Monday, June 29, 2009

Part Two - Baltimore MD

In Baltimore, we were able to meet up with one of Luciana's YWAM friends, Jeff, who introduced us to his house church and even arranged a place to stay for us! It was wonderful!!


Here we are trying blue crab!







Worshipping late at night:













Nan, the lady we stayed with, is an amazing lady! She keeps her farm house open for missionaries and others in need of hospitality and she was such a blessing to get to know! Jeff is the one in red, and the others are friends from the house church.








Nan's house:













Luciana at a local park they took us to - what a place!


















Luciana with Jeff and Tony, who also went out of his way for us while we were there!












At the park:



















































Friday, June 26, 2009

Our Amazing Road Trip! ~~part one~~

These pictures are not in order and there are too many to sort and try to arrange in order. If I tried, I would never get anything done! So.... this is the best I can do now. :-)

We drove a total of 2, 332 miles over the course of nine days, stopping many different places on the way there and on the way home!

If you want to know how we survived, here are my road trip tips for keeping small children happy! :)


So, this post is of our first two stops. First was in eastern Ohio, where I grew up! I hadn't been back in eleven years, and it was great to see some old friends and introduce Fabio and the fam to my old stompin' grounds!
After that we went on to Lancaster, PA, where my former Japanese teacher lives now! It was great to connect with them again too and we have a wonderful visit.





In Lancaster, we were able to see some Amish sites:





































Here we were having a cookout at the beautiful home of our friends!

























We go WAY back - can you find me in the picture?? This was my first trip to Japan! In 1994....











Yep, this is me, and this little cutie is the one in the middle in the photo below! It's been a few years.....





























Ohio friends. I know my family will enjoy seeing these pictures!












At the Dunlaps:


















Their zipline:













Their treehouse and fireman's pole:


















Ardena:
























The house I grew up in! The lady was in the driveway and I told her who I was and she let us go in and look around! It was great to see it all and show my fam where my room used to be and all. What a walk down memory lane!



Mariellyn and Ellen:













The train Lynn built in their yard for the grandkids! It was SO much fun for the kids! They went around and around and around in the Thomas train!





























Thomas coming our of the barn:














The train even lulled Israel to sleep! LOL

















Back in PA again. :)







More about the trip in future posts!

Monday, June 01, 2009

Interview with Mrs. Kendra Smiley !!





I had an awesome opportunity to interview author Kendra Smiley LIVE last week, and I have just published the first segment of the interview on MamaKnowsBest! It was so great to meet her - what a godly woman and so full of life!

She has generously donated ten of her books to MKB readers, so be sure to enter a comment for your chance to win!!! The books are from a biblical perspective, on parenting, marriage, and managing a home-based business!

Here is the direct link to the interview: INTERVIEW WITH KENDRA SMILEY