Snow

This is a picture of the Amish school Leona attends. We woke up today to 2" of snow today! It melted throughout the day and is all gone now. We went out to Lizzie's on Friday. The children from the school rode in a horse-drawn wagon to Lizzie's parents' house to sing. We listened to them sing about 12 songs. Some of them were in German. We took muffins for the kids to eat after they sang. They were so cute. We are going back on Tuesday to pick up some bentwood rocking chairs that Carla ordered. We've also met a young man that makes leather goods. My Dad wants a wallet, so I'm going to order it when we go.

Not much new

Here is a random group picture from Costa Rica. Carla and I went to see Lizzie last week. We took lunch to her and Amos. We mostly just visited with her and made plans to go back this Friday. Her daughter, Leona, is 13 and in 8th grade. The school (teacher and 27 students) is going to sing for Lizzie's parents as a surprise. We were invited to go and listen. We hope that we get to ride in the wagon with the kids. When we've picked up Leona from school (in a car), all the kids are sooo cute. They give us 'thumbs up' and 'peace signs'. We asked Leona if she wanted to take us to school for show and tell...ha! In other news, the river has receded, but there is flooding up north. I hope we do not have to move our trailer in case the river comes up too far. I'm going home next week for a week. I NEED MY HAIR CUT AND COLORED!!!!!!

The Mighty Mississippi River

We are staying in a campground on the east side of the Mississippi River in Illinois. We were unable to move in last summer until July, due to the severe flooding in June up and down the river. There has been quite a bit of rain up river and it has flooded again! It isn't as bad as last summer, but still way out of its' banks. The sign in the picture, I was parked at the light pole 2 days ago! I also got some good photos of blue herons.

My Laptop Desk

We arrived in time to help with lunch prep at our Amish friends' house. We had a very typical supper, except this was lunch...green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, zucchini casserole, sausage patties, salad, homemade bread and apple butter. It was all very tasty.

After lunch, we went to a few places to see some Amish made goods. I bought a rag rug from Lizzie's sister-in-law. We bought sausage like we had eaten for lunch as well as bacon and ordered some baked goods from her sister that has a bakery.

We went back last week and I picked up my laptop desk. It is so much more than I could have imagined! Amos also made salt boxes for us. We took Lizzie and her daughter, Leona, to eat catfish. They really enjoyed them. Then we stopped by Walmart to let them shop for whatever they might need. Before leaving, we were invited back. We bought Subway sandwiches and took out there on Friday. While asking many more questions, I saw that Lizzie had her iron out. Of course it is not electric. It is heated with oil like for a Coleman lantern. I asked her to show us how to use it and of course she did. Amazing! Afterwards, she took us to meet her parents. The first thing I noticed is that her Dad's face was blue...like BLUE/PURPLE! I mean...BLUE! Of course I was going to ask her why. I'm sure by now she KNEW that I would ask, so she told us. He had taken silver! Silver! It was supposed to be good for his health. Wow! I was weirded out. When I told Hailey that he was blue, she asked me if he had taken silver! How did she know?! We now have plans to return next Saturday to go to an Amish estate sale. There is a family that is going to move to Kentucky and sell all their belongings before moving. I'm not sure what to expect, but I've been to plenty of auctions.

This will be a Reader's Digest version of the past 18+ months. Hailey graduated from college in May 2007. Jim changed jobs in June 2007. He went back "out in the field" to work for a pipeline construction company. He went to Wisconsin Rapids in July 2007. In September 2007, Jordan and Candice got married. Thanksgiving 2007, I "moved" to Montello, Wisconsin to be with Jim. We ordered a 5th wheel trailer to live in while on the road. Hailey is living in our house taking care of it and the dogs. Her boyfriend, Mike, also lives there and taking care of things.

I stayed in Wisconsin until March 2008. I met a really great friend while there. Dottie and I had a lot of fun with each other. I really miss seeing her. After leaving Wisconsin, I went back to Texas and stayed until July 2008. Jim had left Wisconsin and went to Missouri to be the project engineer for the company he works for. I joined him in July and we are still here. We actually live in Rockport, Illinois, but Jim works in Bowling Green, Missouri. I have met a few really great friends while here. We are constantly entertaining ourselves with something new quite often. A few months ago we went to an Amish community and met an Amish lady, Lizzie. I asked her if she would be our tour guide through Amish Country and she readily agreed. So, a few weeks ago we showed up at her house. She was in the middle of baking bread. She took us to some of the different Amish stores...dry goods store, leather shop, fabric store, and a shop that makes Amish buggies. Before we left that day, she took us for a ride in their buggy, with Tony the horse. It was really cool to be riding in that buggy...even when Tony farted...twice! Lizzie invited us back for lunch the next week and we said yes, of course! Next chapter will be the lunch visit!