Shortly before leaving for our NY trip in our home (which we greatly miss while “on the road”)……smile.

We went to Pastor Jack Young’s Church and to our surprise, these 2 precious ladies came all the way from Canada (over 2 hrs. away) to meet our family! What precious people they are!!

Visiting relatives along the way. This is the VanDyke Family! We love you and enjoyed getting to see you & visit with you!!

“Cousins” ~ Jennifer & Jill – Good to get together and reminisce of sweet days past and also to make NEW memories!!

This is “Aunt” Mary – Jennifer’s Mom. Love you, Aunt Mary, and thank you for your hospitality towards our family!!

This is “Uncle John” – Jennifer’s Dad. Boy, is he awesome on the saxophone!! We enjoyed playing & singing music together in their lovely farm house on their working, beautiful farm!!

Couldn’t resist adding this one……..Sofia ready in her “red” church outfit (we color coordinate our outfits as we travel). Isn’t the bow on her head cute?!! It’s almost bigger than her head! My sister Angie made it for her and has tried to make one for every color of our outfits.  Angie is a very talented seamstress in every way.  SO CUTE!!

We visited “Old Paths Bible Baptist Church” and enjoyed visiting with lots of big families there. This is a Cammillerri daughter and a Pinzone daughter. Sweet girls in a silly picture………..smile.

Mrs. Cammillerri (Pastor’s wife) in the green & black top and her daughter in the yellow and black top and Tina Pinzone in the blue top. These are all precious ladies and we go WAY back in our friendships!

Great men of God!! Pastor Cammillerri in the blue shirt, his son-in-law in the striped blue tie, and Mr. Pinzone in the brown suit. David is thankful for these godly men’s friendships!

We went from Old Paths to dear friends – the Andersons and to their cozy little farm! We enjoyed spending a few days with them. Jaime, I love you.

James Anderson with 3 of our boys.

Laura Anderson with Tessie and Hannah.

David is thankful for Justin Anderson’s friendship. These people have proven to be true friends to us through the “thick & thin” of life…….smile.

Mark & Tammy Philbrick (parents of 8 boys) were so kind in inviting our family over for dinner one evening!

Some of the Philbrick boys. We had such an enjoyable evening playing games and catching up! The meal was delicious, Tammy!

Tessie put a “wig” on Sofia at the Philbricks. SO funny!

It doesn’t look like Sofia appreciates her new appearance!

Finally, the moment I had been waiting for!! – TO SEE MY DEAR SISTER!! ~ Amy Foster!!

It is truly SUCH an honor to me that my true life HERO – is my sister!!

It was great to see the entire Foster Family!! This is Felicity & Garrett.

Hard-working Kevin and helpful Gunnar!

Olivia and Callista Foster are 6 months apart in age and they absolutely L-O-V-E playing together! They are virtually inseparable when together.

Sweet cousins!

Amy is still trying to heal from 2 VERY stubborn (what were stage 4) bed-sores. Due to that, she is normally bed-ridden. SOOO, I told her – “Enough of laying in that bed! We need to make some new memories!! I’m taking you shopping!!” So, Kevin showed me how to operate their handicapped accessible van and we loaded up (along with some of our girls) and headed out for a fun day! This is us in the store ready to shop!!

We had SO much fun! It was only Amy’s second time to really go “joy shopping” since the accident. She melted my heart as she tried SO hard to sift through the clothing racks………all done with a smile on her face! Amy has had to learn SO much patience as she has to wait on so many other people to do small menial tasks for her. I see her sweet spirit through it all and it inspires me to tears!! I LOVE YOU, precious Amy!!

Amy enjoyed shopping, once again, for her children and their needs & for items they needed in their home.

We went out to eat at the Olive Garden………..ymm!!

This was Amy’s first time to go out to eat since the accident. She was a bit self conscience as she had to periodically tip her wheelchair back to relieve her bed-sores……….but no one minded and when the waitress and other waiters heard her story- they said they wished they could have given her FREE dessert before she left and wheeled out to the van! Amy does well eating with her “special” utensils as long as the food is cut up good.

When Amy is up and about in her wheelchair, Garrett enjoys bonding time with his Mama by getting up on her foot-rests and going along for the ride!

SOOOO CUTE!!

Another!!

Garrett has gotten more and more close to Amy again……….which means SO much to Amy!  It was VERY hard to say good-bye to Amy when our time to be there had come to a close.  I hope I was a blessing to her in helping her get projects she wanted done around the house.

We had a great time seeing many dear friends (above are the Burlew sisters) at Pastor Roscoe’s church on our last Sunday in NY.

My DEAR Uncle Jon & Aunt Brenda (my dad’s sister) came to see us also!

SPECIAL!! I LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH!

A dear friend of old – Diana Long.

During our trip to NY, I enjoyed much fellowship with various ladies. Much catching up was done over cups of coffee! However, we were all so consumed in the moment, that we forgot to get pictures of these special moments…….bummer. This is my friend – Erin Sherry- and this time we did remember to get a “selfie”. It was a memorable, funny moment.

Our children glad to see “Grandma Drake”…….David’s Mom.

This is David’s brother- Daniel. It was so good to see him our last Sunday there. It is really ironic that about 20 years ago, Daniel was in a car accident & had to have surgery- rendering him a paraplegic. On Sunday, we talked more about Amy and her condition with Daniel and it was then that Daniel began to weep!!  He was weeping over knowing the suffering Amy is in for due to the suffering he has also endured!!   I knelt down next to him and wept with him. Never before I have I been so KEENLY aware of Daniel’s suffering –  with shame I admit I have perhaps been unknowingly indifferent. It is amazing how when you see (or feel) suffering on a personal basis, it makes you more compassionate towards others sufferings. So, David has a brother in a wheelchair and I have a sister in a wheelchair. We look forward to seeing our siblings walk again on streets of gold someday in Heaven!!!