We went on a vacation in October to visit and say bye to several friends and family. We started off in Philadelphia, PA/Camden, NJ to see our friends Ray and Juanita Lamb. We originally met them at our church, Hope Works. We got to know them well through our home group at church. Unfortunately, they had to move this past summer, but under good circumstances (Ray began PT school :) ). We miss them greatly, so we went to go see them. Rebekah, aka TJ Maxx, even remembered them (and hasn't stopped asking for them since we've been home). We had so much fun visiting with them! We went to Reading terminal with them and ate 'the best philly cheesesteak in Philly' while we were there. We were even able to enjoy some of our more common forms of entertainment, Nerts games and movie night. 
After leaving the Lambs, we drove across Pennsylvania to Columbus, OH. It was such a beautiful drive with the leaves changing. In Columbus, we visited with some of Tim's college friends from Ohio State. We stayed with a beautiful family, the Whites, on our first night. They have a little boy about Rebekah's age, so she enjoyed making a friend. We had dinner that night with the Whites and another couple, the Schneiders. It was funny when we realized that all the wives were pregnant and due in one to two months. 
The next day, we had lunch with Tim's old roommate, Ben Siegenthaler, and old spiritual mentor, Ben Aikens, at Tommy's Pizza.
That afternoon, we drove around Columbus. We drove by Tim's old house when he was a young child. We also went to a park, Blendon Woods, that he used to visit with his dad. Rebekah enjoyed the time running around out of the car and seeing the turtles in the lake.
We then went to Tim's Uncle Bud's house, where we spent the night. We were able to visit with several of Tim's extended family. Tim's grandfather was staying there. Also, Tim's cousin Tracy, her children Claire and Luke, Tim's cousin Christy and Jon, and Sandy came by to visit. Rebekah particularly enjoyed feeding the ducks on the lake in the back yard.
The next day, we drove to Knoxville, TN but stopped in Cincinnati, OH. We stopped in Cincinnati to see Tim's cousin, Kurt, and his wife Presley, but his cousin was out of town. We enjoyed visiting with Presley, who was very patient with Rebekah getting into everything and chasing her cat around the house. We went to Knoxville to visit with Tim's parents for a few days. Rebekah enjoyed her 'ma ga' and 'pa ga', as well as getting to see Uncle Chris, Gabby, and Machale. One afternoon, we went to speak with the pastor of Tim's old church about our trip to Ghana. We also had lunch with one of Tim's high school friends, Sarah Brobst.Next, we were off to Newport, TN,
The next day we stopped in Asheville to have breakfast with our friend Katie Willett. We met Katie and Dwight, her husband, during residency in Fort Worth. Katie was even present during Rebekah's first steps. They moved to Spruce Pine, NC this past summer for a job. Katie was kind enough to drive down to meet us, but sadly Dwight was out of town. We enjoyed our coffee and bagels, along with catching up. Rebekah was especially surprised by Charlie, the Willett's dog. She continues to ask about Charlie, Katie and Dwight.
After breakfast, we were off to Charleston for a wedding. Our friends from medical school, Shubin and Rebecca, were getting married in Folly Beach. We actually arrived early to the 6pm wedding, only because we thought it started at 5pm. Being early worked out wonderfully. This was the first time Rebekah had ever been to a beach. She had so much fun running through the tides with Tim. We enjoyed the lovely wedding on the beach at sunset. It was picture perfect. It was also fun to see our friends, Shubin, Rebecca, and Eric.
We left the next day to visit with Lori's grandmother in Georgia. Rebekah was not only able to enjoy the company of her great grandmother, but she learned the joys of rubber bands and suckers.
Sadly, our vacation came to an end that next day. We drove to Atlanta and, after a couple delays, flew home to DFW. Our church friend, Kevin, was kind enough to come pick us up from the airport. The following day, we returned to our typical lives.
We are so thankful to all our friends and family who took the time out of their busy schedules to spend time with us and were generous to let us stay in their homes. We love and will miss all of you! God has blessed us to allow each of you to be in our lives. This was our first set of goodbyes, so it is beginning to seem real that we will be leaving in about 5 months.
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