Texas was great. Honest! We enjoyed the area, met some great people, and worked at interesting and worthwhile projects. But I must confess, we both were ready for some new scenery. The trip east was uneventful – just long! We managed to miss rush hour in most of the big cities (traveling through Nashville at 5AM was a big help!), and we arrived in North East, Maryland (Sandy Cove Ministries) 52 hours after we left Big Sandy (1400 miles). We were both ready for a nice long shower and long nap. And I must confess, we are both enjoying being back in familiar landscape.
This is the Texas that we knew….

And this is where we were today….


See my point?

One of the interesting parts of a cross country jaunt, is catching the sunset and sunrises when you can. Since we were headed east, the sunset was a little tricky, but many of you know, I go to great lengths to capture those sunsets.
Hence…..

The sunrise was easier (heading east as we were)….so here is a shot of that early morning sun just west of Nashville.

Tomorrow we head into DC to enjoy the Cherry Blossom Festival.
Happy Spring!

Now that settlement is just around the bend (Friday, April 7th!) we have just one last piece of furniture that needs a home. We were hopeful that the buyers would want to keep it, but at this point, we’re pretty sure they don’t. So….if anyone out there would like a beautiful (though not in tune) antique square piano, or has any suggestions of someone (or some institution) that would, please leave a comment here (or call me if you know the number!). Here it is….

It was a beautiful centerpiece for our Victorian front “parlor”, but alas, it doesn’t fit in the RV! There is some damage to the top, and like I said, it doesn’t hold a tune (I think the soundboard is cracked), but as a piece of furniture, it’s great! HELP!!!!!!!!

And on other matters –
Here is our route across the country- from the Reunion in Big Sandy, TX to our project at Sandy Cove in Maryland. We left a day early so we’re just outside of Nashville and well on our way! A dear Sower friend of ours passed away yesterday, and we are hopeful that we’ll be home in time to go to his memorial service. He and his wife live in Lancaster, PA, so it seemed like a do-able thing as long as we don’t dawdle along the way.

And now we’re headed to bed!

We’ve left the land of palm trees and cactus plants (along with sugar cane fields and citrus groves) and moved to the land of dogwood and redbud trees. Right now we are nestled among towering pine trees at the ALERT Academy in Big Sandy, TX. (ALERT is a Sower project and stands for Air Land Emergency Resource Team. It’s quite a campus!) We’re here for the Texas SOWER Reunion – which basically means that about 70 Sower couples have gathered for fun and fellowship for a couple of days. We’ve enjoyed making new friends and connecting with folks we’ve worked with before. It’s been a nice time of refreshment after our three months in The Valley. The weather today was gloomy, but the last two days have been just gorgeous!
One more day and then we do the giant eastward trek – we need to be in Maryland by Saturday. Should be an interesting couple of days! I don’t think we’ll be doing any sightseeing along the way…….

On our last trip to Mexico we picked out a couple of dresses for Ellie & Hayley. They got them today, and Tammy sent along some pictures of them showing off their new dresses. So guess what – you get to see them too!
Here they are together…

And Princess Ellie

Hayley looks a little concerned….

And together with Mom….

How very blessed we are!

‘Member a couple of posts ago when I mentioned all the Ropa Usada stores near our January project? They were the used clothing stores where everything was sold by the pound. I was told that you had to buy an entire lot (100# or so) even if you just wanted to pick out a pair of jeans.
WRONG.
Apparently there are some stores where you get to rout through the piles and then pay for whatever you want. We ladies couldn’t resist checking it out, so today we headed back toward Hidalgo and the Ropa Usada stores. What an experience!
That’s us on the right – not quite sure where to begin….(or even if we really want to be there!)

Here I am climbing the clothing mountain….

Karen is trying to find that must have thing….but so many clothes, and so little time!

When all was said and done, I had 3 tops, 2 pr. pants, 1 skirt and a small quilt. All for $1.30.
Well, and a trip to the washing machine!

We head out tomorrow! So I better get focused on putting stuff away and getting ready to go.
Highway here we come!