Back from vacation

Well, we are back home in Texas after a long vacation and road trip of nearly 1700 miles. It was the longest vacation we have ever taken as a family. And our son was able to join us fore the entire time. What a blessing! During our vacation we fulfilled the dream we had nearly 8 years ago when we wanted to take a trip that involved seeing the people that mean the most to us... our family and friends.

We flew to Columbus, OH to join up with our daughter. But before we left Ohio for the rest of the vacation we got to spend some time with our long time friends in a rousing Wii competition of Dance Dance Revolution and Mario Kart. (Be thankful there is no video posted of my attempt at DDR!) We also took advantage of the opportunity to welcome Andréa home from a semester abroad in Brazil.

We picked up some old friends and new friends and made them a part of the rest of the trip. We were joined by our long-time friend Joshua and our relatively new friend, Katie. But, the beauty of how God works is this. They are not really friends. Rather, they are family. We called them pseudo-son and pseudo-daughter throughout the time together. But that title belies our true feelings. They are not pseudo-anything. They are God's gift to us and we are grateful to Him who added them to our family for that time. And there were others that would have or could have joined with us. But that was not God's plan at this time.

We headed out for Flint, MI to visit my brother and his family. He pastors a great church in West Flint, MI and God is blessing his ministry there. We had never been able to be with him in the eight years that he has pastored there. So, it was high time we did. And God was good to us there. The weather was unbelievably gorgeous. It was a welcome respite from the heat of springtime in Houston.

From there it was off to the Ontario side of Niagara Falls. God blessed us with a rental house that was a block and a half from the river gorge and about 3 blocks from the falls. In fact we walked down to the river's edge to watch the fireworks over the falls on Monday night the 19th of May, which was Victoria Day in Canada. We even got a chance to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Ontario while in the area. And, yes, we got a chance to see and touch the real Stanley cup!

The last weekend of vacation was spent with my folks in Warren, PA. We met last Friday night for dinner at the Lakewood Rod & Gun Cub for a tremendous dinner. We spent a few days with Mom and Dad and got caught up on all the happenings in the raging metropolis of Warren, PA!

We finished our vacation back in Mount Vernon, OH. We got our daughter somewhat settled in to her apartment for the summer. Plus we had a chance to spend some time with her boyfriend and enjoy a few meals together.

So as I sit here tonight and reflect on the past week or two I realize how blessed I am. God has blessed me with an amazing family. And He has given us amazing friends to share this journey through life with.