Checking in

I have been meaning to post here for quite some time. When Andoni was here, I felt so much responsibility to post so his family knew exactly what kinds of things their young man was doing with this family across the ocean. What have we been up to since our Basque friend left? Well, lots of things. As a matter of fact, there were several times over the past couple of months since Andoni left that I thought to myself, "I wish Andoni were here to experience this, too!"

Andoni left us in late July and that same day I traveled to North Carolina to see my sister and drive home with her. The drive was two days and 24 hours long. We arrived home and my sister stayed with us for two weeks or so, and we filled our time with exercise, walks, cooking, a little eating out, and shopping; all the things my sister likes to do.

The week after Gena left, the girls and I had signed up for something called Vacation Bible school. I wonder if you have such a thing at churches in your village? Well, about 180 kids (aged kindergarten through 4th grade) met at our church each morning for a few hours that week and sang songs, heard Bible stories, played games, and did crafts. Plus, the children raised over $500 to give to a village in India so they could have their own Vacation Bible school. Quinn, one of her friends (Katie) and I volunteered to help out. It was pretty fun and very loud and each day we all came home and were tired! Do you have such a thing in Basque country?

Then, Jeff took all the girls up to the cabin for the weekend and had some new adventures while I flew back down to North Carolina to visit a friend who had had a very difficult summer with the loss of her sister and grandmother in late June/early July. I went to Charleston, South Carolina with her and had a wonderful time. It is a very different part of the country than Minnesota, with a lot of history from the early days of the United States. It was a fantastic trip.

My friend, Michaele

Then, we went to Nelson's Resort, the highlight of our summer every year. Nelson's is a place we go each year to fish and relax for a few days. I think Andoni would have loved it there! Shelby caught her first fish up there and the girls went jumping off of some cliffs into the deep water. Nelson's Resort is in a small town called Crane Lake, MN, and is in far northern Minnesota close to the Canadian border. Actually, we take boats across the border and fish in Canadian waters all day and then head back through customs each evening when we return to the resort.

This is Gillian doing a "cannonball."

Another fun thing we did was go to the State Fair. When Andoni was telling me about his hometown's annual celebration, it sounded a little like our State Fair. Literally millions of people come to eat, go on rides, see farm animals and just have a good time. We usually go many times and Jeff's parents even make sure they are in town each year for the fair.

Now, the girls are in school and are all doing well. Shelby is a little sad each day when she has to leave Janna at home to go to class, but she is always happy about her day when she returns.

Shelby's first day of Kindergarten

That is a quick overview of the many days that have passed since we saw our friend Andoni. It seems like so long ago that he was here, andwe miss him. Andoni, find someone to give you a big hug from all of us!