From 100,285 to 106,929

Yes, that's right - we're home. After traveling 6,644 miles we pulled in our driveway around 3:30pm this afternoon. THANK YOU LORD! We are relieved to be done traveling, sad to have left friends and family so far away, glad to be back to our home and our friends here, thankful for miles upon miles of His very evident protection, refreshed and encouraged in several areas, and - if I can be blunt - sick and tired of driving!!!
But, we are back, and now the job begins of settling back in. I will get back to posting about the remainder of the trip later, but I just wanted to say we are home....for now....=)

Safe and Sound

My apologies for leaving you all in suspense but I haven't had a chance to write until now. We are settled (until Wednesday am) at our friends house in Rome City, IN. My guess is that some people were praying for us and our great GOD answered prayer....=) This recent episode has reminded us once again of His care and protection over us. When no one was even supposed to be open, when parts where supposed to be unavailable, and when no one could fix it that didn't live hours away....well, those 'difficulties' faded away when people prayed for us and the Lord opened one door after another to get us back on the road. We broke down Friday evening and by 2pm on Saturday we were on the road again. We arrived at Pastor Demar's house in Salem, Ohio at 10:30 at night and Matthew spoke the next morning at their church. No missed appointments! So, we did have to get some parts and pay for the trailer to be fixed but we didn't have to stay several nights in a hotel for which we are very thankful. God has provided!

So for the remainder of today and all of tomorrow we will rest, relax, and be refreshed with our friends Tom and Debi before heading home, Lord willing we'll arrive Thursday evening. Thank you to all who prayed for us - we have not doubts of the power of a bended knee!

PS - I will eventually get back to finishing the posts about the rest of our trip.

News Bulletin

We interrupt our currently scheduled blog posts to bring you this news - we are stuck in Fishkill, NY just south of Poughkeepsie. Last evening when we decided to stop for gas just an hour before where we thinking of staying for the night - long story short, after a series of coincidences, we realized our trailer was on the verge of collapsing as the entire hub of one of the wheels was destroyed and just minutes away from coming off completely. Had this happened, on the interstate, it would most likely have rolled the trailer, and consequently, our top heavy Expedition as well. We are soooo very thankful for the Lord's protection over what could have been a very bad accident. We found the last hotel room we could (holiday weekend and West Point graduation has filled this area quite full) and paid what they asked!!! As of right now there are several possibilities afloat. We've been told it could be up to 5 or 6 days (few are open today, even less tomorrow, and less on Monday) until the parts can be found and replaced. Please pray for us. We know the Lord is in control and will provide for the parts and for our lodging and food, etc. and right now we are just very grateful that He spared us from harm - the rest is minor. Just thought you might all like to know....=)

Family Reunion - Chamberland Style

I'm going to go out of order a little bit with this post - there were a couple more days between our return from Canada and last Saturday, which was the Chamberland family reunion. But it works from my end so here goes....a day with the Chamberland Clan! Everyone of the 'descendants' of Bob and Rachel Chamberland were there, except for one granddaughter, Allison, who is currently in China on a year long mission trip. Also present were Aunt Rachels sister, or the 'aunts' as they were referred to=)

We played catch, chatted and laughed a LOT, ate a delicious meal, played 'Jungle Speed, and caught up with family members. Did I mention we laughed a lot....?

Even if they've never met Uncle Randy - he made friends really fast with Jesse and Alana=)

And a special picture of Matthew and Allison!

And not to be forgotten....Teddy and Coco were there too.

For some reason, one of the kids favorite things to do is husk corn - they love it!

Not only did we have corn on the cobb - we had LOBSTER as well. We've been fed well on our trip=)

When dessert time came around Uncle Randy shared with Alana....pretty generous considering that he also cracked and prepared her lobster for her as well=)

After lunch we took some pictures, also a hilarious time, and here's one of the decent ones. (I didn't include the one where Randy had a rope around Ronda's neck, or where us girls decided to stand by the wrong brother for the family picture....=)
Most of you know my husband and how crazy he can be. Well, let me just say that the level of 'ridiculousness' that he can reach is never greater than when he is with his two brothers...left to right here are the clowns: Patrick, Randy, and Matthew.

And for the grand finale and your viewing pleasure....I refer to this picture as Small, Medium, and Large.

I know - it's hard to handle....

Oh CANADA!

Last Monday we decided to head even further north, the true north strong and free - that is Canada! Now, I'm American born and proud of my flag, but there's still the Canadian part of me that remains loyal to the maple leaf and takes their side certain times as well....specifically when it comes to hockey=) We went to my Uncle Darel and Aunt WillaMae's house, he's my mom's brother who I haven't seen in ages and ages. What a treat it was to spend the evening with them and introduce my kids to the Tozer relatives. For a part of the time we were there my parents and Chad were there as well - here's Chad and Uncle Darel playing a game I never want to learn, Chess=(

Later in the evening we put the youngest ones to bed and played 'Catch Phrase'. It was too much fun! Logan played for the first time and was so cute to watch, he did remarkably well!

From my uncle's we headed to the Miramichi where my Mom's side of the family is from. On the way we stopped at the hospital in Moncton to see my grandmother. She's been living at home until recently when she was diagnosed with cancer. With a pre-existing diagnosis of Parkinson's and the treatment for radiation she's going through it has meant a permanent hospital stay for her. Thankfully she know the Lord and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to see her and to re-introduce her to our kids, specifically Jesse and Alana who she'd never met. As we were all saying goodbye Matthew took a short video that will, in the years to come, be very special to me. (I didn't know he was filming so it cuts off at the end since I stood right in front of it....)

