If you’ve read my other Italy blogs you may hear repeats. Morgan and I flew out of Vancouver Thursday morning and after 2 layovers we arrived in Rome an hour ago. It’s Friday here, the 16th. Overcast, humid, and hot. We caught a bus from the airport into Rome because the airport is about a 30 minute bus ride into the city. Dillon+Renae get here tomorrow, Saturday, and we have a day to kill. The public transit here is not great. I mean there’s lots of options which is good, but the vehicles are in bad shape usually. Morgan’s seat on the rickety bus, for example, slid away from me or back towards me as we went around corners so sometimes I was a foot from him and sometimes an inch. His seat never fell into the aisle but I’m not sure what was keeping it attached. And because of the cobblestone streets, the buses are rattled to death so it’s very loud.

We got into Rome Termini and walked thru their insane food court admiring the pastas and salads and gelatos. Back into the sun and found a fountain to fill our water bottles.  The public fountains here are all safe to drink from and the Roman aqueducts from 2000 years ago still supply the entire city’s water from underground conduits so its quite handy.

We walked a mile up to our hotel, Domus Sessoriana, which is in a 10th century monastery very close to the Aurelian Walls. It’s so beautiful inside, all tile floors and huge domes and frescos on the walls. I wish you could walk to our room with us because it’s so interesting. You walk down a sloping, rust tiled, arched hall that leads to a long, underground hall filled with old monastery relics. At the very end is a lift that takes us up to the 3rd floor where we walk down a small set of stairs into another hall, this one with sets of stairs off it that lead to a pair of rooms at the top. We are overlooking part of the monastery from our windows which is lovely, and our room has a/c so I’m saved.

We got pizza for supper at a hole-in-the-wall place, and sat on a bench by the Aurelian Walls watching people for awhile. The Walls are a line of walls encompassing 3500 acres put in place by Roman Emperor Aurelian in around 275 AD because of Barbarian invasions. Some of the walls are original and some have been restored. They are huge and brick, with massive arches over roads and walkways. It’s always crazy to me that here it’s no big deal. A wall from 27 AD? Meh. We ignore it every day while we drive by and its trashy and full of graffiti. And meanwhile Morgan and I are like super impressed because it’s cool and it’s history. Which leads me to another thing we always notice, the graffiti. It’s everywhere. Anything arms length high is fair game and it’s rare to see a building without graffiti all along it. Same with ruins. Anyways we had a good evening and went to bed as late as we could to help with jet lag but it’s 4 am here now and we’re awake..

We ate breakfast out on the 4th floor terrace overlooking city. I love European breakys. Croissants, toast with jam, ham and cheese, cappuccino, and orange juice. Dillons arrive today!

Xo cheyenne

It’s summertime yay! Except I did see on someone’s status that summer is half over which is crazy. It’s been a clear blue sky in the Okanagan this week. Mom, Morgan, and I arrived safe and sound to our new house around the fifth of June. We spent the first day here deep cleaning the house we’re living in. Unfortunately the renter before us had done a bunch of damage and stolen the appliances and light fixtures so there’d recently been work done and new appliances put in so we went to work wiping walls and cleaning. We did the actual moving in the next day and now we feel pretty settled. We need things like a couch, an area rug, patio chairs, etc. but those are wants at this point, not needs! We live on a little hill close to Salmon Arm, about 6 minutes from church and school and 8 minutes from a lovely coffee shop. Morgan spent a few days the next week painting the house a dark grey color and then started working at 4X Ranch again, the place he worked occasionally after school the 2 years we lived here before. He’s glad to be back. I spent a couple weeks working in a strawberry/asparagus stand which was fun. Mom came along with me for a couple days and that made the time fly.

Zac and Cecily and cutiepoo Eloise came and visited us for a weekend and officially became our first company, along with Mom of course. We had a full house and I don’t know if there’s much better than catching up with dearest people and understanding life with each other. Such a fun time.

Mom, Morgan and I left for a long-planned trip to California after work the 21st of June and drove straight thru to Winton. Morgan and Jalen had been planning for several months to hike Mt. Whitney, the highest mountian in the contiguous United States, which can only be done with a permit and theirs fell on June 26. So Monday morning, the 24th, Mom, Morgan and I left early and drove over the Sierra Nevada Mtns to Manzanar, one of the ten Japanese internment camps that sprang up after the WW2 attack on Pearl Harbor. We drove through on the road that takes you past the old softball diamond, different Japanese rock gardens, and assorted old buildings. We watched a film on the history of how the camps came to be and toured the museum. The Owens Valley where Manzanar is located is high desert and gets very hot in the summer with bad sandstorms and very cold in the winter. Most of the Japanese-Americans who were relocated to this camp were from Los Angeles and the Bay area, so they were completely unprepared for the climate. More than 10,000 people lived in the camp in barracks, ate in a mess hall, and shared communal latrines with no privacy. A couple things stood out to me from our visit, one being the fact that although the Japanese-Americans were wrongly forced from their homes and into the camps, for a large part of them there was a measure of relief that they were being sent somewhere “safe”. Many of them lived in danger following the attack on Pearl Harbor simply because they were Japanese. Many were threatened, some attacked or forced from their neighborhoods. They (and not all of them I’m sure) viewed their relocation as a step to safety for their families. I was also impressed with their resilience. The rock gardens and little ponds and gardens that they carefully watched over were a showing of their culture’s ancient philosophies of meditation (Zen) and harmony with inner self and nature (Shinto and Buddhism). It was a very interesting afternoon. You can read more about it here. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manzanar

