repair shop fit us in right when they
opened at 9am and we were on the road again by noon!
The weather was good for most of the trip, and the couple of
days it was inclement, we didn’t have any problems because of it!
Because of Ted’s connections with the upper level Walmart management,
we were able to stay 10+ free nights in their parking lots . . . okay, they do
this for everyone! : -) This was such a blessing, both in savings and
convenience!
Many people along the way were soooo kind to our big, colorful
family! (ie: The ticket lady at Plimoth Plantation gave us
a huge discount on our tickets . . . just because. : -)
We were able to get substantial discounts in other places with
our home school “group.”
Running into many brothers and sisters in the Lord along the
way, and having delightful times of fellowship here and there, wherever we
were. One man wanted to take a picture
of his new-found family : -), and we even prayed together with some sweet ladies
in the Union Station McDonald’s! These providential meetings always brightened
our days!
Ending our official sightseeing/history tour with a
refreshing stop at the Biblically-based Creation Museum. This
was soooo encouraging to us!!!
25 Days . . . four
16 year-olds, two active grade-school boys, a lively two-year-old, a 3 month old,
and two very imperfect, aging parents . . .yet 10 loving, thriving relationships!!!!
All praise and glory to our Heavenly Father,
from whom all blessings flow!
from whom all blessings flow!
I know you must be anxious to get home.
ReplyDeleteSo glad it was such a wonderful trip and a safe trip for you.
Wondering how everyone bedded down and now I know. Looks like it worked out well.
Yes, Kyle, I am so looking foward to
marvelous Monday!! Love, Meemom
It will be so good to see all your smiling faces in person once again! What an amazing, enriching time of fun and family! I was in tears reading all the blessings you all encountered! What an encouragement your family is no matter where you go! Love you all, Vickie
ReplyDeleteWow, you have been busy in the few days I was forced to be away from your blog (my internet was down!) I had a great time reading all the final entries, savoring the pictures, and catching up on your race across the country to make it home on schedule. What a fantastic trip you had, and thank you so much for blogging all along the way! We all felt just a little bit like we were tucked into your pockets and enjoying the adventures with you. It brought back so many treasured memories of my camping vacations when I was a girl, and our family struck out every summer to see America. I still love road trips and camping to this day.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are getting some much needed rest, and settling back into your routine. As you were listing the blessings, I couldn't help but think what a blessing and encouragement YOU are to us -- your family and friends. God's light shines from each and every one of you every day of your lives and reminds us of the love of the Lord.
Welcome home!!
xoxox