Thanksgiving Trip to Illinois

I feel really blessed that I got to travel to Illinois for Thanksgiving and to meet my new baby nephew, born on November 9th! I left on November 24th and arrived back to Mexico on December 9th.

Headed to Peoria! 

It was interesting to see everyone wearing masks in the airport. At one point, I looked around and thought, "Wow. A year ago, we couldn't have imagined this."

My brother Tim was exposed to COVID at school and he and my mom got tested for COVID the day I arrived, so I went to stay with Emily and Mitch instead. Which was actually great because I got to meet my nephew Carson right away!

I captured this silhouette of Emily comforting Carson. I title it "Motherhood." :)

The day after I arrived, Kyla, her husband, Josh, and her little boy, Percy, came to visit Emily and Carson. They were visiting from Texas and I was so excited to see Kyla after so many years!

Just a random picture of little Carson from Wednesday night!

 

On Thanksgiving, most of my siblings went to Forrest/Fairbury area for Thanksgiving with my grandparents. I was thankful to visit Forrest church Thanksgiving morning and see lots of familiar faces and chat with a few people. Thanksgiving night I was back at Mitch and Emily's when we got the news that Tim had tested positive for COVID and my Mom wasn't feeling well.

 

My first thought was, "No, this is exactly what I didn't want to happen. My trip is going to be ruined."

I was worried because I had spent the day with my brother Justin who still lives with my mom and thought I might get sick as well. 

But it actually was nice to just hang out at Mitch and Emily's for the weekend. I went and got a COVID test on Saturday, hoping to get a negative test and go visit some friends in Forrest the next week. 

Saturday night, we had planned to have a family night at my mom's but since she and Tim had COVID that was cancelled. However, Mom had bought us an Escape room experience, so some of the family went to east Peoria for that. 

Here we are. 

L-R: Philip, Mitch, me, Megan, Drew Wiegand (Megan's boyfriend), Anni, and Matt

We had so much fun! It was a great challenge for working together and we managed to use just 3 clues and finish with 9 minutes to spare.

I was also glad to be able to help Emily with Carson over the weekend and even got to get up with him a few times in the night!

Tummy time after his bath!

Another big plus staying at Mitch and Emily's all weekend was lots of good talks with Philip who lives in their basement. Here we are making cookies.

Monday morning I left for Forrest and went to my mom's parents. They took me on a drive out to the cemetery to put a grave blanket on my dad's grave, and we drove past the houses I lived in when I lived in Forrest. The one above is where I lived until I was four years old. I still have quite a few memories from living there. 

On Monday afternoon, I got to spend time with my mentor and friend, Bonnie Dotterer and Monday night I stayed with my dad's parents. Tuesday morning I got to visit my good friend, Kara Zehr, and chat with Wayne Anliker through the window at Fairview Haven, before heading to my mom's parents for the afternoon and night. 

On Wednesday morning, I headed back towards Emily and Mitch's and stopped in Washington to visit Miss Megan. We made Turkey Alfredo with leftover thanksgiving Turkey and I had a great time seeing her apartment. 

On Thursday I enjoyed a nice visit with Amber Miller, the HarvestCall Missionary Care director. Then I drove over to Pekin and visited my cousin, Sarah, and her two kids. Her youngest was born 2 weeks after my last visit to Illinois and she was already a year and a half old!

Justin was tested for COVID and didn't get it, so Friday I went to pick him up at mom's and we hung out together. First, he and Tim showed me Tim's treehouse.

Friday night I went to stay with Matt and Anni where they live south of Hanna City and met their very smart dog, Chewy (not sure if that's how it's spelled). We had a great time discussing languages and language learning and I enjoyed checking out all the trick boxes that Anni has made.

Tim was done with his quarantine by Saturday since he never had symptoms, so we went on a date to Barnes and Noble. Seriously, it was the most fun, just looking at all the books. (Although we did feel a little suffocated by our masks after an hour or so!)

I bought him this book. I think he's going to have great fun with it.

His lunch of choice was chicken strips from DQ, so that's what we got before heading over to Emily's and seeing another old friend who had stopped to visit, Chloe Huber Schmidgall and her husband, Jared!

Timi has passed me up in height, so I am now officially the shortest of my siblings. 