We spent the next day around Mammoth Lakes, Lone Pine, and Bishop with the guys- Morgan, Jalen, Carlos, Corey, Brad, Caleb- who were going to hike Mt. Whitney. Thrifted, had coffee with Carlos&Jodi and family, and swam in the afternoon. Wednesday morning at 230, after an evening of food prep and organizing and weighing backpacks, the guys started their hike. Mom, Dani, and I left around 8 am and headed for home. The guys summited in good time, around 11 am I think? and were back down around 5 pm and Morgan and Jalen had to drive the 6 hours home still. This was Morgan’s second time hiking it so im very proud of him:)

We spent the next 3 days swimming and catching up with friends. Coffee with Jesse&Barb, coffee with Jenn, meals at Matt&Sherris and Dan&Natalie’s and Benny&Sharilees, and a bunch of Mexican food with Mom and Alicia. Soaked up the last days with Mom being with us this summer. Best days. We all attended a Winton wedding on Sunday and after a giant OrvilleKoehn family deal Sunday evening, we headed out. We dropped Mom off at the airport on our way through Sacramento which made us sad. My mom is pretty cool. I mean what Mom drives an iffy car through 9 states behind the bus and sleeps on a foam mattress on the bus floor at night. Plus all the other stuff she helped us with like work and cooking and decorating. I always say that of course Morgan is tops. But my Mom is my best friend. And I’m so thankful for that because many don’t have that opportunity. But anyways. We had a good coffee somewhere north of Seattle and a taco truck burrito close to the border. We got home to BC the 1st, Monday evening.

This week I taught Bible School in the mornings, a class of 9 of my old school kids so it was so fun. Today was the program and this evening we went to Eric&Kaitlyn for supper. Lots of other stuff these weeks: lake days, camping, coffees with friends, flowers from kids, yummy meal invites. Our house is very warm in this heat wave and the bedrooms are 90* so we are camping in the living room by our one a/c. It’s fun. Yay for a/c. I started yesterday helping with garlic harvest. I’m on the processing line, mostly beginning next week. A bonus is I’m either working with Morgans old students who all love me, I’m sure, or singing Mexicans so it’s win-win. Also I can see Morgan occasionally because he’s also working garlic harvest.  Have a happy week♡ 

xo cheyenne

Well, we arrived as planned at Dillon&Renaes house in Wyoming last Monday evening, a couple hours after Avery&Christine and co arrived there! Yes! We got to have supper and evening with them which was so cool before they left Tuesday morning. We walked down to the library with Max and Brett Tuesday afternoon and explored town abit while Morgan spent the day at work with Dillon. Nathan’s arrived Tuesday evening. Wednesday we hung out and spent a couple hours at the sale barn in Worland. You should hear Max auction. The world’s cutest 3 year old. It’s hilarious and Grandpa Bob would be very proud of him.

We all took a mountain drive one afternoon on the 14 up thru Shell Canyon. Stopped to do the little walk to the Falls and had the perfect afternoon to be outside. Shell Canyon is so beautiful with lots of red rock and pines and mountain views. On our 3ish hour drive we counted 36 moose which was also crazy. We became calloused quickly because by like the 10th moose, we weren’t stopping anymore. Just driving by and saying “O look. Another moose family.”

Friday we all bought fishing licenses and drove out to Sunshine Reservoir because we heard trout fishing was good. Well. If you’ve followed me for long you know that Dillon and Morgan have had a long, arduous fishing journey thus far and luck has not been on their side. Friday that all changed because we all caught fish. Like 18 trout. It was a lovely feeling to pull in one of those babies. Max fished too and Brett cruised around and threw rocks in the water. Morgan took a partial dip in the lake looking for a stuck fishing lure:)

We spent some happy hours with Chad&Carlenes family, a yum new and renewed friendships. The best. We had delish butter chicken at Josh&Miranda’s one night and lots of good conversations with them in between. They live a block from Dillons so we had a campfire with them and Miranda stopped over one morning. Morgan and Nathan ended up helping Joshs move cattle one day. Morgan was in heaven except the next day when he remembered he hadn’t ridden horse since Enderby last summer. So neat to see where Dillon works and meet their new friends and mostly just to all be together as a family. Some arguments which may surprise you since our family is so meek and unopinionated. Haha. Nathan’s and us&Mom left at the same time early Sunday morning and it was very sad to go.

