Shabbat Adventures

  When we crossed the Arkansas River (for the second time, this time into Little Rock ), it felt like crossing the finish line of a marathon. After Nine years in Indiana plus four months on the road (14,000 miles), we are finally home.  Pictured above we have our kids, Kaysi and Ryan (in the middle) and to the left JP (our nephew) and Bruce (his son, the sweetest boy on earth). Time spent talking and laughing around the campfire is a little taste of heaven to me.  Jeff’s 90 year old mom - known and loved as Mama Pat.  She plays bridge, works 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles, reads books 2 inches thick and is a joy to be around.  On the left is Mary our niece and realtor! We’re so excited to go house hunting with her. She is married to JP and the wonderful mother of Anabelle (right) and Bruce.  Here we are at Maumelle Park in Little Rock. We’ve had many birthday parties here, but never camped.  I love the view of the Arkansas River.  Praising God to b...

  It was a “hallelujah” moment - crossing the Arkansas River bridge into my home state. Winding through the Ozark Mountains, through a tunnel, watching the hills dotted with fall color glowing in the sunset, then topping a hill overlooking the city lights, there in the valley lies Fayetteville - my birthplace.  The house beneath those beautiful maples is where my parents lived. My sister still lives across the street and my niece next door. My parents developed this neighborhood and named streets after us. One is Jana Place (my claim to fame).   Fun fact: We’ve been in 15 states, 15 National Parks in 16 weeks and traveled 14,000 miles.  In our trek across Texas we loved spending a few days with Jeff’s cousins - Cherry, Tomi and Gary (from left).  This is our Fayetteville fam! On the left - Lisa and Dan (sister and BIL) On the right - Josh and Staci (my niece) and their kids - Emeri and Eli.  A quick peek of the U of A campus  A Sunday afternoon of “tre...

We have arrived in Texas. One big state away from HOME! This is our last NP - Big Bend. And this is the Rio Grande River. To hike to it we drove past border checkpoints and border control vehicles. The wall of rock you see to the left is Mexico and the wall of rock to the right, Texas.  We’re still in the desert y’all and honestly, ready to move on. Thankfully even the cacti are changing colors.  Unique to this park - roaming horses outside the windows (this is Texas after all).  And everything is bigger in Texas, right? One thing we did NOT expect to see is an Arkansas Razorback. A sure sign to head home, I thought. However, it was not a wild boar as Jeff thought. Turns out it was an R.O.U.S. If you don’t know what R.O.U.S.s are you need to see the movie Princess Bride. Rodents Of Unusual Size - yep, it’s a big rat (javelina). This is Texas.  Texas, like the desert, has its beauty. For instance, family. Now we are in Abilene with my cousin Louella. She is 84 and dyn...