San Fran Is The Plan!

On Friday, the 16th of February we started our journey to San Francisco to spend some time with Todd. It was so good to see him. Craig helped him out a bit by doing some painting, electrical work, and repairing some drywall in his condo.

Todd took us to Coit Tower where we could view the well known skylines--San Fran Bay, Golden Gate and Oakland Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, the financial district, ect. Another thing that was pretty neat was seeing and hearing the wild parrots of Telegraph Hill. Todd also took us on Lombard Street, famous for the being the most crooked street in the country. Todd loaned me a book to read called 1906. It was a fictional novel about the 1906 earthquake that almost completely destroyed San Francisco. It was a very good book and helped me understand more about the different areas that make up San Francisco.

On Thursday, Todd took us and his friends Gerry and Daniel to a lovely dinner at a chophouse located in the San Francisco Giants stadium.

On Saturday, Todd and Gerry left for a cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. We've stayed here to babysit the cats Zach and Pierre. Craig and I have enjoyed exploring San Francisco streets and areas. We can't get over how steep some of the streets are as we drove around. It would feel like a roller coaster ride if we went fast. We looked around the Oakland/Berkley area too.

One other neat experience was when there was a slight 3.4 earthquake while we were sitting in Todd's condo. It felt like someone ran into the building. There was a quick jolt and then it was over. Todd says some earthquakes are more like a sustaining rumble. The earthquake we felt was from the Haywood fault not the San Andreas.

We sure have enjoyed our time at Todd's. The weather has been pretty wet and chilly though.
Our next stop will be in going back to Sarah's to babysit Emma. We thank all our kids and friends for putting up with us as we stay with them. You all are a gift from God!

Emma in the Hospital

As we travelled to see our little Emma and her mom and dad, we sent up many prayers that the Lord would comfort all of them and heal Emma. To say the least, we were anxious to see how our little Emma was doing.

We arrived at the hospital ER room around 6:30 p.m. The Vissers had been waiting in the hospital since around 1 p.m. They were exhausted as they had to hold an oxygen mask to Emma's face. Her blood oxygen level had gone down to about 85 which was not good. Even though she was one sick girl, she continued to be just as smiley and happy as ever.

Once she got into her hospital room, she was put in an oxygen tent with ivs which included an antibiotic, steroid, and liquid so she wouldn't become dehydrated. She also received breathing treatments every 3 hours. To say the least, this little one had to undergo a lot of experiences that we all wish she didn't have to endure. She was such a trooper through it all. The diagnosis
was asthma, pneumonia, and rsv.

We were so proud of Sarah and Matt through all of this. They are wonderful parents and take such good care of Emma and each other. We could see that God's peace had breathed on them. We tried to just be there for all of them. Again only God could have had us so near to support them and help them in any way we could.

After five days, Emma came home from the hospital. She felt so much better and was so excited to be loosened from her iv and oxygen. She squealed with delight to be home, be free, and be able to play with her toys. Craig and I had such fun to babysit her for a day before we headed to San Francisco to see Todd. Saying goodby wasn't too bad as we plan on returning for the month of March.

We thank the Lord everyday for answering our prayers for all our kids and grandbaby. He is so good to all of us!

Time Goes By....

I'm sorry for not keeping this up for almost three weeks! I have kept notes however, and did figure out how to make this blog and transfer pics and old news. Hopefully you can see that I've not been completely lazy in keeping in touch with you all. So, I'm going to try to catch you up abit.....

About Feb. 7th, we arrived in Phoenix, AZ to meet up with our friends from MI, Carol and Doyle Rossow. They have rented a house for two months to get away from that lovely Michigan winter weather. We stayed with the Rossows for a couple of days and really had a wonderful time. We all talked alot trying to catch up on our lives and experiences. We really loved the house they were renting and of course the beautiful 80 degree, sunny weather. We also really enjoyed touring the Superstition Mountains near their home. Doyle drove us up the mountains. We stopped at a national park while there and learned a little about the Pueblo Indian ruins. We also went to Torilla Flats and saw an old pony express stop. We stopped and had some ice cream while there. Three of us had prickly pear ice cream which had quite a refreshing taste!