We’ve had cool weather and great scenery. Everything thru Wyoming,Montana, and now Alberta is so green and the mountains have had snow all the way. We had zero problems at the border which we are thankful for. Spent last night in the town of Milk River except town is maybe a generous word. The spot in the road called Milk River actually ended up having a decent campground with super clean showers so a win. Tonight we’re going to park at Ted’s in Pincher and have a family deal at Jerry’s so that’s exciting. We plan, if all goes well, to get to our place in Salmon Arm tomorrow evening. The bus has to tackle Rogers Pass tomorrow so we’ll see how it goes. We are almost home and we can’t wait! Have a good week:) xoxo cheyenne

We had a full, happy last couple weeks in Michigan. Warm and sunny. Full of loading paintings and assorted things in our sweet little Buick, almost at 300,000 miles. Cleaning the house and picking up Mom from the airport. Supper plans and last hurrahs with dear friends. Watching the school program and play day softball game, Morgans class vs their dad’s. (they tied 26-26.) Hugs and see you laters and the bus loaded and off we went. What a fun year making new friends, being with my family, strengthening old friendships. And now we leave with memories.

Saturday night we stayed at a little rv stop in Morris, IL. No showers. But we slept like the dead and awoke in the morning to a thunderstorm and rain. We warmed up rhubarb muffins in a Love’s travel stop microwave before we hit the road headed towards the Mississippi River. We stopped and stretched our legs in Coralville and met up with Avery and Christine who weren’t far behind us this morning, also headed west! We met them and Trent and Kristina’s family for a quick hello and then kept on with our travels. Kate and Liz were also traveling and we crossed paths with them this afternoon in the middle of nowhere so we waved as we passed each other:)

Subs and pasta salad for lunch while we fueled up and I drove the car for awhile while mom rode in the bus. Sunny day and not too warm made for easy traveling so we drove a couple hours longer than we’d planned. We stopped in Kearney for Mexican food and stayed last night at the Kearney RV park. A nice thunderstorm came thru while we ate supper and cooled everything down so we ended with a perfect evening. Showers and trees and the sound of traffic lulling us to sleep. We missed Dad Kevin extra much today. Two years that he’s been gone and as with grief you relive the day it happened and all the emotions and talk about him. Can’t believe it’s been two years.

This morning we left at 630. If travels go really well it’s possible we could make it to Dillons tonight but more likely it will be tomorrow morning when we get there. We don’t like to hurry too much and we like to stop occasionally for coffee and historical markers. Now we’re cruising down 80 through Nebraska. Sad we can’t stop to see all our Grant people but such it is. Have a lovely Memorial Day♡ xo chey

A lovely spring morning where the grass is so green out my front window and I can see the cows chewing their cud while I sip my coffee and eat mini-wheats. I’m focusing on the outside view because our house is a disaster which is rare because it’s pretty easy to clean up after two of us. I have three loads of laundry laying on the couch, various paintings stacked against the wall to get packed, clean sheets on the floor (I think morgans doing because he needed a place to sit), my travel smashbook spread on the table, and all of the baskets for our bus closet are in a heap waiting to be filled. Meanwhile I’m leaving to go have coffee with the girls so I’m essentially running away from my problems that I don’t want to deal with. I’m sure this is about the last coffee I’ll be having with the coffee girls which is sad to me because they are little lights to me.

Wednesday we went on Morgans field trip to Greenfield Village. This was the rented bus year so parents, some grandparents, and students that numbered 30 something drove 2 hours down by Detroit. I’m not sure how interesting an average 13-14 year old on a field trip with friends thinks that Greenfield Village is but as an elder I always enjoy it. I’d only been there one other time as a 13 year old myself so this was a much better time. The students were in groups with an overseer parent which left Morgan and I to wander around at will. It was an absolutely beautiful day to walk outside. So if you’ve never heard of Greenfield Village, it’s a collection of around 100 original historical buildings that Henry Ford had taken down and moved there to preserve America’s history. At the same location as Greenfield Village, there is also the Henry Ford museum which we didn’t go to this time that houses American artifacts like Rosa Parks bus and Abraham Lincolns chair from Ford Theatre. You get the idea.

