Colorado or Bust!

Every other summer, our family heads out to Colorado for our summer staff conference and classes.  I am on the conference team, and Jeff takes seminary classes in the weeks leading up to the "big conference".  This summer, we made the decision to only go out for July (rather than for the normal June and July) because of just recently returning from India.  It was a good decision, as we were able to bond together as a family at our home, be involved a little bit with summer project, and have time to unpack before packing again.

Okay, that's funny.  To me, anyway.  :)

So here we are, just inside Kansas, and I once again find myself in a dark, quiet hotel room with everyone sleeping soundly behind me.  I wonder how many of these posts have been written with that exact scenario?

We started our journey on Saturday.  Rex, Beth, Tom, and I left in our Buicci to drive down to southern Illinois, where my dad was born and my aunt and uncle still live.  On Sunday, Neil and Hoffbeast joined us.  Without a doubt, I drove through the worst rainstorm I've ever driven in on Saturday...it was a torrential downpour for about 3 hours, and we stopped under overpasses around a dozen times or so.  I have rarely been so happy to be somewhere safely.

The gang (minus me) with my Aunt Gela and Uncle Jasper (my dad's twin brother)...we love visiting with them and were so glad that Mom and Dad came over, too!  Uncle Jasper said that we have to come at least once a year...sounds good to me!

The reason we drove separately is that we had decided to give the Buicci to my mom, who, along with Dad, was meeting us in Dahlgren.  Now that we bought our new-to-us van, we didn't need it anymore, so it was a blessing to be able to pass on that gift to her like it had been given to us back in December.  Once again, we have seen God meet our needs...it was the perfect interim car for the months that we needed it.  Now we find ourselves with our Escort (still going after almost 13 years!) and our new van....the Hoffvan!  Almost a year after our beloved Town & Country was stolen, we can now spread out again!  :)  We are thankful!

Yesterday we left my family and headed a couple of hours west to the home of our fabulous India travel friends.  What a great joy it was to see them again!  We are incredibly grateful that we were able to share the trip-of-a-lifetime with them, and to see our families fully-together....fantastic!

Trampoline Fun with our friends...it was so sweet to see L and Tom together again!

This morning, as usual, Neil was the first one up.  I called him over to me and whispered, "Happy birthday, Buddy!"  I can't believe--literally can hardly believe--that six years have passed since he was born.  Five months later, we would first see his picture, and life would change...forever.

Pancakes for breakfast....thank you, Mr. McF!

We love you, Neil...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Next stop:  Our home for the summer....Colorado!!!