Our Month-Long Trip

a hike at Silver Creek Falls in Salem, OR

Tubs at Mema's house in Mt. Joy, PA

along the Schuylkill River in Pottstown, PA

At the playground

croquet at Grandpa Elvin's in Winfield PA

Norah decided to climb back into the bathtub!

reading with Aunt Angie and the cousins

a brewing thunderstorm

another playground!

autumn beauty in Bemidji, MN

biking at Itasca State Park

cheese!!

forest fire watchtower at Itasca

It has been well over a month since I last wrote- oh no! We have not had internet access for most of our trip to the lower 48, and combined with a laptop whose keyboard is broken, communication to the rest of the world via computer just wasn't doable for several weeks!

It was perhaps a little bit nice to be away from the time-sucking power of the computer, though, and to enjoy friends and family and playing outside as a family!
So, an overview of our trip:
We spent 5 days in Salem, Oregon. Justin presented at Bethany Baptist Church, where he attended  during college. It was fun to see old friends and our girls had a blast getting to know the Sheets family and their two darling kids. Highlights of our time in Oregon: Hiking Silver Creek Falls, Evie falling into the swimming pool (this was not a happy highlight but a highlight nonetheless), hearing a fantastic sermon in Bethany Baptist on Sunday morning by Pastor Tim Baker, visiting the Trahern family on Labor Day, and soaking up 5 full days' worth of sunshine and 80 degrees!
We went to Pennsylvania for nearly 3 weeks and visited many different towns and communities, visiting family and presenting our ministry at Victory at 3 different churches. It was great to hang out with both sides of Justin's family and introduce everyone to our girls, who have never been to PA. Some highlights of our time in Pennsylvania: taking the girls to a wholesale farmer's market and a petting zoo, spending my 25th birthday with Justin's cousin Josh and his sweet wife Cristina, getting all the little ones together at Mema and Poppop's house to play and run wild, and presenting at the different churches where we had a unique and encouraging experience with each one.
We took a short road trip to North Carolina to visit the Eller family. It was a great time getting our kids together and enjoying the company of good friends!
We journeyed next to Northern Minnesota, where the fall colors are in full display. We've enjoyed relaxing a bit and having a slower schedule, and the girls have loved playing with Grandma and Grandpa every chance they get. Justin did a bit of recruiting for camp summer staff as he presented about Victory at Oak Hills Christian College here in Bemidji, the college that Steve is president at. Some highlights so far have been: deer spotting (we saw 28 deer in 14 miles on the drive up!), biking in Itasca State Park, walking the disc golf course here in town as Justin tried it out, and playing lots of games and enjoying family time.
Through it all, the girls have traveled wonderfully. We have joked that on the day we flew to Pennsylvania where we had a 7-hour unplanned stay at the San Francisco airport due to a delayed flight, the girls were happier than Justin and I! Norah did come down with an ear infection shortly after we got to PA but God gave us a huge blessing in providing quick and free care from a very kind doctor. We were very blessed to meet lots of new folks at the several churches we visited through our trip and were covered in prayer time and time again, for which we are so thankful.
We are still around 60 percent on our support as far as we know, but have hopes that we will have gotten a little further by the time we get back to camp. We are so thankful to have had this chance to say hello to dear ones and get in a trip to the lower 48 before we head up to our new home in just a few days!
Some prayer requests right now:
-That our transition & settling in to camp will be smooth
-That we will have wisdom with Norah's ear issues and deciding whether to have tubes put in
-That we have safety in travel in coming back to Alaska on Monday night
-That God will provide the remaining 40% of our support so we can serve Him singlemindedly!
Some praises:
-The amazing ways we have seen God answer prayer through large and small things, both in the last year and the last month.
-That He is bringing us to Victory after we've waited on Him- He is always faithful!