I must start off this post by picking up where I left off in the previous post.  Well after all the excitement that we had in our last few weeks in Arizona, the excitement was only to increase, but so also was the stress factor.  Especially since we were about to embark on a cross-country journey with a six week old boy, whom up until this point really didn’t like riding in his car seat.  The prospect of a cross-country journey for any of the three of us really didn’t sound to appealing, however, it was something we knew that we needed to do, and that we still had a small level of excitement for.  Our excitement and main motivating force was all the family that would be able to meet Micah for the first time, and that is something that Lorraine, I, and Micah were all looking forward to.

So we packed up the car as tightly as possible and we headed east with Springfield Virginia being our ultimate end.  We ended up leaving Arizona on Monday morning at around 7:30, and our goal for the day was to drive to Amarillo Texas.  Now, I must honestly say that there are two main reasons for this: 1) Amarillo gets us close enough to our next destination of Oklahoma, that our driving on Tuesday would be minimal, and 2) At the last minute I found out that our favorite band Sleeping At Last was playing in Amarillo on Monday night.  My thought was that if we got a good day of driving in and made good time we may be able to make it to the show.  The only real variable was Micah: we didn’t know how well he would ride.  He ended up riding like a champ and we were able to not only hear the last three songs, but we were able to go get Denny’s with the band.  It was a great day of traveling I must say!

The next day we got up late and then drove to Oklahoma City where we were scheduled to meet my brother and his new fiance Julianna for dinner.  This was exciting, because Lorraine had never met Julianna and neither my brother nor Julianna had ever met Micah.  We had a lot of fun hanging out with them even though our time was short, but we had to keep on trucking and drive up to Ponca City to see my grandparents.  Now, we were unable to see them that night, but the next day we did see them and spend time with them, and they were able to meet their first great-grandson!  Hooray!

From there we drove to Indiana where we were planning to see Grandparents, three aunts, three uncles and lots of cousins.  We had a great time with all of them and were able to visit one of our supporting churches, First Christian Church of Brazil Indiana for a Sunday morning service.  Sunday evening we left Indiana and began our trek to North Carolina where we would see friends and most of Lorraine’s family.

Before getting to North Carolina, Lorraine and I decided to make a side trip: we stopped at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist, Kentucky to spend a couple hours in spiritual retreat and prayer.  Although our time here was short it was a truly refreshing time that we could dedicate wholly to the Lord.

From Gethsemani, we left to Asheville, North Carolina; to Boone, North Carolina; to Taylorsville, North Carolina; and to Statesville, North Carolina.  This was awesome all the way around except for it being bitterly cold and even a little snowy the first two days.  Micah, I am sure, didn’t know what to think going from 90 degree weather in Phoenix to 10 degree windchills in Boone.  Craziness!  Mostly all of Lorraine’s family were able to meet Micah and spend some time with him, which made Lorraine, I, and especially Micah, very happy!

Finally, we completed our cross-country journey (hence journeyingjoneses) by driving to my parent’s new home in Springfield, Virginia.  We stayed with my parents for about a week, and were able to share our mission and ministry with three different groups from my Dad’s new church, and we were truly blessed by all of them.

All in all, we were truly blessed with our trip: Micah did great; the car did great; everything went as planned; we were able to see family; and we were abundantly provided for the entire way.  The Lord has always been good to Lorraine and I, and we know that His goodness to us, is often a reflection of all of your prayers.  Thanks!

Well this concludes the second part of our Back to Haiti trip, please look for the final update on our journey back to Haiti tomorrow or Thursday!

Kyle and Lorraine