Back to the Midwest

Last week we traveled back to the midwest to visit Marilyn's parents and family and also to be involved in our niece Kari's wedding. We were blessed with beautiful weather throughout the week.

Seeing the grain fields and the wonderfully green trees is always refreshing!
The folks' cozy little house at the edge of town is always a welcome site to come back to.
One of the major highlights of my father's day is going to the mailbox to check the mail. He really enjoys reading the local paper and catching up on the latest news.

We are always spoiled by the great food that mother cooks. Like dad always says, "it's the best restaurant in the whole town!"

We enjoyed several days together with the folks- good times in their home and many miles traveling together in their car. Our time together went by all too fast!

Mother even convinced me to give her a perm!

Every morning that we stayed at the folks' house, we took a morning walk to the nearby river. We loved being in the rural area...

walking past this barn...

enjoying the wild flowers along the roadside...

We even spotted the Minnesota state flower (Lady's Slipper) growing alongside the road we walked every morning. This flower is so uniquely beautiful and this is only the second time in my life that I have seen one growing in the wild. What a special treat!

On Wednesday evening, we accompanied the folks to our country church for their weekly Bible study. We always enjoy the good fellowship we find in this little church.

On Thursday morning, we traveled with dad and mom to visit dad's youngest brother. Before we went to the nursing home, we enjoyed a lunch together with Marilyn's cousins at a cute little restaurant in their city. We were happy that Lowell & Lona were able to spend their lunch hour with us, and also blessed to have my cousin Chuck join us.

And, we were surprised to have two more of Marilyn's cousins show up at the restaurant. Five cousins together for lunch--good times indeed!

After lunch, we went to the nursing home to visit Marilyn's uncle. We knew that he was dying, so we were thankful that we had this time to say our good-bys. It was very precious to watch my dad speaking to his younger brother. Little did we know that Norris would be home in heaven with Jesus about twelve hours later.

On our journey back home, we stopped to visit my cousin Jane and her husband Steve. It was fun to see the new addition they recently added to their house.

A couple hours later, we stopped at my cousin Shirley's house and enjoyed a delicious supper. She and her husband Roger are currently building an addition to their house, so we were able to see the progress and imagine what a beautiful place they will be enjoying this coming winter. Thanks to all the cousins for a wonderful time spent together last week.