Family and Good Times in Florida

We left California and traveled to the Texas Hill Country, staying there for a week. This gave us opportunity to spend good time with Abey, Sunny, Lydia and Christian, as well as with Meg's folks, Carl and Marilyn, before proceeding on to Florida. We had some good Ethiopian food in Austin (new restaurant there!)


We spent a night in a Texas rest area near the Louisiana border (Beaumont,) a night in Biloxi, MS at a military family camp, the last night in a Florida rest area near Tallahassee, then on to Stacey's the next day. We did go a little out of our way for a great lunch in Foley, AL at Lambert's Cafe, the home of the "throwed roll." We learned of these restaurants while visiting Springfield, where Sabrina spent her college years at Southwest Missouri State. Great places to eat! Fun too! Stop in if you're ever in Sikeston or Ozark, Missouri or Foley, Alabama at mealtime.


When Stacey and Darren built their new home here in Florida in 2006 we invested the extra money for them to put RV hookups behind the house for us. It has been a wonderful blessing to be able to visit them and be "next-door neighbors." We parked the motorhome here for our Egypt and Petra trips.

When we returned home the kids had a week out of school. So, we packed up the motorhome and drove to Fort Myers Beach, FL for the week. We stayed in a pleasant campground, ate out a lot, and visited the beach, a renaissance fair, and the Edison-Ford Winter Estates. The grounds are a botanical garden, with trees from all over the world. The highlight is the large banyan tree near the entrance, which covers almost an acre of ground!


We took a day to drive to the Everglades National Park, and see some 'gators. This was close enough for Ashley!

The family attends a lovely Baptist church in Inverness where the Bible is preached and Jesus is lifted up. In April we were privileged to be there for Ashley's baptism, as she gave testimony to her faith in Christ. A wonderful shared moment with our family!