As you celebrated Thanksgiving (remember, it is an American holiday only), I hope each one of you thought of all the ways God has blessed the USA, and the reason behind it. America is what it is because its foundation was on the moral beliefs of the Bible; and our freedoms, for which we especially rejoice during this season, should be cherished as a gift from God. Like the Pilgrims, let us thank God for all that we have.
From the other side of the world-
Shannon...in India
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Final Events at Home
We weren't done meeting people. We held two more parties, each having about 60 people at it! At first when he arrived, Jayakar teased me that we didn't have any friends. However, he informed me after our parties that he had changed his opinion on that and thinks we have a lot! A big thanks to Kevin Peterson and some of his kids- they hold the record for coming the distance to see us, all the way from New York (and he came all that way to help Dad and Jayakar shingle)!
Dad and Jayakar got right to work on shingling after our return home, and with some help from Uncle Bob, got it done!
We had a couple dinners with other couples, relaxed around the house, traveled with Dad a bit, and enjoyed the countryside. Jayakar had some more firsts- shooting a gun, riding a horse (a big thanks to Michelle for giving Jayakar the chance!), seeing fall color, and visiting the dentist . He loved walking around our field, and using Grandpa Hill's binoculars to look for wildlife.
A trip to the Williams area to visit Grandpa's farm and gravesite worked out as well. Mom was able to tell Jayakar about some of her growing up things, as well as collect a few more items before the final sale of all the property. Doug and family also came for the day, so we had one more visit with them.
On 8 Nov, we flew out of Chicago, and got to Visak two days later. I believe it's harder to fly from the US to India than it is to fly from India to the US, simply because of the way the hours of travel work. Anyway, I'm glad my next trip to the US is a one-way affair!!
Dad and Jayakar got right to work on shingling after our return home, and with some help from Uncle Bob, got it done!We had a couple dinners with other couples, relaxed around the house, traveled with Dad a bit, and enjoyed the countryside. Jayakar had some more firsts- shooting a gun, riding a horse (a big thanks to Michelle for giving Jayakar the chance!), seeing fall color, and visiting the dentist . He loved walking around our field, and using Grandpa Hill's binoculars to look for wildlife.
A trip to the Williams area to visit Grandpa's farm and gravesite worked out as well. Mom was able to tell Jayakar about some of her growing up things, as well as collect a few more items before the final sale of all the property. Doug and family also came for the day, so we had one more visit with them.On 8 Nov, we flew out of Chicago, and got to Visak two days later. I believe it's harder to fly from the US to India than it is to fly from India to the US, simply because of the way the hours of travel work. Anyway, I'm glad my next trip to the US is a one-way affair!!
Our Big Trip
Wed-Thurs, 19-20 Sept: This was the start of our big West Trip. We got to have dinner and spend a few hours with Mom's brother Doug, and that was a great time. Then Jayakar got to experience his first LOOOOONG day in the car, as we drove to Rapid City, SD. Our biggest memory there: Dad stuffing us with a take-out meal from Outback. We made the mistake of sending him alone to get the food...and he thought he was feeding an army! (He's such a sweetie- we love you, Dad...but you do have that sign on your forehead 'Pick On Me'. )
Fri, 21 Sept: We headed across the Bighorn mountains to Thermopolis, WY, for the night. Jayakar was impressed with the size of the mountains- though the Tetons the next day were where he went, "Wow!" We enjoyed a hike that evening around some very active hot springs (they turned out to be much better than Mammoth in Yellowstone).
Sat, 22 Sept: After a day in the Tetons, including a hike that, for us city kids, was a real killer, we headed for a night in Cody, WY. On the way we saw our first-ever grizzly! He was a big guy- and was snoozing in the bushes till 30 people looking at him made him move. For a moment we were all pretty ready to leap into our cars, but he just moved further into the riverbank shrubs, and was lost to our view. Still- we got a good look at his head and size- I'm really glad he was content to stay in the bushes!!
Sun, 23 Sept: This was the day we spent at Yellowstone, seeing all the major sights- blue pools, geysers (among them Old Faithful), mud pots, fumaroles, Yellowstone Falls, Mammoth Hot Springs (which was almost completely inactive), and several bison and large elk to boot. (None of the wildlife in the park compared to the three huge bison we saw in a little town as we started our day. They were great- snorting, running, and playfully challenging each other, all within a few feet of our car. It was quite exciting!) It became quite cloudy and rainy as the day wore on, and Yellowstone is clearly remembered as the place that we froze. We enjoyed it, but were quite happy to reach our hotel in Bozeman, MT, that evening.
Mon-Tues, 24-25 Sept: On our way to Aunt Sue's for a couple days we encountered snow on a pass by Bozeman. Now, this was Jayakar's first time, so we pulled over and he had a lesson in how to make snowballs from Dad. (No one had to teach him how to use them, though .) When we got to Sue's, the weather was right to go out on Flathead Lake. Jayakar got a lesson in deep-sea fishing, and he caught us two good-sized lake trout (which we had for supper the following night); Jayakar did the fishing, Dad did the netting! The next day we just 'hung out' with Sue, relaxing and enjoying a day of NOT being in the car! I was excited that things worked out so well, because within a couple weeks, Jayakar had met all my Dad's immediate family members. How special!
Wed-Fri, 26-28 Sept: We had another long day in the car, but reached Tacoma, WA at a reasonable time. For the next three days we relaxed with Ellie and her family, enjoying the boys. Since Ellie is pregnant with their third, and is due only one month before me, we compared notes on being pregnant- a first, and something quite fun to finally be able to do . We were also very happy that Lena could join us.