So we spent the day exploring some of these houses: Noah Websters house where he wrote the dictionary and where you can see the original Noah Webster dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English; poet Robert Frost’s house and I found out he also taught at U of M which was new info for me; the Logan County, Illinois, courthouse where Abraham Lincoln practiced law. Morgan and I were in the machine shop later and a darling elderly lady who was a volunteer gifted us wristbands so we rode the Model T’s around and got the history tour in the old Ford tour bus. An interesting day ended with Main Street Pizza.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I drove down to Charlotte to do deliveries for Ryan&Karis flower shop for Mother’s Day. It’s always fun to see the countryside and see all the people you deliver to. I delivered at Valentines Day too and I loved it. Morgan came with me on Saturday so the routes went a little quicker and of course it’s more fun.

We had multiple supper plans last week: Scott Lit’s, Brian Buerges, Terrill Schneiders, and out one evening with Uncle Jeffs family. Yesterday we had Mother’s Day lunch at Tysons with Dan&Brenda. The bus is absolutely spotless inside thanks to Morgan. He started loading some boxes yesterday and I put new drawer liners in the drawers and washed some of the dishes we’d left in the bus. The ski box is already loaded on the roof deck with our skis and winter stuff. I can’t believe we have less than two weeks left in Michigan. Bittersweet but exciting for us to feel like we are going “home”.

Wishing you a happy week. Xo chey

“I like your shirt, man.” These words are tossed across the Chicago Union Station food court by an older punk guy with his long salt and pepper beard tied partway down with a rubber band. The receiver of the compliment, a middle aged man wearing an Alice in Wonderland shirt  that says “we’re all mad here” says “Cool, thanks,” before continuing his scouting for a bigger table in the food court. Unknown to the man giving the compliment, Alice in Wonderland shirt stops after the man is gone and looks after him with a grin on his face. He goes to the table where presumably his wife and kids are sitting on luggage and I hear him relaying the words. They talk and smile and move on with their day and I pick up my book, “Miss Buncle Married” and continue reading. But I keep thinking of that little exchange and how impressed I am that Salt and Pepper Beard liked the shirt and complimented him without ever breaking stride and now the Alice man has had a good smile over it and I’ve been privileged to witness this. In the meantime I mull it over in my mind and can’t place the last time I was walking and randomly complimented someone which is weird because I feel like I’m a fairly observant person and notice smiles and happiness and clothes and discouragement on people. Why am I not speaking up and potentially making someone’s day better?

A couple weeks ago a friend from our coffee group messaged me about our infertility journey and wished me courage and I cannot tell you what that meant to me to just be acknowledged that yes, I feel very alone lots of the time but also, I love my friends kids and being with them and yes, I probably seem brave but that’s not always how it is. I’ve had a rough couple of weeks mentally and I have reread that message from her multiple times for courage but mostly to remind myself to speak up and acknowledge the courage of the people in my life. I think I know some of the bravest people that you could know. I think my Mom and Dillon&Madison are so brave that they have ‘come forth like gold’ regardless of the life circumstances given to them. And my friends that are bravely getting up most days and continuing every day in spite of finances and marriage and infertility and unkind in-laws and dealing with trauma from their childhoods. I’m so proud of them. So if I can show support and love by a simple “I like your shirt” moment, I want to do that. My favorite take-away from a conversation around a Gardenview supper table- why can’t we take care of and love the people in our congregations better? The people surrounding me in the Church are a part of the reason I love it and part of why I feel like I can get to Heaven. Morgan and I can’t do it alone. We need the people around us to lean on and have good conversations with about Christian life or coffee or crops (if we have to:)

I drove a little U-Haul with Mom’s stuff in it out to her teacher house in Gardenview last Saturday. Then I spent a week with her and it was just what I needed. We spent a day with Max&Rose and Jordan’s out in western KS over last weekend. Moms class invented a country and had an open house Friday night so I was excited to be there for that. I’m hoping she’ll do a write up with directions on it because it’s such a cool idea for any class to do and then I can share it here. Of course it was good to catch up and have coffee with friends. I’m on the train home, currently sitting in Chicago Union Station people-watching. Excited to be going home to Morgan and frantic packing and bus cleaning and lots of supper plans. We leave for Enderby in a month. Bittersweet. And, I like your shirt, friend. Xo chey

The sun is making golden rectangles on my unvacuumed carpet in front of me and I’m wearing my Manitobah slippers (they’re from a past Pincher Creek class I taught:) while I’m curled under my favorite cozy blanket. Our heater kicked the bucket last night so I’m making the most of our freezing house and doing low activity things like blogging. I did some shopping this afternoon and made baked chimichangas and mexican rice for an easy supper. Morgan had no school today for Easter break so he worked for Miningers, and has school board meeting tonight.

Friday morning we left early and drove to Chicago in our trusty Buick to spend a couple days on Morgan’s Easter break. We started our weekend at the Museum of Science and Industry which I found out is housed in the Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893 World Exposition. We spent a good part of the afternoon wandering thru model railroads, storm experiments, human body exhibits, and the U-505 submarine, one of four surviving U-boats in the world, and the only one preserved that you can tour. Because we’ve traveled to multiple concentration camps and also to Normandy, it was amazing to be able to explore this U-boat. Morgan laid in one of the sleeping bunks and we wondered how people his height fared long-term because it was about 1.5 feet short of what he needed.

