Chicago-area Monday

Well, it is very late so we'll send pictures and update a little more tomorrow but today was a really fun day with the most significant things being the visiting time with 3 more cousins (Ashley, Stephanie and Beth) and their spouses (Adam, Dave and Mike). Also included was a walk along the shore of Lake Michigan and a quick jaunt (sp?) into Wisconsin. Amy G. if you're reading this, we have a fun little picture for you :-)

It's 2:35am and Beth, Mike and the boys left about a half hour ago so....... since we plan to get up and get to Grandma C's in Cleveland tomorrow, we'll try to check in late morning before we go and post a few pictures.

Thanks and love.

Sunday in Wheaton

We started the day at Uncle Wilbur's Church - Holy Transfiguration Antiochian Orthodox Church. Needless to say it was a church experience unlike any other we've had before. A lot of interesting and thought-provoking things. We really enjoyed being there and appreciated the fellowship we shared with this unique congregation.

Then, after a little nap at the house, we went out to Cantigny Park to hear the Air Force Band which turned out to be a jazz version of the band. We walked around the gardens, and looked at a bunch of old tanks then went into the museum where they had some really great displays of real war scenes (see lower set of pictures). We then came home and walked my Aunt and Uncle's new dog, Cody, a Sheltie. We don't have any pictures yet of Aunt Jean or Cody but we'll get them before we leave town.

Tomorrow we connect with two cousins and their husbands. We'll share pictures of that with you tomorrow.

My Uncle's homily from the Gospels (Mt. 14; Mk. 6; Lk. 9; Jn. 6) today was from Jesus' feeding of the five thousand. The disciples plea to "send them away so they can take care of themselves" was met by Jesus in essence saying, "No, you bring them to me and let me take care of them." A great lesson in loving people, no matter how inconvenient.

Onward in love.

from Wheaton, IL

(remember, you can click on any of the pictures in our blog to view them in larger size)

Hello! It's late here in Chicago-land (I think they call it that here) but we wanted to let you know that we made it safely to our destination for the weekend (plus Monday). We're here at my Uncle Wilbur and Aunt Jean's house in Wheaton where we'll be staying for the next two nights at least. We crossed the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers today and we spent about an hour in the Bass Pro Shop in Iowa across the river from Omaha where we did $2 worth of their shooting gallery (the middle set of pictures). Cool place! We also checked out prices on kayaks and canoes and the street legality of ATV's :-) We also saw them (Iowa workers, not Bass Pro Shop) constructing one of those windmills (upper right picture) you see out by Palm Springs. Always wondered how they did that. Basically it's just big cranes. REALLY big cranes.

Anyway, tomorrow morning we're visiting the Holy Transfiguration Antiochian Orthodox Church in Warrenville where my Uncle is priest. It will be a unique experience I'm sure. Divine Liturgy starts at 9:30am. We'll talk to you more tomorrow about it tomorrow but for now we just wanted to let you know we made it. Thanks for your prayers.

The cloud pictures are courtesy of BayLynn. We've seen a lot of those along the way. Reminders of Psalm 57:10 - Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens, Your truth to the clouds.

Onward, to celebrate it, live it and love it.

from Lincoln, NE

Well, we wanted to get to Omaha, and we could have, but we stopped at a few places today and there was no big need to push ourselves. Plus we got to see that last few minutes of the Olympic opening ceremonies.

The drive out of Laramie to Cheyenne was really cool. Beautiful scenery! We sure would like to come back. Wyoming is soon becoming a favorite, right there next to Montana and Colorado. That drive included that big bronze bust of Abe Lincoln you see in the collage. We learned that I-80 was named the Lincoln Highway on the centennial of his birth. This statue commemorates that.

We fulfilled our plan to stop in North Platte, NE and check out Buffalo Bill State Park where "Mr. Wild West" had a home and barn with some really cool stuff from his shows and all kinds of neat Old West history. The frog, barn and turkey shots are from there. Click here for some additional, perhaps "less interesting" shots from this stop :-)

We left North Platte at 6pm thinking we were going to drive straight to Omaha. Then we saw a sign for an Original Pony Express building in Gothenburg, so we stopped. That was really interesting. The last two pictures are from there.

We listened to a little "book on tape" of Pastor Jeremiah's thoughts on angels. Then we listened to the "message-version" of "The Barbarian Way" by our latest favorite, Erwin McManus (I think you can still download this message at the podcast section of http://www.mosaic.org/ ) Geoff read the book a few months ago. Then Connor read it. To say the least, it was a very impacting book and I (Geoff) would recommend it to anyone fighting "faith domestication." I would like to blog someday soon about all the lessons that God has been teaching us in this process. There have been many. But to part with today, a reminder that God's main concern is not our comfort and safety, but rather His glory and our sanctification. Starting in 2 Corinthians 11:23, Paul lists things that were neither physically safe OR comfortable, and surely Paul knew something about God's main concerns. Was Paul outside the will of God? No, God was working IN him and THROUGH him to bring glory to Himself and to accomplish his purposes, regardless of physical safety. This is outrageously purpose-filled life adventure that God calls us to; and the safety and vibrance of our soul in this context couldn't be greater.

