Mother/Daughter retreat in Wisconsin, part 1

Last week I drove by myself to Wisconsin.  I left as soon as it got light and made it to Kansas City, where I stopped to drop off a book at my brother's house.  Dave was in Wisconsin too, golfing with some buddies.

I had a good visit with my sister-in-law before continuing on.

I filled the car up with gas at Bethany and at Des Moines took a little snooze in the car.  I had intended to get as far as Cedar Rapids, but it was only 4 o'clock when I got there, and it was still light.  "I'll keep going." When I got as far as Dubuque, I debated stopping.  But it was only 6 and by that point I'm not that far from the kids'!

Some day I'd like to stay downtown, close to the river, but maybe when Al is with me and we can do some walking around together.  Look at this place!  Redstone Inn.  We will have to do that!

I listened to 60's music, put in a Japanese conversational CD, listened to Pastor Jack Hibbs...kept my mind going.  I'm not supposed to drive after dark with my one blind eye, but I know the road from Madison and it is 4-lane on 151 so I went for it.  It would be silly to stay at a hotel just 1 hour away from Jill's!  I couldn't believe I made it all in one day!  Shocker!  I've only done that once before when it was important to keep the car going and not get stuck midway due to car trouble.  When Al is with me we often do it all in 1 day, and I take a turn at the wheel.  But for me to do it by myself - I surprised myself.  

Maybe we should get one of these:

Rather cute and I could pull over anytime to sleep!

I arrived at Jill's at 9pm. 14 hours (which included the stops).  I was pretty exhausted.  Kobi had the zoomies.  They told me when they said Nana was coming, he perked up and got excited!  Here's a picture of him after he has settled down.

Claire was struggling with a cold and Jill felt like she was coming down with it too. Their washing machine was on the blitz. (Ended up having to buy a new one) Could very well be a spiritual attack of the enemy as Jill was going to be the speaker at the Mother/Daughter retreat we were all going to.  There was lots of prayer going on though. 

"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary they have divine power to demolish strongholds."  2 Corinthians 10:4

On Friday, I had a relaxing day.  Jill went to work.  Sophia was my personal barista and made me a coffee before going to school for Old Testament Survey that her mom teaches.  She homeschools the rest of her classes.

Claire stayed in bed so she'd have energy for the weekend.  She also packed for the weekend.  Adam went to the Milwaukee Airport to pick up my daughter Mindy who flew in from Denver.  We had originally planned for my daughter-in-law, Staci and granddaughter, Emeri, who live in Fayetteville, to also come for a full Mother/Daughter weekend.  But a doctor in Tampa had an opening for Staci to come for treatments for a brain injury she suffered last year.  She has been having lots of various treatments and this doctor was the next step.  We do pray that the Lord should choose to bring her back to full health.  But we sure missed her and Em.

This day was our son's birthday. Tenley and Kaia sang to him.

And Jill's OT Survey class did too!

When Mindy arrived and school was over for Jill, we packed up the van and drove off for camp.  We made a stop at Culvers in Green Bay for dinner and got to camp as the sun was beginning to set.

After checking in and getting settled into our cabin, we went to the Chapel where Jill taught a session titled "We Are Made For More" from John 3:1-8 with a look back at Numbers 21.  

She did such a great job not only speaking to the moms (and a few grandmas) but also to the young girls who attended with their moms.  She involved them as she could.

The rest of the Mother/Daughter weekend in the next post.