The Little Farmer

We left Yanada's after such a wonderful time!  We have great timing.  For the 2nd time that day, we hit rush hour.  Noon in KC and evening traffic in Madison.  It took an extra 20 minutes perhaps, and we were so excited when we got to the kids' house!  The girls came running out and we just hugged and hugged and hugged!

It had been decided that we would sleep in Claire's room since she has a queen size bed.  "Where will you sleep, Claire?" I asked.  "In mommy and daddy's closet."

"In their CLOSET?"

Well, it IS pretty big and there was plenty of room for a pallet on the floor.

Thank you, Claire, for sharing your room!

The next morning, Claire came to her room where we were sleeping and looked around at our luggage on the floor, beside her doll house.

  

"You Nana-fied my room!"

She was a good sport about it.

 Al had recently done a personal study about the signs in the heavens (because the eclipse was coming up) and in the morning, he had the older girls look up verses and they had a good discussion!  They seemed to all be enjoying it!  I heard lots of laughter along with the serious excitement about what all they were discovering.

In the afternoon, the family took us to:

 There was an old farmhouse converted into shops.

Purple martins fly to Wisconsin too!

They have the Kansas state flower too!   I LOVE sunflowers!

The barn smelled just like Grandpa Geiger's old barn!

Mmmm!  What nostalgia!! 

Leaves were turning color already - and it's only August!

I wonder what kind of winter Wisconsin will have?? 

Sophie will need to buy a warm hat!

She was just looking at them - hopefully next time we go to Wisconsin, we can pick apples and also get some pumpkins!

It was all so very beautiful!

To be continued....

A trip back in time

Our daughter and her family had just moved to Wisconsin and here we were, not even a month later, taking a trip up to visit them.  We really DO miss them!  But also, Sophia was having a birthday party!

We woke up EARLY....3AM to make the trip.

 We got to see a gorgeous Kansas sunrise!

 I was not too fond of the Kansas City rush hour traffic!  But a stop at Starbucks was great!

I am often mistaken for Betty.

Debby doesn't sound anything like it, does it?

This wide load was playing "Parcheesi" double block on the road in Dubuque. 

We stopped in Madison to see Pastor and Mrs. Yanada.

It was right on the way!

I haven't seen them since I was 16!  Takako-san remembered Allen.

They visited us in Pretty Prairie when we were teenagers!

When my parents went to Japan, they began to tell the people there about Christ.  They would do street evangelism and also another way was by having English classes where they also taught the Bible.

Yanada-san is sitting beside my dad.

They had Japanese church services.

Yanada-san is 4th back center aisle.

 Yanada-san is 3rd back on the right.

 Yanada-san accepted Christ as his Saviour as a teen, age 17!

  

 He married Takako-san 

They had 2 girls, Naomi and Megumi 

Yanada-san became a pastor along with several others.

He even pastored our church in Aburatsu!

He continues to pastor a small Japanese congregation in Madison.  What a sweet fellowship we had along with some Japanese green tea and Japanese treats!  No doubt, we will visit again, as we will continue our drive up to see our kids in Wisconsin!