I also enjoyed the human body exhibits. The one that was hardest for me were the real fetuses starting from 28 days old to 9 months and the miracle that a baby is. It made me sad. All in all a very interesting day and we left with full brains. We stopped a couple times for Chicago dogs, a hot dog in a sesame bun with mustard, onion, celery seed, dill pickle spear, sport peppers, and tomato wedges. Oh my. So different from the LA dogs of California but so good.

One night we had tacos for supper and another night we had deep dish pizza from Giordano’s. We spent time at a couple coffee shops, my favorites being Standing Passengers which kind of had 80’s vibes and another called Caravanserai that had Mexico inspired murals and drinks. Would highly recommend both. Sunday we went to the Art Institute of Chicago. Ah. I absolutely love art museums. I was so excited. Morgan was too. I think. Something you need to remember is that art museums aren’t just an abstract marker painting on a wall where you stand and think “I could do better than that.” They are full of artifacts, statues, furniture, pottery, and paintings dating from 5000 BC (when I was in school it was just BC, Before Christ, but now you will see at museums for “religious neutrality” they now use the term BCE, Before Common Era. ridiculous.) to paintings from today. It’s a giant history book and I can literally hardly even deal with my excitement. Some highlights of the Art Institute- some are famous, most are just my favorites, and all of them have a link under the picture that you SHOULD follow to learn something new.

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/21023/buddha-shakyamuni-seated-in-meditation-dhyanamudra

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/121767/head-of-an-official

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/94841/the-song-of-the-lark

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/14620/cliff-walk-at-pourville

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/4783/poppy-field-giverny

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/807/necklace-with-pendant

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/64479/rainy-day

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/127874/model-of-a-river-boat

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/144965/bust-of-anne-marie-louise-thomas-de-domangeville-de-serilly-comtesse-de-pange

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/6565/american-gothic

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/28560/the-bedroom

Last week was full of fun little things. Saturday we spent the day driving around Detroit on the tract route with Brandon&Natalie. We stopped at Eastern Market for kombucha on our way into town. The route went thru Mexicotown so we had delicious Mexican food for lunch and got to see a part of Detroit we hadn’t been to. Later in the day we drove around Belle Isle and then rode the people mover train around downtown. Super fun day with lots of good chats. Monday we dropped tax stuff off and in the evening went to Uncle Gregs with the family for Grandma Joyce’s birthday. Tuesday I went to the Crib Caddy sewing day which involves anyone who wants to come from all 3 congregations so that was lovely visiting with friends and pinning pockets for a couple hours. Wednesday night was supper and games at Jeff&Dot’s with Brian&Mauries family and Roxanne. Thursday morning I was invited to Lorna’s for morning coffee with some girls which was a boost to my week. I do love friends and their inspirations and thoughts. In the evening we went to Tyson&Alyssas and sat around the fire even tho it was only 38* and talked.

This week we have a relaxing week and our high point was going to be tract packing but sadly even that has fallen thru so we will maybe have some company if our heater gets fixed. We are hoping to start cleaning and working in the bus an evening or two this week. I’m trying to start packing things I don’t need out anymore like winter clothes. Who knows but with Michigan weather I could still need them on play day in May:(

Some things I’m thinking on this week.

• how to keep in touch with old friends better.
• do I NEED new moccasins??
• stuffed mushrooms. must find mom’s recipe.
• girls Bible study mornings. I need your thoughts on this. how does it work at your cogregation? do you get together with inspiration? a book?
• meal ideas please.

if you have any ideas on above thoughts, please message me. (989 five three four 6178) also, feel free to share these posts with a friend. have a lovely week darlings. xoxo cheyenne linn

These were the book recommendations sent to me the other day. I haven’t read all of these obviously, so read at your own risk:) if/as I get more suggestions, I’ll add them to the bottom of this list!