From there we drove up to see my grandfather, in the Miramichi, and spent the evening with him at the Taylor's house who invited us over for supper. They've been friends of our family, specifically my mom, for years and it was fun to see them again. Also there was their son David, who is my age, and he entertained the kids outside for quite some time. I think Zachery had more fun there driving his 4-wheeler than the rest of the trip combined=)

Cute Monica peeking around the tree!

Alana enjoyed their dog, Daisy, and led her around on the leash for quite some time. How much Daisy enjoyed it is debatable=)

The next morning Matthew and I took Grandaddy out for breakfast so we could spend a bit more time with him. After that we said our goodbye's as he headed to Moncton to spend the day with Granny. After 60+ years of faithfulness to each other, it is hard for them to be apart during these rough times.

For our stay at the Miramichi we spend the night at the VanderVeen's, more friends of both our parents who opened their doors to our rowdy bunch and fed us and took care of us for the time we were there. On a side note - the house they live in has apartments in the basement that my mother rented for a time and lived there when I was in college. It is a beautiful spot! Matthew and I even picked out the idea place to build ourselves a new house....how fun it is to dream=)

Here's a random picture of a fiddlehead....anybody ever heard of them before? We've had them to eat several times during our stay - YUMMY!

Here is the front door of the VanderVeen's who are of Dutch ancestry...check out those shoes!

Mr. VanderVeen also took the kids for a ride on a 4-wheeler. They took a big loop around their property while Matthew and I trailed behind taking pictures and enjoying the view of the river and the many miles of trees surrounding the area.

On our way home we went into town to do some shopping a la Canadien - there are some things whose equal can't be found on this side of the border, for example: Crown corn syrup, caramel cakes, flavored chips, Coffee Crisp, and - Monica's find that had me leaping for joy - whipped honey!!! I haven't had any honey like that in at least 16 years!!! I describe it to people and they think they know what I mean but then I'm sadly disappointed. Anyway...enough honey talk=) This is the bridge I've crossed many times going over the Miramichi river.

You probably can't even see the orange box on this picture, but if you blow it up and look close you will see that I've put an box around the south end of a north bound moose, as they say up here. It's the second moose we've seen on our trip and, while we got a good glimpse of it in person, by the time I snapped the camera it was running into the trees. But, I promise, it was there!

In Closing :
To those of you who have faithfully read these long ramblings posts, you have my congratulations. I know it's probably not to interesting reading about someone else's family who live somewhere far away - but this blog is, in a way, my personal journal, keeping up with the day to day events of my life that I'd never be able to remember on my own=)

And now for my favorite picture of the trip so far....courtesy of Monica and my new camera=)

North To Chamberland Country

After spending just over a week in the Guilford area (where we used to live and the general area where most of my Rozelle relatives are) we headed north to spend some time with Matthew's parents. We will have just about the same amount of time here except it is more broken up with some comings and goings to other locations. Gramma and Grampa have a great house with lots of wide open space outside as well, so the kids, and their mother, have really been enjoying some room to run around after all the time in the vehicle. Their behavior when we first get out of the car is somewhat, shall we say, exuberant!!!

Alana absolutely LOVES her umbrella from cousin Layla and has been so pleased for the recent rain=)

Saturday afternoon the church family from Matthew's parents church got together and had a barbeque so that we could spend a bit more time getting to know the people. We had a good time not to mention some good food! The boys found some entertainment of their own.

Some nights, especially after long days in the car, the kids are pretty crazy and wound up. I get a little wound up myself when we are in someone else's house and they are starting to run wild. I do have to say that overall, the kids have done really well. We have had several complements on their behavior, which is great for us to hear as parents, and we're thankful for their patience with 5 weeks of this crazy schedule. So, some evenings, when it is time to settle down, we try to get creative with something that will keep them busy but calm. Here's Monica reading a new book we picked up at Wal-Mart for this very purpose=)

Sunday morning Matthew spoke at his parents church in Blaine, Maine (fun to say that, huh?) and then after lunch we headed about an hour and a half south to Matthew's brother, Patrick's, place. We were scheduled to be there for the evening service but went down early to spend the afternoon out at a camp we often went to when we lived here in Maine. It belongs to Pat's father-in-law but he has welcomed our crew there many times over the years. From ice-fishing to swimming in the summer it's been a fun place to hang out and it was nice spend some time there again. The kids really enjoyed it.

Fishing was the first thing on the boys agenda -

And now for my favorite picture of the trip...almost! But first, I need to tell you this - I GOT A MOTHER'S DAY GIFT!! A new camera and I'm so excited=) So from here on out the pictures are taken with a lovely new digital camera, a Kodak EasyShare Z1012 IS to be specific.

Pat and Kathy were there and we had an enjoyable visit with them and with her parents who own the camp. Her father, Laurel, came out to SD and visited a while back so it was fun to reminisce about that.

Matthew's brother, Patrick, has visited almost once a year so he's a face that they remember - not to mention his 'behaviour' which also makes him quite memorable to the kids=) They were all eagerly awaiting the portion of the trip when they could spend some time with Uncle Pat.

That evening Matthew spoke at the church in Sherman, Maine. His father pastored at this church for over 7 years when Matthew was younger so he is quite familiar with many of the people that still attend. We have been able to visit and enjoy our time in all the churches but it is an extra treat to be able to fellowship with some believers that we know.

Well, time to close, Matthew and the boys just pulled in from their third fishing trip this week....I'll update you on their success on a later post=)