Another thing we really enjoyed while visiting Carol and Doyle was seeing woodpeckers that love to live in the saguaro cactus (pictured above), tiny squirrels the size of chipmonks, and bunnies all of which would come right up on their patio for some peanuts that Rossows provided. We had such a great time with our friends and hope to meet with them again once or twice in March.

On Friday morning the 9th, we started off towards San Diego, CA. We wanted to attend David Jeremiah's church and then head for Sarah and Matt's for a few days. We made it as far as Yuma, AZ when we got a call from Sarah that little Emma was quite ill with pneumonia and was going to be admitted to the hospital. We felt that we could go to San Diego another time and wanted to be with them while they were going through this difficult time. More info about that on my next entry.

Again I want to give God the glory for all He has done in taking care of Craig and I as we travel, visit with loved ones and friends, and marvel at His creation and how it constantly changes.

Texas is a BIG State!

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Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Journal Entry #4

After several hours of driving, we arrived in El Paso, Texas last night. We wanted to get to the Rio Grande River to see Mexico, but because of traffic, and the border area being built up with double wire fences with razor wire on the top and water filled ditches in between and security patrol vehicles, we couldn’t get out of the car! I did take some fast photos from the car window. We could see some homes though. It looked pretty bad. Basically, they looked like shoeboxes. It reminded us a lot of the shacks we’ve seen in Jamaica. On the US side, the homes were a little better.

We had a wonderful drive from San Antonio to El Paso. We took quite a few pictures that we will send on to you later. The weather has been absolutely beautiful here. The temperature range has been from 65 to 75 degrees. Once again we are amazed at God’s creation. We drove from very flat land that was a little desert like to rocky hills with many goats wandering around to some distant mountains with beautiful colors on their peaks. We keep remembering the pioneers and wonder how in the world they could travel for days on end over this terrain and survive and thrive. At one point as we stopped at a rest center, just behind the fence were two large rams. I went right up to the fence and was able to take some pictures. It spooked them some and they trotted off to find other yummy brush to munch on! Another really need sight were the windmills.

There were a few places where we saw many electric generating wind fans. It was windy on our travels and we seemed to be going right into the head winds. Good for the wind fans, bad for the mileage! Really though, we were getting about 30 miles per gallon, so we are not complaining! Dad liked the 80 per hour speed limit.

Another big event was that we went to a car wash! My little white car was pretty dirty after going over 2000 miles. I thought it was fun because I had never been in a do-it-yourself car wash before. I got to feed in the coins and push the buttons. For me, that was fun!

I do want to apologize to the people who tried to call and visit us on our long drive. There was zero reception in most areas. But we are out of the desert today!!?? Try again as we make our trek to Phoenix. We will be spending the next couple of days at Rossows. We won’t get there until 5:30 or later tonight. We are now two hours behind Eastern Time.

We love and miss you all!

San Antonio, Texas

Monday, February 05, 2007 Entry #3

We’ve spent the last two days in San Antonio, TX. It is a huge city with well over 1 million people living here. I’ve taken lots of pictures, so perhaps you’ll be able to see them if we get a blog set up.

The most beautiful part of San Antonio is definitely the river walk. It’s approximately a three mile circle around this meandering river. There are all kinds of shops, restaurants and hotels on the edge of this beautifully landscaped river. At one point, the sidewalk leads into a huge mall which contains an IMAX theater. One cute thing we saw today as we strolled the river walk, was a mallard duck family with six newly hatched babies. They were paddling after mama and papa as fast as their little feet could go.

On Sunday, we walked through the Alamo. There was a short film and a tour guide who explained exactly what happened at the battle of the Alamo. There were many artifacts and interesting plaques to read. I was touched and saddened by the loss of life and the courage and determination of the people who died who fought to make Texas an independent state from Mexico. If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll give you more details later.

This afternoon we decided to go to a movie just to relax. We also drove the entire loop of the city. For dinner we went to the Texas Roadhouse. We thought that was most appropriate considering what state we are in!

We seem to spend quite a bit of time in the evening trying to find a reasonably priced motel to stay in the next night. It’s not easy being homeless! (haha).

From Tennessee to Texas!

