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!
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!
