To Infinity and Beyond!!!!

Well, we didn't quite make it to infinity but we did travel to/through 13 states and 1 Canadian province in 20 days. We are all a bit sick of the car, but it was a fun adventure none the less.

We stayed in Ontario with our friends the Harris family. God blessed us with their friendship shortly after moving to MI in 2004. They have 6 kids - what a house full. It was such a blessing to reconnect and spend time with them. We were able to see their new home in Canada. That is good because I like to be able to picture where someone is standing in their house when I talk to them on the phone and to know little things about their everyday life . . .like the fact that they by milk in a bag. (Its a Canadian thing.) Bobby took us all bowling one night. Most of our kids have never been. Of the 15 of us guess who won . . . . Gavin!!!! He scored a 155 and beat us all!!!

In Michigan our wonder friends, Jim and Natasha, opened their home and let us invade their basement. We always wanted a large family so we would always be a big group of people doing things together - unfortunately . . .we are a large group of people every where we go. It is hard to be discrete in another's home when you are like the invading Saxon horde moving onto their land. J and N - you guys are saints!!!

The kids (and us too) had a great time with baby Max. Natasha is an amazing first time mom. She was patient and calm as my 5 hovered over Maxon James like vultures. They had more fun with his baby toys than he did. Maxon also got a great work out as the kids helped him do lap after lap around the house helping him walk.

We had fun catching up with friends and renewing acquaintances. It was great to see everyone at Impact. We plan to travel back to MI in April, so if we missed you this time we hope to catch up with you then.

Apart from fellowship, our main purpose for this trip was to raise support. We are at 40% of our monthly support and are praying we see that double in the next month or so. We hope to be fully funded and leave for language school by the end of the summer. After language school we will be church planting in Peru. All of this is in God's timing . . it always has been. I just forget sometimes.

We went south after 9 days in MI. We drove through OH, KY and TN. KY is beautiful!!!!! We stayed in this place called Pigeon Forge, TN because the hotel room was dirt cheap. Little did we know we were staying in a mini, less risque version of Las Vegas! As we headed south off the highway in the direction of the Microtel we were accosted for miles by lights, signs and shows. It was crazy - tacky to be more precise. Turns out we stayed right near Dollywood. (It was closed for the season.)

The next day we drove through Smokey Mountain National Park. The mountains were beautiful. We hit Asheville, Morganton and Hickory, NC on our way down to SC to visit the South America Mission office in Fort Mill, SC. We stayed with friends and enjoyed beautiful weather.

God has opened some doors and placed some great opportunities in our lap during this trip. Pray that God's desire for our family and our remaining time here would become our desire as well.

I will try to post pictures later.