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Nothing really eventful today other than riding in the car and the fact that Chris and I have now been married 17 years! As is our tradition, the last night of our road trips we stay in a hotel and eat out instead of cooking our own dinner. We are actually in Lincoln, IL where I lived for four years as a teenager. The kids enjoyed the pool and we had yummy Guzzarado’s pizza. Headed home tomorrow!

This morning we were without rain, but it things were pretty wet as we packed up. We will be glad to dry out again! We headed west to Lake Huron to cross back into the States. We had almost a half hour wait to get through customs this time.

We drove to Deerborn, Michigan to visit The Henry Ford. It is much more than a museum about the Ford car; it is more of a transportation museum. They had everything from the car that Kennedy was shot in, to the chair that Lincoln was shot in, to the bus that Rosa Parks rode, to cars of famous rock stars. It was kind of history, transportation, and inventions all in one. We spent about 3 hours there, then headed just a bit more down the road to a nice campground. We were a little worried when shortly after we got our tent set up a carload of college-aged students arrived right next door and the first thing they pulled out of their car was a box of beer. Fortunately they went back to the office and requested to be moved down two sites. Hmm, were they afraid of the noise that 5 kids would make, or concerned that they would make too much noise for us?! They did keep us awake until at least midnight, but we didn’t feel sorry for them when our kids were up at 7 the next morning and running around. Ha!

Today we enjoyed just relaxing and hanging around the lake. We hit the beach in the morning before the sun got hot. That was a good plan as it started to sprinkle about lunch time. We had just finished lunch and decided to take a drive into the little town nearby and see what was there. There was a little bitty main street that had some cute shops and we found some ice-cream. The storm blew over and then we were able to head to the beach again for late afternoon, again avoiding the hottest sun. As we were ready to end our time at the beach it started clouding over again. We had time to cook and eat supper before it started raining again. We decided to head out in the van and this time we found a different ice cream shop. We were just in time because as we stepped in it started to totally pour and blow. We were thankful to be under stronger shelter than our tent! Fortunately it blew over quickly again and we finished up our ice-cream and headed back to camp. We only had a couple of wet spots in the tent, but fared through the night just fine.

Today we packed up camp and headed over the Niagara River to Canada. Chris and I had both been to the Canadian side of the Falls as kids, but none of our own kids had been before. This was Elijah’s first time to use his US passport. The customs official was quite impressed that we had seven passengers in the van with all of our camping equipment in the very back. We are used to road trips and know how to pack!

The Canadian side is definitely the more impressive side from which to view the Falls. We walked along a bit and got well misted. Chris has also discovered Tim Horton’s. I think it’s a Canadian fastfood chain, but it has pretty good coffee. So we seem to hit about every Tim Horton’s in sight, Chris’ kind of souvenir.

We took the scenic route from the Falls and drove along the north shore of Lake Erie. Again, the weather has been great and the lakes are cleaner than we thought they might be. We found a great camp at a Provincial Park that is basically a sand bar that juts out like a peninsula into the lake. The sites are all dug out from the sand dunes are are right by the lake. Again, we landed a great site right across from the playground for the kids, near the restrooms and by the beach. It was quiet and had lots of flying bugs, but none that kept biting us. Phew. At our last campsite, our neighbors (a group of Harley dudes, Stan!) left us with one of their 2-man tents and some chairs. So the kids are now taking turns (M/J then B/E) sleeping in it at night. Believe it or not, we managed to fit the extra gear in the back of the van and still nothing comes above the back seat.

Today was our main day to explore the Falls. We started with the Maid of the Mist tour that takes you right up to Horseshoe Falls. It was pretty thrilling and the kids loved it. They all wanted to keep their blue rain ponchos as souvenirs. We hiked around quite a bit, around the top of the American Falls, over Goat Island and to the American side of Horseshoe Falls. It is pretty amazing to see the power of the water falling over.

After getting misted and plenty of walking for the day we headed back to our campsite and let the kids enjoy the rest of the afternoon at Lake Ontario playing. We have really enjoyed the weather and had expected it to be muggy like in Missouri, but it has been just right even at night for sleeping. Yes, we all fit in our tent and even have some of the suitcases inside as well. We tend to go to bed with the sun (10ish) and get up with the sun. Ami is always concerned when we take off in the van without our tent, as if we are leaving it behind. Elijah has loved the adventure of camping….the camp stove, finding treasures left behind by others, the wide open spaces, the playgrounds, etc.

Today was a fairly short drive.  We saw Lake Erie for a bit and drove through Pennsylvania to get to New York.  We passed the Falls and headed just a bit north to a great State Park where we had a super campsite right on Lake Ontario.  We could see the Toronto skyline 30 miles across the lake.  The kids enjoyed wading in the water and playing for a bit before camp supper.  Then we drove back to see the Falls at night.  It doesn’t get very dark here until way late, but we did see the lights on the Falls about 9:30 as it was getting darker.  We got to go out on the observation deck that hangs out over the Niagara River for a better view.


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As if yesterday wasn’t enough of a blessing, today we were able to meet more church people and share our appreciation with them. We were asked to give a short testimony of how we came to adopt Elijah and how that played into Salem providing for his heart surgery. We were so thankful for this opportunity to share our gratitude for what they did for our son before he was even ours. At the end of Chris’ sharing, Elijah also said, “Thank you for taking care of my heart.” Tim Baker also shared about PHF and the congregation prayed over the PHF families that were in attendance. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the audience, such a neat experience. God is good and we have been truly blessed to meet so many loving people along our adoption journeys. It has been way more than we ever expected an adoption to entail. God is at work and when we allow Him to use us the blessings are incredible and so very humbling.

I can’t say enough good things about Salem Church of God in Clayton, OH. They have an awesome orphan outreach ministry that went all out this weekend. They hosted families from several different states that have adopted children from the Philip Hayden Foundation, along with supporters, staff and friends. They fed us, had bounce houses for the kids, had all sorts of games with prizes, snow cones, and blessed us incredibly. It was so neat to see some faces we knew from China, as well as some that we have corresponded with. Elijah remembered several of them (some were there before his time) and was very happy to give hugs. Many people from the church were delighted to meet Elijah as they had prayed for him for two years. He is somewhat famous there. Here are some pictures from our awesome afternoon.

We had a fairly uneventful trip up to Ohio.  We have often passed the HUGE cross in Effingham, IL on trips up to visit relatives in IL, but we have never stopped.  We had time on this trip, so pulled off to see the 200 foot cross.  We thought it appropriate to take a picture under the “Honor your father and mother” sign.  Elijah was yelling “Yea, Jesus Christ!” under the cross.  Awesome to hear!