•When Strivings Cease- Ruth Chou Simons •The Seven Husband’s of Evelyn Hugo- Taylor Jenkins Reid
•The Empowered Wife -Laura Doyle
•The Summer of Light- Dale Cramer
•The Heart Mender- Andy Andrews
•Brain on Fire- Susannah Cahalan
•Boundaries in Marriage- Henry Cloud & John Townsend
•Mindset- Carol Dweck
•The Well-mannered Assassin- Aline Griffith
•Out of the Silent Planet- C.S. Lewis
•The Best Man- Grace Livingston Hill
•The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People- Stephen R. Covey
•The Day the World Came to Town- Jim Defede
•The Rent Collector- Cameron Wright
•Surprised by Oxford- Carolyn Weber
•The Yellow Envelope- Kim Dinan
•The Witch of Blackbird Pond- Elizabeth George Speare
•Mara, Daughter of the Nile- Eloise Jarvis McGraw
•The Source- James A. Michener
•I Will Repay- Emmuska Orczy
•The Crimson Cord:Rahab’s Story- Jill Eileen Smith
•The 4:8 Principle- Tommy Newberry
•Safely Home- Randy Alcorn
•The Heavenly Man- Brother Yun
•A Gentleman in Moscow- Amor Towles
•The Wheel of Time series- Robert Jordan
•The Paladin Prophecy series- Mark Frost
•The Sun Does Shine- Anthony Ray Hinton
•Clive Cussler books
•Educated- Tara Westover
•The Tattooist of Auschwitz- Heather Morris
•Cilka’s Journey- Heather Morris
•The Glass Castle- Jeanette Walls
•Half-broke Horses- Jeanette Walls
•Imagine Heaven- John Burke
•The Four Doors- Richard Paul Evans
•12 Rules for Life- Jordan Peterson
•At Home- Bill Bryson
•The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness- Timothy Keller
•The Bookish Life of Nina Hill- Abbi Waxman
•Operation Mincemeat- Ben McIntyre
•Mrs. Mike- Benedict Freeman
•Cold Hands, Warm Heart- Jeff King
•Chickens, Mules, and Two Old Fools- Victoria Twead
•The Keeper of the Bees- Gene Stratton Porter
•When a Man’s a Man- Harold Bell Wright
•Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte
•Chesapeake- James A. Michener
•Fostered- Tori Hope Peterson
•The Masterpiece- Francine Rivers
•Killing Jesus- Bill O’Reilly
•Before I Let You Go- Kelly Rimmer
•My Number Two Wife- Justus Rice
•Left Neglected- Lisa Genova
•Beauvalet- Georgette Heyer
•My Fair Lady- Monica Dickens
•Papa Married a Mormon- John Fitzgerald
•A Higher Call- Adam Makos
•Stolen Lives- Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitoussi
•My Relatives and Other Animals- Gerald Durrell
•Invitation to Tea- Monica Lang
•The Falcon and the Snowman- Robert Lindsey
•Mystery of Mar Saba- James Hogg Hunter
•Castle Craneycrow- George Barr McCutcheon
•Grass Beyond the Mountains Trilogy- Richmond P. Hobson, Jr.
•The Phantom of the Opera- Gaston Leroux
•Call the Midwife series- Jennifer Worth
•Emma- Jane Austen
•My Friend Anna, the True Story of a Fake American Heiress- Rachel DeLoache Williams
•The Hidden Hand- Emma D.E.N. Southworth
•Capitola’s Peril- Emma D.E.N. Southworth
•Miss Buncle’s Books- D.E. Stevenson
•The Woods Were Full of Men- Irma Lee Emmerson
•The Last Sineater- Francine Rivers
•Crying Wind- Crying Wind
•The Hills is Lonely- Lillian Beckwith
•This Life I Live- Rory Feek

March 7- It’s a blowing, cold night on the open plains of Manitoba. The lights of Steinbach are in our rearview mirror as we drive on gravel roads south towards the border, our 2005 Buick LeSabre, inherited from Grandma Jul when she passed away, fights thru drifted snow as we go. Little did Grandma know that her car, which she didn’t think could make it 20 miles to Dodge City every time she went, would now be cruising the Mennonite tundra of Manitoba and in -14* to boot.

We left Michigan on Morgans spring break last Friday, March 1, after school and drove straight thru to Madison&Nathan’s house in Altona, a 15 ish hour drive. We arrived in the wee hours Saturday morning and slept for a bit before spending the day with Nathan’s. They’d only been home a few days but had the guest room ready for us and alot of their stuff out and organized! We had a relaxing time being together and even managed to convince the guys to get us to a thrift store. Nathan toured the three of us around one afternoon so we have a better idea of where Madi is going to be now. They had a nice reception the 3rd, Sunday evening and we got to meet a lot of lovely people that they will be hanging out with. Madi and I had some good conversations and I was very sad to tell them goodbye. I have so loved living a mile away from her for the last 7 months. We left Madi’s mid-morning on Monday and drove an hour over to Morgans sister Kandis&Micah and family who live near Greenland church. We had a fun couple of days with them: took the girls to school a couple mornings, shopped and visited Grandma Bronson in Winnipeg, had good conversations, spent a happy supper with family in Whitemouth, and had coffee and talkies with Lyle&Agatha one afternoon. It was over too soon as always. So we drove home from Manitoba thru the night and got home last Thursday so we could help Dillons load the truck Friday and bid them adieu on Saturday morning. We found Black Cat Coffeehouse and Ashland Baking Company in Ashland, Wisconsin, on our way home and had chocolate croissants that rival the ones we’ve had in Europe so that was a fun stop.