Saturday, February 3, 2007

We left Memphis this morning around 8:30 a.m. and drove through Little Rock, AR. That was the most happening place of all AR. It reminded me of Jeddo, MI.

It was great to talk to all of my children and grandchild today. Thank you for the suggestion about using a blog. Hopefully, we can get help on how to create and continue one. I did take several pictures along the way…..lots of flat land.

What a pleasant surprise when we drove into the state of Texas! It is just a cleaner, better-kept state. Even the rest stops were quite an improvement! Interestingly, gas prices have stayed at about $1.97 per gallon throughout the trip so far. We know CA will be more. Texas has some flat land, but also is quite hilly in some places. We saw some long horn steer and some beautiful ranch homes. Driving through Dallas was quite impressive as well. The skyline was beautiful.

We arrived here in Wacko, I mean Waco about an hour ago. Dad picked an interesting motel. La Kinky, I mean La Quinto. The most I can say about it is that it seems to be clean. I hope our car is still in the parking spot in the morning.

Really though, Dad and I had a very enjoyable driving day. We see the beauty that only God could create. We are so thankful that we have the opportunity to take this trip together at this time. We have been listening to a series of cds on the life of David. What a blessing and encouragement they are to us.

We love you guys and will touch base via email tomorrow night.

Heading out West, Part 1

Friday, February 2, 2007

So….okay…. it’s Andy’s idea for me to keep a running journal of our big road trip and share it with all of you. I’m already behind as we left a week ago from Sumter after saying goodbye to some good friends, putting our goods in storage, closed on the selling of our house, and ordered our 5th wheel RV.

Just outside Nashville, on our way to St. Louis, we toured Andrew Jackson’s home, The Hermitage. I always find the history and stories of people so interesting. Andrew Jackson led a pretty sad, lonely life. Nevertheless, we really enjoyed the home and seeing some of the surrounding area and learning a little more about a past president. It was chilly weather, we must admit!

We arrived in St. Louis early on Saturday evening. It was kind of Andy and Becky to take in their homeless parents, especially after they had been married for only a month! We stayed at Andy and Becky’s for five days. We were shocked at how tired we were! We slept in every morning and went to bed early every night. It was great to be able to relax and recoup after such a busy few months. Since we won’t be in St. Louis, we were thankful to be able to take Andy and Becky to dinner on Thursday night to celebrate his 26th birthday on February 12th. Just a few months ago, it seems that I held that beautiful, precious baby boy in my arms. God has been so good to dad and me to let us be the parents of three such precious children!

Okay, so here we are on Friday the second of February! Today we left St. Louis around 9 a.m. We traveled through MO into Arkansas, and have ended up in Memphis, TN. The weather seems bitter cold to dad and me, as we have developed South Carolina blood! We have to keep reminding ourselves that it is the middle of winter. The ride has gone smoothly today with very little traffic. We were surprised how Arkansas was very flat. It reminded us a lot of Michigan farmland. We did see a lot of cotton fields not realizing that cotton was grown in AR. Basically the ride was uneventful (thankfully)! We arrived in Memphis with time to visit Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home. We were surprised that it wasn’t a large home. We were only allowed in the downstairs rooms. We listened to an audio cassette as we walked from room to room. The house is colonial style. Since Elvis bought it in the late sixties, there was a lot of shag carpeting and furry furniture. It was interesting to see all his awards too. The whole experience was worth the trip. Interestingly enough, Memphis itself doesn’t seem too special. Just over the fence behind Elvis’ home are a lot of mediocre homes built 30 or so years ago. The town reminded me of a large, old, southern town. One note to all you children…..Elvis’s parents had their own bedroom and evidently lived with him until they died. They are even buried on the property with Elvis. I guess dad and I are fitting right in, right? Ha, ha….just kidding. Anyway, the tour was very interesting although a little pricey.

Well, I certainly have rambled on enough! Andy may regret his idea. Who knows if I’ll be able to keep this up on a daily basis? The next entry shouldn’t be nearly as wordy. I just want to close tonight reiterating to all of you how good God has been to us and how we look forward to His plans for us.

Welcome to our Blog!

Welcome to Harry and Leo's Maxwell House Blog! As we begin a new adventure in our lives, we thought you might enjoy our travels, comments, and how the Lord blesses us as we go!