Well, like we said yesterday, we hope to make it to the Chicago area tomorrow. 500 miles seems to be our daily average. Should be the same tomorrow. We should make it to my Aunt and Uncle's house in Wheaton where we'll likely take a bit of a break from long travel days and catch up with a variety of family in the area. Thank you again for your love for us and the many ways you express it. Especially in your conversations with God. We look forward to keeping you posted. Onward, for God's glory and fame!

from Laramie, WY

I (Geoff) love Wyoming. The open space, the antelope, the lightning and thunder shows, the torrential downpours, the beautiful sunsets, the older-middle-age couples riding to McDonald's on their ATV. . . . Yep, we saw all that today. We started in Nevada, went into Utah via the Bonneville Salt Flats, the Great Salt Lake and Salt Lake City and up into Park City. WOW! Park City was beautiful. Some rolling thunder and the view of the mountains where the Olympics were held. We were able to see the ski jump clear as day. Then we hit Wyoming, our third state for the day. The old west feel just permeates the air and I love it.

The van and trailer seem to be doing great. We take the trailer off the van each night just to give the shocks and tires some relief. I don't know if they care or not but it makes me feel better. The rooftop carrier and the trailer got their first real waterproofing test today with all the rain. They seemed to have passed just fine.

For all you CA friends who forget what precipitation is like, I include this brief video from just outside Green River, WY. This shows about a third of the strength of the strongest downpour we had, but at least it's something :-)

Tomorrow we hope to make it to Omaha (that's Nebraska) after maybe stopping briefly in North Platte to checkout Buffalo Bill State Park where they have some cool stuff to see. This way we hope to make it to the Chicago area by Saturday night and spend a couple of days there with numerous family members.

Today we listened to a talk by Erwin McManus on relationships. He started in John 17 where Jesus prays for our unity with one another. The character refining and relational art skills that unified relationships demand are at least half (Matthew 22:36-40) of the fulfilment of God's will (sanctification - 1 Thess. 4:3) for us. May we all enter the process with soft, teachable hearts.

Onward, with love and thanks.

from Wells, NV

Greetings! We made it to Wells, NV tonight. We had a great swim and some fun time watching the Discovery Channel (Mythbusters and Man vs. Wild). We left Scott and Annette's house (first picture minus Scott who was at work) and stopped briefly in Placerville (see "Hangtown" picture) then had a beautiful drive over the Sierra's down into South Lake Tahoe (3rd picture). We left California around 12:30pm (last picture). We drove through Winnemuca and Elko, NV, towns where Geoff sang back in college. We hit a few rain showers and a little lightning and a beautiful rainbow (see * at end). We'll be in the Pacific time zone very briefly tomorrow as we have just about an hour's drive to Utah and the Mountain Time Zone. We'll get through Utah and probably stay somewhere in Wyoming tomorrow. We'll hope to connect with you all again then. Please feel free to send us a comment or an email. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks for reading. Onward!

click here for a link to a couple more pictures.

* - It's always been powerful to me to read God's words in Genesis 9:16 - "When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." Now, I know that God sees everything we do and everyplace we are. But there's something special about looking at something that God says he looks at too whenever it appears. The rainbow is that for me. Truly Emmanuel.

Eastward Bound!

Bright and early tomorrow (Wed) morning we will head east out of El Dorado Hills, CA and connect with I-80 somewhere around Lake Tahoe and stick with I-80 most of the way out. I think we've forgone the "Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, I-90 idea," in favor of less travel time and love for our van.

We've had a great time with Susan's family these last several days. Thanks very much to Nonno, Nonna, Tia Corina, Aunt Annette and Uncle Scott and boys for all the great food, hospitality, fun (including the great time out on the lake yesterday - Thanks Uncle Scott for driving all day). From the awesome weather in Santa Maria, to the good time at David and Andrea's wedding to all the fun here in El Dorado Hillls, We are very blessed (see a couple pictures below).

We will likely arrive in the Chicago area on Sunday. We'll spend a few days there seeing a number of different family members. Then on to Cleveland to see Geoff's grandma for a day or so, then on to Clarks Summit, PA. We hope to keep in touch along the way. It depends on the reliability of the internet access we have as we go.

Thank you for your prayers for us, the van, trailer, roads, etc. We're looking forward to seeing more of America and seeing more of the story that God has written for us to bring Him more glory and fame. Onward!