Driving through GEORGIA (state #20) to get to ALABAMA (state #21) and back home to TEXAS

September 30- October 4

Travel Day #31 & 34

 We knew the Hale family in Haringen.  We had a great couple of days to catch up with them.

 One night we met up with another Harlingen couple at Chick-fil-A.  Reunions are so fun.

 One afternoon at a park we met up with friends who we haven’t seen in 9 years.  They are medical missionaries in Asia and are on home assignment also.

 Next we traveled to Mobile to visit with friends Jeff knew in High School and we both knew at ACU.

And our very last stop before heading home was in Houston, Texas, where we met with the Gonzalez family

The CAROLINAS….North (state #18) and South (state #19)

September 24-29

Travel Day #25-30

On our way to Charlotte, NC from Virginia, we stopped at Appomattox Courthouse where General Lee surrendered. 

 We then proceeded to SIM’s headquarters in Charlotte. We stayed three nights meeting with various staff members.

On our way to Columbia, South Carolina we stopped for an early birthday fun day for Micah.  We went putt-putt golfing and bumper-caring. 

 We spent two nights with friends from Harlingen who are now in Columbia, SC – the Millus family.

We had fun at the lake one afternoon.

On Micah’s 8^th birthday (September 29) we stopped, at his request, to eat seafood as we headed to our net destination.

In the afternoon we arrived at the Carles’ house in Clinton, South Carolina.  Our kids had fun getting to know their 10 kids.

Another night in PENNSYLVANIA and onto VIRGINIA (state #17)

September 19-23, 2014

Day #21-24

We traveled out of New Jersey and in Pennsylvania.  We stopped at Valley Forge for a great tour and picnic lunch.

 Cabins they men built and stayed for the winter.

 George Washington’s quarters during the time at Valley Forge.

 The original banister touched by Washington.

 We stayed the night with a T.I.M.E alumni’s family in PA.

 The following day we ate a delicious Oriental buffet lunch in Lancaster, PA, with a pastor and his wife who have come to Paraguay so many times over the years to minister to our team.

Then we ended the day close to Richmond, Virginia, with our former teammates.

 After lunch on Sunday we headed to Lynchburg, Virginia, to stay with Jeff’s former residency attending and his wife.

One morning Ryan had a tour of Liberty University.  It’s an absolute huge and beautiful university.

We also go to spend an entire afternoon at the lake and evening eating pizza with our current team mates and their oldest son who left Paraguay 2 years ago to attend Liberty University.  These teammates are on a short home assignment to put their second son in Liberty University.  We got to see him for a brief 10 minutes or so in between his work and study hours.   

Our hosts were friends from our Harlingen days.  Dr. J was a teacher in Jeff’s residency.  He set Jeff up with a speaking engagement at Liberty’s new medical school’s first CMDA (Christian Medical and Dental Association) meeting.

NEW YORK and NEW JERSEY (state #15)

September 16-19

Day #18-20

From Massachusetts we went back into New York (near NYC) and stayed with the parents of a recent T.I.M.E inters.  Her family is from Egypt and cooked us the best Egyptian food.  I love that my kids love trying new foods.

The following day we made two stops on the way to our friends’ house in New Jersey.  

One was in West Point, NY, at the military academy.  Wow.  Very impressive and a great museum.

 The second stop was in Hoboken, NJ, at Carlo’s bakery.  One of our teammates got my kids hooked on a season of Cake Boss.  Well, it’s filmed at this shop.  My kids were disappointed to not see Buddy or Cousin Anthony, but the cookies we bought were delicious.

And then we arrived in Monmouth Beach, NJ, where we spent a couple days picking apples and peaches, playing on the Jersey coast, enjoying the beautiful weather, and catching up with former residency buddies.  They served us a traditional New Jersey breakfast – ham rolls and typical New Jersey style pizza for dinner.

 Micah found/caught this horseshoe crab.  He loves beach combing.