Saturday night I stayed at Matt and Anni's again, and went to Peoria for church on Sunday. I enjoyed going to the Spanish service and seeing Daniella and Belinda Knobloch, and Joan Schick. After church, I headed over to visit Bill and Joan for a bit and then in the evening, our whole family got together since my mom was out of quarantine as well!

Timi and I enjoyed drawing some blueprints as usual.

And we took family pictures.

Carson was napping and Miguel isn't in the picture, but they really turned out nice.

It was such a blessing to sit around the table with my family for the first time in a year and a half. The last time I visited was for Matt and Anni's wedding, so it was so nice to get to be with them and just get to know them better. I am continually grateful for God's care of my family and thankful to see my siblings continuing to pursue their relationship with Jesus. I'm amazed to see their growth and wonder where the years have gone. Over the years, it's been great to slowly transition into an adult relationship with my siblings. When I imagine the future with more nieces and nephews (and my own kids :)), it seems crazy. I'm just so thankful I got this chance to be with them and experience this season of life with them for two weeks.

So I spent Monday and Tuesday morning with my mom and although it was a shorter time than I had planned or hoped, it was sweet.

My trip home Tuesday afternoon was long, but smooth. I had booked a flight from 8 AM to early afternoon, but as they consolidated flights, I ended up with a noon to 9:30 PM flight with two layovers in Chicago and Denver. Here's a photo of the clouds as I flew into Chicago.

Tuesday evening I was blessed to stay with Duane and Ann Wulf at their home in Tucson and spent Wednesday morning shopping in Tucson and driving back down to Magdalena. It was such an uneventful trip in a good way.

So thankful to arrive home and see my hubby again! I posted a few photos on my fridge of little Carson. I left him some copies too so that as he grows older he'll have proof that I visited him. They grow so fast in these first years!

I had a good transition back to work on Thursday and was thankful to get the negative results of my second COVID test taken Tuesday morning right before my flight.

Friday evening was CVE's dress-up and Christmas movie night. Miguel and I went as Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

So I still need to be a careful in the next couple weeks because of traveling to the states, wearing a mask when I'm indoors with others, washing hands, etc. but I'm thankful that so far I'm healthy and that it appears that the virus didn't travel any further in my family. Not even Justin or Gary got it.

Sunday afternoon, we had a farewell gathering to say goodbye to Limon and Kristi Leman as they move back to Colorado. We're going to miss them! 

Carissa snapped this picture for Miguel and I at the gathering.

It's good to be home, decorating and planning for Christmas!

Praise God for a wonderful trip. I honestly can't believe it went so well and I was able to connect with so many people and stay healthy.

Please pray for Christmas break here at CVE. Some of the kids haven't left campus since March and there won't be school for three weeks. Pray for patience and creativity for the houseparents and children and pray for me that I can know how to be supportive. And also, that I can keep my heart focused on what Christmas is really all about...the birth of our Savior and King!

Chili and Pie Night 2020

So as I mentioned in my last post, Miguel's family headed home on October 23rd, but I can't resist posting these pictures from our last dinner together. 

My beautiful sister-in-law's

My brother-in-law and nephew

The whole family. (Kevin is almost covered up.)

After a movie, we took them to the bus station. Their bus was scheduled to leave at midnight, but didn't come until 2 AM! (Which seems to be the normal delay.) Some of us fell asleep before then. :)

The next day was the annual chili and pie night. Here's a few photos of my pie making.

I ended up winning 2nd place which is the best I've done in my seven years of participation!

 I won 3rd place with a pumpkin pecan pie one year, so pecan mix pies seem to be a good option. This one was caramel, apple, pecan pie, the same recipe as last year. But last year I put whipped cream on top while it was still warm and it all melted, so the appearance wasn't too great.

Miguel did great with his chili entry and won first place! Yeah!

November 2nd, Cafe Sed celebrated it's tenth birthday! Ten years of encouraging community development, relationships, reading, and coffee drinking! Thanks to Katie and Denver and so many others for all their investment in such a great place.

So I've been looking at the calendar and hope to be in Forrest the weekend of November 29th. Hope to see some of you then!

Can't remember if I've shared this poem before...

What no Man can Say

Words cannot dictate

The things in my heart.

Songs cannot chorus

The power Thou art.

