Another Missionary Road Trip (Part Two)

It was the Fourth of July and we were headed south from the North Woods of Wisconsin.  We only get to celebrate Independence Day in the United States about once every five years so we didn't want to let this day pass us by.  Though we were (sadly) not with family we would be with good friends. Once we arrived at their house in Janesville Dan and his college buddy took the older kids out to see some fireworks!  Paraguay has fireworks called 'bombas'.  Our littlest kids call them BOOMbas because you hear them more than see them.  They are white (not colorful) and can be bought almost anywhere in Paraguay. From the youngest age kids grow up setting off bombas in the streets when their soccer team wins a match and especially around Christmas time.  Our family has grown to love this tradition and our kids look forward to setting off fireworks in the front yard.  But a Fourth of July fireworks display in America is something else all together.

During our visit with our friends in Janesville we also picnicked at a park where the kids splashed and spun.  We also ordered Chinese food which, believe it or not, was a first for our family this Home Assignment.  It was a great time with good friends.

From Wisconsin we began the long drive out to Winterset, Iowa which happens to be the birthplace of John Wayne.  It is also the home town of teammates who previously served with us in Paraguay.  Amazingly we were able to meet up with three ministry-partner families and meet several new ones without ever leaving our friends' house!  They hosted a small group presentation for us and we were able to reconnect with friends.  Some of them we met for the first time, others we only had met once before and one friend was someone we knew from back in New York when Sarah and I were still newly weds.  She had moved out to Iowa with her family and as the Lord would have it was now living near our teammates.  This whole time our kids were able to play and explore our friends' farm.  They rode four-wheelers and helped out as ranch-hands... kind of.

After Iowa we found ourselves back in Chicago to visit those we  had missed on our first trip through the Windy City.  We left early in the morning and drove six hours, arriving in time for lunch with a family who has known me since I was born.  They were friends of my parents way back when they were students at Moody Bible Institute.  We drank terere (Paraguayan tea) and coffee with old friends including two of my youth that I discipled when I was also a student at my parents' Alma mater.  Of these friends one had just gotten married and so we also got to meet his new wife.  During this visit our kids got to experience some of the things you can only find in a World class city like the public zoo.

From the zoo we walked down to the lake which was a lot farther away than it looked.  Once we arrived however I really enjoyed the beautiful view (the lake looked good too)!

I couldn't allow my family to visit Chicago without experiencing the public transportation and so the next day we hopped on the Elevated train/ Subway to downtown Chicago.  While most of my family members were overstimulated by the whole experience, Sammie was particularly animated...

The train rumbled past rooftops and dove underground until our family of eight emerged from a subway station among looming skyscrapers.  Once dad got his bearings straight we all hiked toward Millennium Park.  'Taste of Chicago' was also going on that day where local food vendors sell food samples and hundreds of thousands of people crowd the streets.  To our astonishment our family managed to consume one Chicago pizza and didn't lose a single member!  From there we hiked past Buckingham Fountain before it began to rain.  While rushing back to the train we spotted another fountain in Millennium Park where the kids splashed a little more.  In the end eight very wet Houghdies piled back onto the train.

On our way back to the place we are calling home for now we managed to fit in one more visit back in Ohio.  There we visited with some good friends and met some new ministry partners.  The next day we loaded back into our van one final time.  We got an early start again because it was our 13th anniversary and Sarah and I had a hotel reservation for the same room we stayed in on our wedding night... this time without the kids!!  Weary from over two weeks on the road, we stopped at a diner for breakfast.  After a sunlit meal of eggs and pancakes I went to pay and was informed that someone had already gotten our tab.  Though we didn't know who was responsible for this kind act it was a clear reminder that God was with us.  With tears in her eyes Sarah reminisced that it was thirteen years ago, on our honeymoon, that a stranger unexpectedly paid for our meal at a restaurant.  Ever since then, for the past thirteen years, God has been generously providing for our family... often through people like the ones we met on this missionary road trip.