Our time and travels in the US continue to be exciting, and God is good!  We've covered 6 States and met dozens of new friends, and introduced Alyssa to family she never knew she had.

This trip has covered the highs and lows of US and family life, work and connections.  We participated in my father's wedding to Wanda, a lovely and wonderful new addition to the Fountain family, in Fresno.  While there, my daughter finally met my sister Donna, her cousin Carrie and family.  We saw Yosemite National Park, Kings Canyon and the fat Sequoia grove, San Francisco, the tall Redwoods in Northern California, and the gorgeous Oregon Coast.  We spent a few days on the Oregon coast, the only time we were truly 'off' during this 8 weeks.

Doug attended a conference of the Society for College and University Planning in Portland, making many new friends and getting lots of ideas to assist in his work as Director of Planning at UCU.  Alyssa and JoEllyn traveled to Seattle to visit a University.

We reunited with JoEllyn's brother Jeff and his family, and visited JoEllyn's ailing mother and husband.  It has been years since we really spoke with Jeff, JoEllyn's brother.  After we returned to the East Coast, JoEllyn's mother slipped further in health and died on Monday, 17 August.  JoEllyn was able to return and be there with the family near the end of mom's life.   

On the East Coast, we spent time with our Truro staff and parishioners and heard of many things stirring in the parish.  We connected with a Reformed church in Fairfax and made new friends there.   We've now visited with loads of friends, old contacts and others in the Fairfax area.

We also traveled to Pennsylvania to meet our mission agency and some friends and supporters in the Pittsburgh area.  

And we shopped.  We shopped for our selves and our friends, took care of both necessities and some nice things. 

Mostly, we shared our lives and mission with people who are interested and who love us and what we do.  We are blessed to have been in the US.