Home Again, Home Again, Jiggiddy Jig!

Jen points in surprise at all the stuff we managed to cram into a Toyota van. You can see my baby cradle in the van, soon to be Jade Lynne's cradle. You can also see my bike on top of everything. The Lord provided the perfect vehicle to make our trek from Carbondale to Berea to Asheville. Originally we'd signed up to rent the cheapest car in Hertz's fleet, but got upgraded to their most expensive because the guy running it said that no one was renting the Toyota van and he wanted to unload it on another larger Hertz shop! We were more than happy to oblige.We enjoyed a fun and momentous visit with our family in Carbondale on the way home: Christy lost a tooth while we were there, the girls got to feel Jade Lynne kick and squirm in the womb, I got to milk Elissa's birthday goat with her, we went to Church with them, we made and enjoyed Jimmy's famous Sho-Bings, and Mom bought and planted two more blueberry bushes!

We stopped for an overnight stay and dinner at Alex and Debby Carrick's place in Berea on our way to Asheville. It was good to see Debby and Alex and Elliot again after so long. We also got to see Joel and Naomi Johnson while we were there, as they are living at the Carricks right now. Naomi is two weeks further along than Jen in pregnancy. It seems like everyone is getting pregnant these days! A luminescent lunch in Asheville, NC. We really enjoyed this evening with Jim and Judy and Melissa. It was our first hamburger lunch in six months!

Jenny loves the stone walls and phlox at her Dad's castle-like estate in the mountains of North Carolina. We took a tour, as is our custom, and were surprised at how much they'd done in the six short months we were gone!

Behind Jen you can see Judy's garden house and more of their castle-like walls. Jim and Jen on a new stream bed he'd recently put in. He'd also built a dam in a wash where he has plans to put in a water fall and pond. Unfortunately a late frost crippled the flowers this spring, still their landscaping looked great to us! Jen's having second thoughts about racing, but can't find the door handle in Melissa's snazzy BMW! Some how Melissa talked Jen and I into some racing on our way to South Carolina. We had a lot of fun and were quite impressed with Melissa's driving. Two sisters enjoying lunch after a long morning of racing!
We enjoyed a wonderful visit with Grandmom and Pops in South Carolina. Here we are sharing breakfast with them. We also got to see Aunt Susan and two of Jen's cousins: Rachael and Chrissy.

Jen loved hanging out with her Grandma Pennscott and seeing Bei-Loang again!Grandpa showed us his new cap and some of his other sun wear, which he bought after having some skin cancer cells removed.

Grandmom thanks for the swim trunks and the purple shoes Jen is showing off here! Jim thanks for the Jeep! Our kayaks and bikes fit on it a little better than they did on our Honda Civic! We can't wait to drive your granddaughter, Jade Lynne, down for a visit.

Finally, after a long hard trip (as the prievious photos attest) and many long hard visits and meals with cherished loved ones, we arrived back home in West Virginia. We couldn't resist buying some blueberry bushes just before we pulled up. We are so excited to be back!

This beautiful sunset wished us goodnight on our first evening back. Here is Jen with Sam and Sarah our neighbors. Sam and Sarah help Sam's parents, Frank and Mary Ellen, tend the beautiful farm you can see in the back ground. Sarah is expecting their first child as well. It is going to be the summer of the babies here in "almost heaven" West Virginia!