Eberz5

We had planned to end our trip with a few days in the our Honeymoon city, Cape May, NJ. As we neared the end our trip the rising cost of fuel was stretching our budget and we decided it would be good to spend additional time with our families. So we decided just to spend a single night in Cape May. We located a great campsite and certainly enjoyed the uncrowded off-season rates and environment. It was a beautiful day and we arrived with plenty of time to setup the tent, walk the beach, have a great dinner, and still make it to the west side of Cape May to catch the sunset over the bay. After a pleasant night, we leisurely cleaned up the tent, packed thing up and headed for the beach! Naps, sand ... read more

Continuing north we passed through upstate New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont on our way to New Hampshire. After telling our kids where we were headed our youngest said, “I hope they don't have a lot of hamsters there. Do they bite?” We've had potential encounters with rattlesnakes and bears, both of which she was rather concerned about meeting. Now she was worried about rabid hamsters of Hampshire. “No, honey, don't worry. I don't think they have too many hamsters, and no, they don't bite.” Phew, you could see the relief on her face! (We didn't think to tell her about the biting black flies though.) After coming from the open-air mid-west the dense forest and hilly roads seemed to close us in. Old-America style homes, cemeteries with leaning tombstones, and quaint towns seemed to take us ... read more

We drove through Ohio with no time to stop at Columbus to see the Santa Maria replica as hoped. We arrived in Pittsburgh, winding through construction, to find our friends' home in a challenging urban neighborhood. These special friends are very dear to us since our friendship began when they were leaders in our youth group. They were soon married and began a family; a few years later we followed their pattern. They have always had a heart for ministry and subsequent years have found them doing campus ministry at U. of Pittsburgh. Several years later we heard that they were building a house in the neighborhood where they now live and joining an intentional community of Christians who are choosing to live there and be the salt and light of Jesus to the surrounding community. ... read more

Here we enjoyed several days in West Chicago visiting with Awana friends. We stayed in the home of a friend who visits us often in China. It was good to catch up with her husband again and to enjoy them in their home setting. We greatly enjoyed the quaint beauty of our friends' home, grassy yard, fully bloomed magnolia tree, and art collections. We explored their stashes of toys and craft supplies, their local library, park, thrift store, and taqueria. We laughed at the awkwardness of being in a largely Hispanic area and having forgotten most of our Spanish. It was good to remember what it's like to be out of our comfort zone, linguistically speaking. We watched the news of Bin Laden's death in Spanish in the taqueria. Afterwards our eldest asked some great questions ... read more

Our youngest son has been asking all along when we'll get to Minnesota. He says it's his favorite state because its name sounds like a soft drink. We didn't have any Minne-soda, but we did have a great visit with previous China co-workers and their two little girls. It was such fun to see them on their home turf and learn about new interests and skills they're developing. Once again we were the recipients of great hospitality. I realize we can never repay many of these friends so I am having to learn to receive it with gratitude and as fuel for the future. We joined our friends on a trip to the library, which we love and miss in China. We also each got a great haircut...thanks! Sunday we went to downtown Minneapolis to attend ... read more