Let the traveling begin...

Flying is not my favorite thing to do.  Even as I sit and write this, I am in an airport waiting to board a plane that is getting something fixed, delaying us by 2 hours.  Always anxiety producing.  But flying gets us to people and places that we love, so I say my prayers and take my Xanax.  Seriously.

Last week we traveled to Illinois, which is my old stomping ground and where I consider to be one of the best places on Earth.  The good ol' Midwest.  Friendly folks, farmland, Monicals pizza and Gene's ice cream...really what more could one ask for.  Certain people in my family, who will remain nameless, think that I actually idealize the town where most of my formative years were spent.  He is right. But many of those friendships that I made a long time ago, are still intact and are very rich and deep.  We share a history and I love that.  They know the good, the bad and the ugly about me and still love me anyway.  As a result of this history, we saw over 48 people in about 48 hours.

Crazy I know, but so fun and encouraging!  I got to see friends from many stages of my time in B/N... my jr. high and high school years, my nursing school years, from my working days at the hospital,  those who I attended church with and went on my first mission trip with,  and friends who we have adopted as "grandparents" for our kiddos.  Along with friends, we got to spend some time with my brother who we don't get to see very often.  The only problem is that there is never enough time to share all that is happening in our lives or be able to listen long enough to what God is doing in their lives.

Besides hanging out with friends and family, we also got to make some really fun memories with our kids.  Our first stop was Chicago, and I got to take Abby for a date to the American Girl doll store, while Brad got to take the boys to see a ND football game (his Alma mater).  Yes, they lost...but it didn't matter.  Brad just loved showing them the campus and giving them a taste of his college days.

When we asked the kids what their favorite part of the trip was...they said ALL OF IT!
(you can't get better than that!)
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More craziness...
I started this post at the Ft. Lauderdale airport and we have since been driven to Miami to try and take another flight out to Philly, as we were pretty sure that we were not going to make it out today from FT. Lauderdale.   This week is the WHM's team leaders retreat.  Lots of planning, praying, training and strategizing.  I return home on Tuesday and Brad will return home on Friday. 

The rest of November we are trying to visit some of our supporting churches,  speak at some chapel
services where our kiddos go to school, finish up with Neena's house in preparation to sell, celebrate Thanksgiving with our family and then Brad will be headed to Vienna for a short trip to help get our newest teammates, the Beilmans settled! :)

So that is another quick update from us. We continue to be thankful for your prayers, financial support and times of getting to catch up with so many of you!