Morgan says I need to write more about the mundane in between of our life and it certainly seems like it’s been awhile since I’ve written but none of it feels very mundane. Besides my sister getting married and moving away to Altona, my brother Dillon&Renae and my dear little Max and Brett left our house in the early morning Saturday and moved away from Michigan also. Basin, Wyoming, is the luckiest place. We have LOVED the last 7 months of living by them. It really was God who worked it all out so we could all spend time together yet before going to our separate ways. But oh how I will miss them all. Morgan and I are so sad but also happy for the doors opening for all of us.

In the meantime with my family gone from Michigan and Mom teaching in Gardenview, we have decided to move back to Enderby permanently this May after Morgan’s school is out in Michigan! It feels so good to say permanently. I am happy to have a place we feel is home. I sometimes worried I wouldn’t find that because of all the moving around that has formed my life so I always wondered how we’d know. We are going to soak up the last couple months we have with friends in MI and in the meantime get our bus ready for the summer road trip out to Enderby and we are so excited:)

After Dillons left on Saturday, Morgan worked at school and I did some cleaning at the house. Then we decided we were too bummed to just sit around this weekend so we drove down to Detroit.

We ate German pancakes at a place called The Pantry and explored abandoned areas around the city. My favorite building was the St. Agnes Church. There are assorted neighborhoods that are completely abandoned and the houses not demolished are grown up with scraggly weeds and trash in the yards.

The old Packard plant which went out of business in the 1950’s is due to be demolished by the end of this year so we went there too. It covers around 80 acres and is such a cool skeleton building. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, it was cloudy and very gray outside so all the abandoned places appeared even more sinister than usual and I had some questions about some of the neighborhoods we drove thru. We drove across the Ambassador Bridge into Windsor for abit because Morgan hadn’t been anywhere around there before. We enjoyed some free time while our car was searched coming back into the US and honestly it’s impressive how those border patrol men can make you feel like coming up with something to confess. Like we wanted to come clean in response to Officer Schultz’s questioning but we didn’t know what to confess to. So that was a fun side date.

Have a lovely week♡ c&m

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” -Charles Dickens

Well you may have wondered if we are still among the living and the answer is yes. Yes. We are. I’m listening in to Winton’s Youth Christmas program and I just never get tired of all the Christmas songs and the joy that everyone seems to shine with at this time of year. And what a year this has been. I told Morgan that it really just seems like it has been a year of growth (some of it has been forced growth because some of it has been stuff I’d rather just not deal with:) I remind myself every single day that God knows it all and He must have a bigger plan than we can see. We have had happy touches through each and every month and I look back on those memories with gratefulness.

We have been here in Michigan since September, probably since I last wrote here! Morgan is teaching 12 students in Grades 7 & 8 in a dark green classroom with lots of plants and a beautiful mountain painting I thrifted for $4.00. He has extraordinary co-teachers and school board and we feel very lucky. The year has gone well so far but Morgan is glad to be on Christmas break:) weird that a teacher would feel that way right? haha. Morgan bought a Yamaha TW200 motorbike (if that means anything to anyone) so he rides it the 10 minute drive to school every day, rain or shine. Friday evening was a “walk to Bethlehem” given by the 61 Michigan school children. The teachers were together a few times in November at our place and Tucker’s to make plans which was fun in itself, and the whole evening turned out great Friday. Four guides took 330 people through the walk over 2.5 hours so it was a success!

I feel like our house is adorable. We are currently renting from Uncle Jeff’s as it’s where they used to live. It’s across the road from Grandpa Pete’s home place where Uncle Jeff’s now abide and we like living across the road from family and a pantry that we have used as a store several times. The house is a nice green color with white trim and lots of lawn and trees around it and even a swing set. It’s a normal “Michigan farmhouse” with lots of wood trim, small rooms, and hardwood floors that creak. I have our stockings hung in the window so we can see them when we drive in. My nativity from dear Grandma Jul is set up in the dining room which is special and sad all at once, and my nativity from Mozambique is sitting in the living room corner where I see it every day. When my nephew Max comes over he stands in front of it and sings about the “little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay” and it is the purest thing you will ever hear. I can look out my kitchen window and see Morgan coming down the country road in the evenings and it makes me happy to be in a house for a change.

No, we are not living in the bus right now, obviously. And also no, we have not sold it. Right now it’s parked by a little barn on our yard in a nice spot and it’s winterized for the season. We talked about taking it out Christmas caroling but didn’t think of it in time so maybe next year:) We do miss living in the bus though. I dislike how quickly we accumulate useless stuff so I plan to go through things in January and reorganize because it feels cluttery to me. We moved all our stuff into the house from the bus so going into the bus feels very empty now. I hope we can AirBnB it starting in the spring but we’ll see.

