On the Road

We are now back in the US of A and enjoying it. Our travels have gone very well so far and we have enjoyed seeing many friends and family.

We spent a busy two days in FL with my parents. We got everyone through the eye doctor; got some shoes to replace the duct tape tennis that we left in Brasil; we got our FL driver's licenses so that we are now official residents of FL (we hope that will help our visa situation); and we ate some of our most missed foods like Root Beer, Dr. Pepper, chips & salsa, and muesli (Grandma's yummy breakfast cereal).

We flew up to Minneapolis where we picked up the van we are using. It is a great van with tons of space for all of us and all of our stuff.

Welcome to Iowa! One of our first stops along the journey.

We arrived in Ogden, IA, Saturday evening and began our week-long stay there. We had a wonderful time staying with our friends, Trent & Jean Mallicoat. It was great fun to catch up on each other's lives and spend some good quality time together. The kids had a great time playing with their dog, Mocha.

We worshiped on Sunday at Bethel Church, our home congregation and began Family Bible School on Monday night. Our days were filled with lunches at different people's homes and visiting and catching up. Our nights were filled with Bible School and sharing about our ministry at AVA. It was an incredible week & we are glad we could spend our first week with our home congregation and the good people there.

Here's Dennis teaching the adult class. He taught 4 of the 5 evenings upstairs with the adults.

I was downstairs with the kid's classes for 4 of the 5 evenings. Everyone learned that great song, "When the Storm Rolls." I practiced with the kid's classes each night after Dennis taught it to them.

We got to spend one afternoon with Grandpa & Grandma Sommerlot (my brother, Paul's in-laws, who live in Des Moines). We had a delicious meal at HuHots and then some really yummy Root Beer floats at their home. It was a fun afternoon.

We spent one afternoon out at Eric & Susan Souhrada's place.

We enjoyed picking & eating strawberries out of their patch. YUM!!!

Fresh strawberries from the garden are delicious!

After Bible School finished, we headed up to Minneapolis to see some friends, visit with some supporters and share about our ministry at a church up there.

Here we are with my 3rd grade teacher, Miss Horn. She taught overseas at MK schools for her whole teaching career. It was such a blessing to see her and visit together. This was the first time she had met Dennis and the kids.

I enjoyed a breakfast out at Starbucks with my friend, Ruth, who I roomed with in High School at boarding school in Ivory Coast. It was great to reconnect in person and catch up on each other's lives.

We had an afternoon gathering at a local church. We didn't have very many people come, but we did enjoying visiting with those who did.

Jeff & Jeana Hinds, Jonas & Lydia

While Dennis & Caleb stayed home with a 24 hour bug, the other kids and I had supper with a former coworker from Gifford, Sheila and her 2 girls.

We all got to spend the evening with the Steele family (although Uncle Duane was out of town for a conference). We enjoyed a great meal of Sierra Leonean Groundnut Chop (helping to celebrate Lida's birthday). Maria played the harp and piano for us.

"Ant," Maria, & Lida Steele
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It was a great time and we enjoyed seeing so many people.