Lancaster (Lan-Cast-Er, as us Michiganders Say)
This week we’ve been vacationing in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area. It’s been our first real vacation in nearly two years, and we’re all feeling refreshed. We’ll post some pictures and videos after we’ve had a chance to sort through them all, but here’s some highlights in the meantime:
- The Choo Choo Barn - After years (literally) of watching Noah’s “I Love Toy Trains” videos, this was a sort of home coming. Lots and lots and lots and lots of toy trains. Just do a search for choo choo barn on youtube, and you’ll get a taste for the place.
- Hershey’s Chocolate World - Candy! And more Candy! And finally… Candy! The Chocolate World is basically a free 7 minute ride wrapped in an overpriced food court and overpriced Hershey’s candy. But it was still a lot of fun. And we truly enjoyed the trolley tour. It was eye opening to see the Milton Hershey School, both for it’s beauty and vision. The “free” candy on the tour didn’t hurt, either.
- Outback Toy Store - Hands down the most awesome toy tractor store. Ever. We all had that deer-in-the-headlights look when we walked in. Incredible. We’re lucky we only walked out with one new tractor.
- The Strasburg Railroad and Museum were stops on our last “day way” trip. I think the museum was a better deal (especially for the price), but riding a 100 year old steam train was pretty cool. All Aboard!
As Noah would say, “we’re a little sad” to be heading home, but we’re very thankful for family time we’ve been able to enjoy. See you back in Michigan!
Finally… An Update!
Yes, we’ve been neglecting the blog lately. Horribly so. Please forgive us. But we have good excuses. Really. Consider:
1. We were busy busy with trips this summer. Youth Group Trip. Gatlinburg Trip with Leep Family. Chicago Visit with the Tol Family.
2. We have a home. It needs attention and love - of the “painting the rotting trim on the windows” and “pulling out the Monster Weeds in the flowerbeds” variety. Sweet summer is the optimal time to get it all done, but doesn’t leave much blogging time.
3. We love our church. And God’s blessed us so much through opportunities to get involved. Piano playing. Power pointing. VBSing. Youth Grouping. Orphan Ministering. Wonderful opportunities. But again, it doesn’t exactly leave the blog as a high priority!
4. Work. For both of us. Brian’s now been titled as “Lead Programmer” for 5Q and has been very busy as they juggle many clients. (A blessing during a recession, we know.) And God’s blessed me with many freelance opportunities over the past few months. I’m drinking a lot of early morning coffee at JPs and the Good Earth to get the work in. But we continue to praise God for this way of helping us fund our adoption.
5. Oh, and did I happen to mention that a couple of weeks ago WE GOT MATCHED TO A SWEET BABY GIRL IN ETHIOPIA!!!! (Clever how I saved the best news for last, eh?) We are so very excited and have had a blast sharing the news. I’m guessing most of you who read this have already heard the news, so I won’t go into too many details. But she’s precious. Cute. Huggable. And we can’t wait to bring her home!
I’d love to share pictures, but we can’t right now. To protect the integrity of the Ethiopian adoption program, we can’t post pictures until after she’s home. And we don’t want to mess with that because we’d hate to cause problems with the program for future families who want to adopt!
We also have to be careful about sharing her Ethiopian name online. We’re keeping her Ethiopian name as a middle name, but I can’t share it here. For now, let me just say that we’ve chosen to name her Annalyn “M” Tol. Noah’s already excited to show off pictures of “Annie” as we call her.
We’ll try to be more faithful about updates as we start preparing for our trip and making plans to bring Annie home. It’s just been a crazy balance around here lately, but good. We appreciate prayers for patience as we wait to hear more about Annie and our trip to bring her home. And above all, pleas pray for health, safety, and love for our little girl!