Coming Together

In planning our July East Coast tour, I was thrilled to find how close Williamsburg was to all the places we are visiting. Williamsburg is special to us because my late Uncle Bud* and his 2 daughters live in the area. For most of my life, Uncle Bud has been inviting me to Virginia to visit him. I made plans to do so to honor his request, to see where he spent his life and to meet my cousins for the first time.

While our time in Williamsburg was short, it was filled with great conversations, warm moments with family, a tour of Colonial Williamsburg, and moments reflecting on Uncle Bud’s life. We made the stop after our stay in Smithfield and on our way to South Boston, VA. Thank you Kay and Debbie for welcoming & hosting us. We enjoyed every minute together and anticipate our next gathering.

Susan, Debbie, Kay & Wes

*My mother’s father (Granddaddy) had 2 younger brothers. Uncle Bud was one of his brothers. This technically makes his daughters my 2nd cousins.

Smithfield, Virginia

While in Romania we would liaise with supporters and visitors from all over the globe, primarily England and the US. Now that we have returned to the US it has been our pleasure to travel and visit many of the people we met while in Romania. In a previous post I mentioned that our journey began early July in DC visiting colleagues and then Alexandria to visit old friends. From there we traveled to Smithfield, Virginia.

Smithfield Baptist Church came to Romania in July 2008. They were a team of 15 people coming to Project Ruth to do various tasks. During their time we become very close and were extended an invitation once we return to the States. We honored that invitation and spent 4 days in Smithfield.

While there we shared during Sunday school about Project Ruth, enjoyed a meal with the team (most of them) and participated for 2 nights at Vacation Bible. Oh and I can’t forget to mention that we tried Smithfield ham for the first time.

East Coast Tour

It officially began on Monday. We started our journey in Dallas, Texas. Our flight was scheduled to depart on Wednesday but we arrived a couple of days early to spend time with our good friends Jodi & Steve. On Wednesday morning we caught the 8am flight to DC. This began our tour of the East. Primarily a trip to reconnect with partnering/supporting churches of CBF & Project Ruth, we have also planned a few personal days to see colleagues and family.

Jodi, Susan & Steve

**BTW, this is our first visit to each of these cities and states.

First Stop: Washington, DC.

Our colleagues Eric & Lizzie Bebber live and work in DC with Calvary Baptist Church. They were both commissioned with us in 2006 as GSC field personnel. We were able to learn more about the work Eric is doing and see first hand where he works. In the midst of visiting with them and learning about the ministry we took some time to see the sights on DC.

At the US Capital

Next Stop: Alexandria, VA (Fort Belvoir)

On the way to our first church visit, we stopped along the way in Alexandria spent the evening with good friends Peter & Nancy. Peter is in the army and stationed at Fort Belvoir. They have 2 boys named Ben & Gabe. We were able to visit and rest before leaving for Smithfield, VA. *Side note: Our waitress at dinner is from Romania and we were able to use what we learned to talk to her. It made our evening and hers to be able to connect in that way.

Nancy & Peter

Stay tuned for the rest of the journey; Smithfield, VA - Williamsburg, VA - South Boston, VA - Greensboro, NC - Winston Salem, NC - Anderson, SC - Atlanta, GA

Back in the USA

We have officially been back in the US for 3 weeks. As I expected, life was a whirlwind with activities. From the moment we landed we were shuffled between family members and friends hoping to reconnect and spend meaningful moments. Most recently we spent 4 days in Houston attending the CBF annual General Assembly. Seeing colleagues and other CBF baptist was a refreshing time. We leave again today to visit more friends and partnering churches. We fly out of Dallas on Wednesday and make our way east. I will try to blog along the way.

In the last 3 weeks took part in the following:

-Garage Sale in Belton
-Family vacation on Lake McQueeney
-Baby Shower for 2 close friends
-Time in Dallas with Richard (my brother)
-Time in Quinlan with Wes' parents
-Time in Belton with my parents
-CBF General Assembly
-Visited Faith Baptist Church in Quinlan & DaySpring Baptist in Waco
-Celebrated Garland's birthday (Wes' dad)
-Celebrated Father's Day
-Spent 4th of July with my grandmother & aunt (dad's side)

For pictures on all these events, visit my facebook profile.

Last Day of School

Today was the final day at the Ruth School, not just for the kids but for us as well. The ceremony was short with a few introductions by the school principal and a short goodbye from Wes (on behalf of both of us). Most of the students received awards from their teachers. As tradition, the students brought flowers and small gifts to their teachers. Reality hit as we had to say final goodbyes to students and staff.