Westward Ho!

We are on the road again! We have packed up as many belongings as we think we need (probably more than we really need) and as many will fit in our little Subaru, and have covered about 700 miles so far.we need to fit this-- there.did it! Yes, we got everything we needed in this car (plus the 4 bags that already await us in Vancouver thanks to Simon and Shannon who are storing them and a volvo Luke is driving across the country for us) Here's Josie waiting patiently for us to pack the car.Ready for a long journey Josie? first day we braved the freezing temps and snow in northern NY, and left Colton for Canada. First stop: Hamilton Ontario We visited our dear dear friends the Vanderlaans.

With 10 children and one on the way, hosting us for the evening wasn't adding a huge percentage of people, but our gracious hosts vacated their bedroom for us so that we could rest for our journey.

Unfortunately, Josie had come down with a cough and fever the night before and didn't sleep at all. AT ALL. Ok, well, she snoozed from 6am to 7:30am when I finally got up with her so that Dave could sleep at least 2 hours in preparation for another 300+mile drive in possible snowstorms. Poor Josie, poor Dave, and poor Katie.. baby needs sleep! The upside is that she slept the entire day in the car!!

Back to the Vanderlaans. These people are my heros. They were close friends my entire time in China, and a huge inspiration to me. I should have known their family values when Elizabeth lent me "Cheaper By the Dozen" as one of her favorite books:) With 2 adopted from China and 4 from Ethiopia, they certainly model the vastness of God's kingdom and heart for his children and what it means to belong to God's family through adoption. As I was leaving Esther handed me this letter she wrote. I hope she won't mind, but I'm posting it here. I love this family and these kids-- if I had more courage, and (and maybe I will someday) the idea of adoption and a big family seems like an adventure of another kind!

(notice the well trained children!)

We left Ontario reluctantly- their offer to stay at least another week was a tempting one for sure, but grandparents were waiting for us in Ohio and the threat of winter storms looming- so we headed out again. The drive wasn't too bad with with a sleeping baby seemed to go by a lot faster than this summer's trek. We only stopped 2 times instead of 10. We made it to Ohio just as the roads were freezing with ice and rain so we were glad to pull into Hillcrest drive Saturday night. And here we are! We haven't been home for Christmas in years- Dave hasn't been home in 7 or 8 years so this is a real treat. We are looking forward to a week with family and friends before our next leg of the journey.

This is what we anticipate our westward journey looking like:

• leave Piqua Dec. 27th and head to St. Louis for Urbana and meeting up with the Smiths
• Leave St. Louis- Dec 29th. Dave goes to Denver with Luke and Mike- Katie drives to Wheaton.
• Katie in Wheaton until Jan 4th when she will fly to Seattle to meet Dave, Mike, Luke, and Chuck.
• Dave drives to Denver, Salt Lake City, Portland and SEattle between Dec 29thand Jan 4th.
• Dave picks Katie up in Seattle with Chuck- all drive to Vancouver where we settle in to our new place where we will be housitting until April.
  Dave begins orientation Jan 5th.
  

Whew. Glad that I'm here for a week to chill!! Only need to get an eye exam and perhaps a haircut and some shopping done!