Greetings from Louisville, Kentucky! We are about halfway through our journey to Austin, TX. It, of course, took us longer to leave our house than we thought, but finally, around 11am we said goodbye to our little red brick house and hit the road.
Our first night was spent in Altoona, PA rather than in Niagra Falls, since we had accidentally booked a hotel on the Canadian side of Niagra. Not only do we not all have passports, but we weren’t sure how kindly the border crossing would look upon all of the Rubbermaid containers and suitcases with which we are loaded down! Anyway, we changed our route, and it may or may not have been a good choice since ALL of the journey to and through Pennsylvania was through pouring rain and driving snow. It was quite brutal, and much of the trip had to be at about 45 miles per hour. But we made it safely to our hotel by about 11pm.
Yesterday’s drive was much easier ~ clear and sunny, and really beautiful country through West Virginia and Kentucky. Kory even drove for about 2.5 hours of the 8 hour trip. The vehicle arrangement has been ~ Mom and boys in the van, and Kayla and her dad in the truck. Kayla and Robert listened to all of Island of the Blue Dolphins on CD, and the boys and I have started To Kill a Mockingbird. The kids are also doing some schoolwork in the car which they are convinced in pure torture! Below is a small sample of my view from the van. Robert has the GPS in the truck, and I follow closely behind in the van!
We spent the night with sweet friends Keith and Carole Inman last night, and really enjoyed wonderful conversation and fellowship before bed last night. Right now, Keith is in the kitchen scrambling eggs for my whole family and talking “ministry” with Robert ~ perfect.
Robert and I have even gotten in our regular morning runs this week. We ran around the UMass campus on Wednesday before packing up and closing down the house, and this morning we ran together in Keith and Carole’s beautiful neighborhood. On our Wednesday run, we kept talking about what a special GIFT this sabbatical is to us. We are looking forward to the time and to being more PRESENT with each other and more PRESENT with our kids. And what a crucial time it is for those things with two teens and a tween. So, we are extremely blessed by this gift of time, of finances, and of rest. Thanks again, Mercyhouse, for making this possible for us.
Now, off to Little Rock, Arkansas!
Glad for the update. Wishing you more blue skies than rain or snow. Love, K&J
Melanie,
I came across your blog via Beth Moore and the SSMT and was thrilled to find another Massachusetts girl memorizing scripture. I too will be going to the January celebration and would love to meet you and hear about your ministry. I have college age boys and have a soft spot for college kids. I assume you are working with many kids from UMass.
Debbie
Hi Debbie ~ Thank you so much for finding me here. I would love to meet up with you, too. I have another friend coming from Massachusetts for the conference as well! Fun!