We’ve been in the Smokies for a few days now and it has been beautiful! We saw 12 bears one evening- Cameron had been trying to see a moose and a bear while we were in Maine, so this was a welcomed siting! We’ve done some great hiking. We made it to Dollywood for a short visit. There has been good food and good fellowship from the house we’re staying in. All in all, it has been a wonderful visit.
We head to Nashville next for an important wedding.
It’s been several weeks since I posted. We’ve been at my parents’ place in northern Maine for over four weeks now. They are having a garage built which we volunteered to come help with as our talents allow (mostly Cameron’s ;)). So Cameron has been quite busy with that. The roof is shingled, the siding on, and breezeway connecting the garage to the house has been finished. Those were the major things we planned to accomplish and now our time is drawing to a close. We head to Tennessee this week for some time in the Great Smoky Mountains region and then on to Nashville for Cameron’s brother’s wedding.
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| A non-garage job Cameron was asked to do by a family friend. |
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| I babysat this guy when he wasn't even two years old yet... This picture was from his last regular season soccer game...his senior year! |
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| We found some extra jobs to do while we were in Hodgdon. |
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| Painting the new breezeway! |
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Homemade chocolate ice cream - a Sjoberg tradition! And none of my siblings here to share eating the first fruits (aka: licking the paddle) with. |
Back in Aroostook County we hiked Haystack and Quoggy Jo Mountains for some more incredible views. The last two+ days have been rainy and windy and lots of leaves have fallen, but we're striving to graciously receive what comes our way.
Let me apologize again for my lack of faithfulness in posting - and this time I can't blame it on lack of service or wifi because we've been at my parents' for the last week. We have been busy though. More on that later. Let me back up and fill you in on life after NYC.
We had a great visit at a church in Winchendon, Massachusetts. We met some wonderful people and we loved the very New England experience we had - we climbed a mountain, we took in the changing leaves among the hills and valleys, we connected with kindred spirits.
So we have lots to consider and pray about in the days/weeks/(maybe months?) ahead: we had great visits in three quite different places, all with their pros and cons. We felt the church communities in each place were solid and worthy of consideration. That leaves us with an unknown future still, and we're okay with that for now. :)
On Monday we went to my Aunt Deane's in New Jersey for a couple of nights. Deane lives just across the Delaware River from Philly, so we made a touristy visit there. Deane, Cameron, and I did a roof top bus tour of the city and it was super neat. We had a live tour guide and it was neat to learn about the history of Philadelphia as we were seeing it in person. We were so inspired by our fantastic tour of Philly, that we got tickets to do the same thing in New York City. Unfortunately that tour was a pre-recorded commentary and since there's so much to see in Yew York the tour just didn't leave us feeling as satisfied as the Philly tour did. It was neat to explore both cities though, and we're thankful we had the chance to do it.
We spent Friday through Monday in York visiting with Noble City Church. These were all people we had never met before, but we felt so welcomed. We really enjoyed getting to know people, being apart of their church meetings, and seeing the city. While York is a relatively small city, it definitely has an urban feel. We continue to have lots to think and pray about.
We’ve been in the Smokies for a few days now and it has been beautiful! We saw 12 bears one evening- Cameron had been trying to see a moose ...