Poetry can’t satisfy

What hearts long to tell.

Tears cannot lessen

The presence I feel.

Language can’t write

The half of Thy love.

Inventions can’t reach

Thy home up above.

But the Spirit interprets

And bears up away

To the throne of the Father

What no man can say.

Visitors from Michoachan!

Miguel and I have been so thankful to have his family visiting the last two weeks! His mom, two sisters, one brother, and his nephew were all able to come. 

Bertha invited us for supper Sunday evening and took this photo for us. 

Back (L-R): Fani (and another niece or nephew coming in February!), Miguel and I, Fernanda, Lola, Bryan

In front: Kevin (our nephew)

The last time they were here was for our wedding, so I was especially thankful for this time to get to know them better. They were able to stay at our house thanks to our guest bedroom and pull-out couch! We've been making lots of memories; visiting the park, making food, and just talking. I taught Bryan and Fernanda to play Monopoly Deal and they taught me to play marbles at the park. I have been helping Fernanda with her English homework and I've also been teaching Kevin the Spanish vowels.

Here we are on an evening outing. We stopped to see this fountain with lights and the Magdalena sign.

Our guest bedroom bathroom was sinkless, so Miguel built this contraption for it. We fill the jug with water and the bowl has a pipe connected to the bottom that drains into the shower. Pretty nifty! The little shelf is nice too, to be able to put some things on and his family has been able to use it for these couple weeks.

Visit number one to the park. It has still been very warm, but around 5 PM it cools off as the sun sets and then there is still an hour of daylight before it gets dark. We took advantage of this hour to walk to a park just up the street.

These boys are so much fun.

Their first evening with us, we celebrated Kevin's birthday. He turned five years old a few weeks ago. Miguel grilled carne asada and I made a cake of "Tres Leches." Bryan helped me put the strawberries on top.

Every night we take the cushions off the couch, pull out the bed, and stack the cushions by the piano. Here I made them into a little house for Kevin.

Last night, Lola made enchiladas. So delicious! We've also had some really good refried beans, pozole, creamy spaghetti with fried chicken tenders, carne con Chile, etc... We've been spoiled!

The family plans to leave tonight on the bus from Santa Ana. We are really going to miss them! But so thankful to be with them for two whole weeks!

In other news...

We had our civil protection training for this year.

Miguel and I had our second horse class. Here we are practicing riding bareback.

I've also been teaching this guy to say his name. He can say all the parts, but connecting them is the hard part. When he gets it, it sounds like "Bod...ay...o." 

He has also been practicing coloring/writing and continues to impress me with his new skills.

Also, I am so excited for him because he is now adopted!! Adam and Jenna Leman have adopted him and his four siblings. This is a huge relief as I often wondered what his future would look like and now I know that he will be well cared for and have lots of support. I helped make him a photo album with photos of everyone who has taken care of him here at CVE and the different children he has lived with. The photo album has buttons for each picture where you can record a message, so it tells his story from the time he arrived at CVE in 2011 to Adam and Jenna adopting him. Such a journey! Hopefully, it can help him process and move forward in this new stage of life. 

The Lemans have plans to move back to Indiana next year, so please pray for Tadiboy and for me. I will still be doing therapy with him until they move. However lately, I've been feeling sad when I think about it. I also feel so much joy for all the new opportunities he will have. So much joy and so much sadness at the same time! And I want to know how I can best be there for him through this transition. He's been my student and almost like a son to me for the past six years and I know that it will be a big loss for me and a big transition for him.

Finally, a quick throwback photo...

My mom sent me this picture recently. It was taken in July of 2005 on our trip to Magdalena when my parents decided that we would be moving there. It was taken in a canyon near Tucson. 

Back (L-R): Laura (10), Matthew (6), Philip (8)

Front (L-R): Brian, Megan (3), Marie, Justin (1), Emily (12)

Also, I'll just mention again. I have plans to travel to Illinois from November 24th to December 8th. Hope to see some of you then! 

A Song within my Heart

There is a song within my heart,

Throbbing, swelling for release.

If only some I could impart

To you. Oh, joy, and hope, and peace!

It is the gift of God on high,

The burning love for Him, for man.

Grant grace to act, oh, Lord most kind,

To tell the truth. In God we can!