And We Begin Again...

Our Iowa Family Group

The last time we blogged was in March of 2009 and as I read over what was written, tears came to my eyes as I recalled that time in our lives. We had just given up our dream for the greater good of our family and felt a great loss, but also had a heart full of hope for what God would do in all our lives.

For the last year and a half we have lived partly with our close relative's family and after June of 2009, in our own little patio home. Leslie took care of wonderful 4 and 7 year old girls and Flint went back to work as a Specials Tech at the hospital. His hospitalization lasted for another six months and that made all the difference in his recovery. He lived near his family for another nine months until he was able to obtain a job in his field and could afford his own home. We felt that we had done what we came to do and it was time for us to get our lives back so we listed our home in March of 2010, hoping to sell it by June. The son of one of our neighbors bought it as an investment, and since he had a good-paying job now, he was able to rent it from the new owner and all of the furnishings could stay in place. What an answer to prayer that was!

Our plan was to spend the summer traveling around the country visiting our other children and then return to the boat in Demopolis, AL in late September. We had a beach vacation with some of our family in the Outer Banks and then headed out to Des Moines, IA where we spent the remainder of the summer. Our daughter, Jennifer, lives there with her husband, three children and eight grandchildren. What a time we had with all of them! Sunday dinner with ten adults and eight children was chaos, but fun. Thank goodness they have a pool so the children could keep occupied most of the afternoon. The end of August we headed for Kansas City, Dallas and San Antonio to visit family and friends and then out to our foster daughter, Melanie's, home in Phoenix, where we stayed for two weeks.

It was time to stop the visiting and start preparing for our cruising again, so we drove back to Alabama from Phoenix in two and a half days. We had been back to visit Grace Full during our SC stay, but it was nice to know that we were back for good now. She is still on "the hard" so it takes a ladder to climb up to her. We get a lot of exercise going up and down the stairs in the boat as well as down the ladder to the ground. We are refinishing some teak doors and will be repainting the bottom with antifouling paint before we she is launched again. We will keep you up to date on our progress as we complete our jobs. Welcome back and we hope you enjoy traveling with us.

Son, Kevin, and Leila and Sara