We are absolutely loving living close to my sister Madison, and my brother Dillon&Renae and their boys Max (3) and Brett (1). We have never lived by my family like this and it has been such fun for us when we can babysit the boys and have them around the house with us. Madison got announced to be married to Nathan Ziegler from Altona, Manitoba in February. We are so excited but I’m a little sad that our little time together here in Michigan will come to a close. It is just so clear to us that we were supposed to be here this year for this time and I’m thankful we are able to. The next couple months will be full. Mom plans to come abit before and stay after the wedding and we’re excited because Morgan and I were gone when she was here over Thanksgiving.

I have just been at home this fall. I’ve spent a little time at school for hot lunches and birthdays and other fun stuff but mostly I just let Morgan have his space there unless he needs help. We are continuing to doctor for infertility which affects me more than I’d like to admit. It’s been difficult to get a job that can work around appointments so I’m trying to be contented with a slower season of life while we are in this stage. We sometimes feel quite alone and ill-equipped to deal with this infertility journey. I am realizing more and more how many kinds of grief there are and so many are not death-related but rather just a loss of something that’s gone or you’ve never even had. It’s easy for me to get bogged down with figuring out appointments and medications and finances and trusting that God knows our path. Please pray for us.

Some happy things from September to December:

1. Carlos&Jodi and family messaged one day last week on their way home from the mission in Newfoundland (headed home to Enderby) and wanted to stop for coffee! Well obviously we are selfish and wanted more time with them so they ended up at our house and we got a supper, a night, and a breakfast with them. It was such a boost for us to see them and visit and it just felt like we had never not been with them and that’s the best kind of friends.
2. We flew to Calgary on our Thanksgiving break and promptly drove to Enderby where we spent 2.5 jam-packed days staying at Lance&Tasha’s and visiting as many of our people as we could fit in. Morgan spent time on the ranch riding horse and I coffee’d with friends. Then we drove out to Linden where Ches&Erinne got married. We got to stay in Kels&Jordyne’s digs and it was lovely, 10/10 would recommend for love, comfort, good sleep, coffee. Zac&Cecily&Eloise enjoyed our company immensely a few times. and Courtney made these insane sourdough cinnamon rolls for breaky one morning for us. I think Mitchell did stuff too. Made coffee maybe. Like overall we went home with full hearts and those people seem to like us and you can just feel it and that is also the best kind of friends. Grandpa Gary and Grandma Cathy drove to Calgary and we got to spend Sunday afternoon and evening together. We were so glad to see them and catch up and be together for a few hours.
3. Renae, Max, Brett, and I drove out to Kansas together for a week. Renae helped her Mom with projects and I spent time with Mom on her school meeting break. We babysat Max and Brett one day so we took them to the Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Wichita. Max loved it and he still talks about feeding the giraffes and holding the “wemurs” (lemurs). Mom and I talked and ate out and shopped. It was great.
4. Dillon’s, Madison, and us spent several weekends away on Lake Michigan making the most of Michigan summertime. The guys kayaked and fished for hours and we swam and relaxed and ate pizza. We all shared a hotel room one weekend because nobody wanted to spend money so it was hilarious and cozy and Madison was mad she had to sleep on the floor.
5. Morgan had the privilege thanks to his friend Taylor of spending a week down in Mexico working on projects at an orphanage that Good News Foundation helps with. Dad Kevin was very involved with the Good News Foundation so it was special for Morgan to be able to go volunteer some time and give back. I’m guessing there will be more in the future because we want to be able to give as willingly and serve even half as much as Dad Kevin did. We miss him so much every single day.
6. Due to Conference Care Meeting and the Eastern district school meeting being held at 2/3 congregations here in Michigan, we had the privilege of keeping company at our house! Living in the bus didn’t give us the option to keep overnight guests and we have loved being able to. We kept Jon&Holly, Winton people, over one meeting, and Morgan’s 1st cousin Mitch&Jana over the other which resulted in heart-to-heart conversations and good times.
7. We were so excited to have Mom Yolanda come and stay with us for a couple days in November. Then the three of us drove down to Goshen, Indiana, for Morgans 1st cousin Sean’s wedding to Hannah. We had a happy time with Mom Yolanda, Grandpas, cousins, and the uncles and aunties all staying in an AirBnB together for several days. I feel like every family needs to do that at least once, if not more, because it certainly makes for some hilarious moments and memories.

There are many little moments in between that were lovely. We are planning to go to California for a week over Christmas, and the rest of the break we will just be holed up in our cozy house in Michigan, probably playing Crokinole or Rook On Rook Off, and drinking coffee if you feel like stopping in. I wish I could hear your triumphs and struggles as easily as I write mine here. Some of you share with me and I’m so thankful to be a little vessel that can listen and pray because would we have made it through this year without the prayers of others? I don’t think I would have. Wishing you a lovely little Christmas with those you hold dear.

xoxo chey&morgan