June 9, 2017

This is Amber Day.  We are staying at her home for the weekend.  She and her parents, Aaron and Heather, are members of Forest Ridge Baptist Church in Harford County, Maryland.  She is six months old and has the sweetest disposition.  We bonded while mom went on an errand, so I got some "grandma" practice time.  

June 8-9, 2017, back to Maryland

June 8.  After a night in a hotel in Hampton, we drove back to Clinton, which took about 3-4 hours.

We met Jim and Sharon Pitts at Arby's in King George, VA, for lunch.  We last saw them at Joe and Christin's wedding in 2013.  Sharon had made the cake. 

We drove back to Clinton to spend the night and passed this older-aged  motorcycle group of 12-14 made up of men and some women going up the road.  Everyone wore black jackets that stated, "Usual Suspects, Maryland."

Friday morning we met Matthew at the IHop for breakfast.  After eating, we saw this 1966 Ford Mustang in the parking lot.  Beautifully restored. 

June 9th.  We stopped in Hagerstown, Maryland, and met Pastor Curtis King and son Joe again.  They came to Japan back in 2011 and did a Neighborhood Bible Time for us and visited a couple of churches. 

Pastor treated us to Starbucks   😃

June 4-6, 2017

Sunday evening we drove to Caroline's house and stayed the night.  She the drove us to Dulles Airport where we took a flight to Tampa.  Henry's other sister, Mary, picked us up then took us to lunch at Cracker Barrel for a yummy lunch.

We did not do much while there two days, mostly just had a time of rest.  We went to another restaurant on Tuesday.  This was a mom-and-pop shop that is really nothing to look at outside.  However, the small restaurant has some of the best lunch foods we have eaten.  Henry had a beef brisket sandwich with "the best ever mac and cheese."  Mary had a cheese burger and I had a terrific salad.  Sorry, no pictures to share.

Wednesday morning, Rob drove us to the Tampa airport for our flight back to Dulles.  We had a two-hour wait, so got breakfast.  We were able to board the plane on time, but since it was raining and lightening outside, we were delayed for over an hour before the storm passed over.

After we landed Carolyn picked us up and we drove back to her house.  There be got the luggage we left and headed to Hampton, VA, for a Wednesday night meeting.

There were miles and miles of construction on the median strip. Trees were torn down, cut up and made into mulch.  I guess they are widening the four-lane road to at least six.

June 1-4, 2017

Our meeting in Connecticut for the first was canceled so we went to our home church in Clinton for the Wednesday night service.  It is always  good to hear Pastor Mike preach and reconnect with long-time friends.

Friday the 2nd, we took Matthew to see Henry's parents' grave at the Bladensburg Cemetery, but I forgot the camera, so have no pictures to share.

Saturday we went bus visiting with Matthew on his route and then knocked on some doors to find new riders; however, there were none at the time, although we did get to speak to several people.

In the afternoon we drove over to the Eastern Shore and Jon and Stephanie Rediger at the Eastern Shore Baptist Church.

On Sunday morning, Henry taught the men's Sunday School class and I spoke to the ladies' class.  I gave them each one of Mrs. Matsunaga's crocheted crosses. 

The ladies' class holding their small crocheted crosses.

In the afternoon we drove up to Sudlersville to the Bay Shore Baptist Church were James Vaughn and family are starting a new church.  

The front foyer.  This building is a former school.  They were able to acquire it for a very good price, praise the Lord and it's in a great location.  The blue door leads to the gym.  

This is Alana and she showed me the quilt I made and previously gave to a family in the church.  Her mom had it hung here.  Then she gave me a tour of the building and the rooms they have cleaned up and decorated for Sunday School.  

Pastor Vaughn leading singing and Henry at the piano. 

James, Sarah, Megan, Tyler and Alana in the lobby of the church.

It was a very good day. 

Manassas Battlefield June 1, 2017

While we were on seeing historical battlefields we saw the Manassas Battlefield in Northern Virginia.

The armies had several different uniforms, so sometimes it was difficult to identify who was the enemy.

This is a replica of the Henry House.  Mrs. Henry was a blind old lady that got killed here when the Union army fired a cannon at her house to kill the Confederates. Below is her gravestone.

Statue of General Stonewall Jackson 

Harper's Ferry Battleground, May 31, 2017

We spent a few hours touring the Harpers Ferry Battlefield.  The Park provided free bus shuttle from the parking to two points of the battle. 

A model of the park in the welcome center.

The first place was Bolivar Heights where the Confederates and the Union armies fought. 

One of the streets in old town Harper's Ferry with many building from the 1800's

We had lunch at the Coffee Mill; good eats 

Henry stands in front of the Merriweather Lewis at Harper's Ferry building. It was closed. 

This stone marker is where the original armory building stood that John Brown captured,

This nest was atop a foot bridge 

Overlooking the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers

This was a Dry Goods Store for items to buy

May 26-30 2017, IN, NC, SC

We met our friend Laura Shaffer from IBC years ago in Indiana. 

These ugly windmills are all over the plains states.

We saw a fireworks display in Kentucky---first one in years. 

Henry helped Stephen start to repair this spot on his house that was eaten by ants.  They took out the rotted boards and swept out the mess before the rain started.  Then they put a piece of plywood over it and Steve will have to finish it later. 

We met up with another family from IBC, Judy and Kent Gerber in North Carolina.  Their grand daughter is the daughter of our flower girl, Tovah, back in 1983.  Tera is now 13 and has five sisters.