East Coast (Part 1)

You may have noticed I have not posted anything in quite some time. The last two weeks have found my feet in 5 states, and my car with more than 2,000 new miles and 1 new tire. Yes. One new tire. Oh, how I love to visit tire stores in foreign states. (I promise a full story, complete with pictures later.)

But in the interest of being chronological. Since you care.

I started my journey east and stopped first in Dayton, Ohio to visit with a college friend and her husband. We had some amazing pizza, watched preseason football, and partook in another American summer past-time: garage sale-ing. (How do you spell that, anyway?) I even tried buckwheat pancakes for the first time! Not bad...but I prefer to get my fiber in other ways, thank-you-very-much.

After leaving Dayton, I headed to Myerstown, Pennsylvania. I have made this drive many times on the way to Philadelphia, but never alone. It was quite strange to pass landmarks along the way and not have anyone in the car to play "Hey, remember the time..." with.

Upon arrival in Myerstown, I was greeted by the oldest child of some friends I've known for years. The last time I saw her in person, she was not even walking. And now, she's almost as tall as me, and carried my stuff into the house for me. Really???

Jonathan, Christian, and Jazmine Royer

Christian lost his first tooth while I was there!! We even got to sing a song I learned while teaching Kindergarten. Never thought I'd pull that out of the archives.

Rodney and Mosel Royer

I've known them since 1999. And their children officially made me feel old.

We had a great time catching up and laughing about old times. Mosel and I even watched Elf Saturday night. She had never seen it, and I just "happened to have it with me."

The next morning, we went to the Fireplace for church. This church is part of the international network that my home church is a part of, so in a lot of ways, I felt right at home in this congregation. I was given the opportunity to share a little about where God is leading me as I prepare for Uganda, and was so blessed by the missions heart that is already present in that church. Thank you Fireplace! I pray Jesus continues to bless you richly! After church, I had lunch with Mosel and headed to New Jersey...home of my first church camp experience. Oh yes. More on that later. The end.