Sat-Sun, 29-30 Sept: We took our leisurely time getting started from Ellie's but finally got off. We had planned to spend the next couple nights camping on the coast- but it turned out we had arrived to experience a very COLD North Pacific coast. We ended up getting hotels in Florence, OR, and Fortuna, CA. In between those two nights, we drove the Old Redwood Hy. What amazing trees! (By the way, we didn’t camp once the whole trip- just hauled all the stuff around!)
Mon-Tues, 1-2 Oct: En route to San Francisco, where we spent time with Jayakar's Uncle Solomon, we stopped and toured a vineyard. That was so much fun, seeing all the manicured grapevines, and tasting the grapes (hard to believe that wine comes from such sweet things). We had a fun lunch in Sausalito before proceeding to Solomon's house, where we received a warm welcome. We spent the evening talking about the Lord and important matters, and meeting Solomon's son, Darwin. The next day we did all the Frisco stuff- cable cars, subway, Fisherman's Wharf, Lombard Street, etc. Then we spent the evening at Nazarene's (another cousin) house.
Wed-Thurs, 3-4 Oct: Since we were headed to see Jayakar's sister Joanna, we left fairly early. It was really fun, because Jayakar's parents, Prabhudas and Samadanam, had just arrived from India to see their daughter and her new baby boy, so we had a good time visiting them, also. It gave us the perfect opportunity to tell them in person that we also are expecting a baby. They were very excited. Joanna looked very good, and little baby Vijay was doing quite well also. It was so fun to hold a tiny baby! It was a quiet couple days around their apartment, other than a quick trip to meet Jayakar's boss, Rob, at the Pasadena Cramster.com office. We really enjoyed our time in LA.
Fri, 5 Oct: Originally we were going to head from LA to Tucson. Jayakar has lots of relatives there, but as the final days of the trip progressed, I became more and more exhausted, and we finally decided to let visiting the SW wait for another trip. We left Joanna's late, since we only had to make it to Las Vegas for the night. We did some brisk walking that evening to see the lights, and were surprised at how cold it was. (To the very end of the trip we were all still friends- and kids at heart!)
Sat, 6 Oct: We were even more surprised when we encountered a snow storm in southern Utah the following day. Jayakar got to see a real blizzard for a bit! Thankfully the roads stayed good, and we reached Grand Junction, CO for the night without a problem.
Sun, 7 Oct: Dad was a bit worried about what weather we would have going over the big mountains of Colorado, but God gave us a beautiful final day with blue skies and decent temps. We spent the evening with Aunt Gaynelle (now Jayakar had met all the immediate relatives on both sides of the family). As the evening progressed, the decision was reached to drive through the night to get home. So about 11:00 pm, we headed off on the long drive to Iowa. Every one of us was extremely glad to reach home after 21 days and 6520 miles of vacation!
Fri, 21 Sept: We headed across the Bighorn mountains to Thermopolis, WY, for the night. Jayakar was impressed with the size of the mountains- though the Tetons the next day were where he went, "Wow!" We enjoyed a hike that evening around some very active hot springs (they turned out to be much better than Mammoth in Yellowstone).
Sat, 22 Sept: After a day in the Tetons, including a hike that, for us city kids, was a real killer, we headed for a night in Cody, WY. On the way we saw our first-ever grizzly! He was a big guy- and was snoozing in the bushes till 30 people looking at him made him move. For a moment we were all pretty ready to leap into our cars, but he just moved further into the riverbank shrubs, and was lost to our view. Still- we got a good look at his head and size- I'm really glad he was content to stay in the bushes!!Sun, 23 Sept: This was the day we spent at Yellowstone, seeing all the major sights- blue pools, geysers (among them Old Faithful), mud pots, fumaroles, Yellowstone Falls, Mammoth Hot Springs (which was almost completely inactive), and several bison and large elk to boot. (None of the wildlife in the park compared to the three huge bison we saw in a little town as we started our day. They were great- snorting, running, and playfully challenging each other, all within a few feet of our car. It was quite exciting!) It became quite cloudy and rainy as the day wore on, and Yellowstone is clearly remembered as the place that we froze. We enjoyed it, but were quite happy to reach our hotel in Bozeman, MT, that evening.Mon-Tues, 24-25 Sept: On our way to Aunt Sue's for a couple days we encountered snow on a pass by Bozeman. Now, this was Jayakar's first time, so we pulled over and he had a lesson in how to make snowballs from Dad. (No one had to teach him how to use them, though .) When we got to Sue's, the weather was right to go out on Flathead Lake. Jayakar got a lesson in deep-sea fishing, and he caught us two good-sized lake trout (which we had for supper the following night); Jayakar did the fishing, Dad did the netting! The next day we just 'hung out' with Sue, relaxing and enjoying a day of NOT being in the car! I was excited that things worked out so well, because within a couple weeks, Jayakar had met all my Dad's immediate family members. How special!Wed-Fri, 26-28 Sept: We had another long day in the car, but reached Tacoma, WA at a reasonable time. For the next three days we relaxed with Ellie and her family, enjoying the boys. Since Ellie is pregnant with their third, and is due only one month before me, we compared notes on being pregnant- a first, and something quite fun to finally be able to do . We were also very happy that Lena could join us.Sat-Sun, 29-30 Sept: We took our leisurely time getting started from Ellie's but finally got off. We had planned to spend the next couple nights camping on the coast- but it turned out we had arrived to experience a very COLD North Pacific coast. We ended up getting hotels in Florence, OR, and Fortuna, CA. In between those two nights, we drove the Old Redwood Hy. What amazing trees! (By the way, we didn’t camp once the whole trip- just hauled all the stuff around!)
Mon-Tues, 1-2 Oct: En route to San Francisco, where we spent time with Jayakar's Uncle Solomon, we stopped and toured a vineyard. That was so much fun, seeing all the manicured grapevines, and tasting the grapes (hard to believe that wine comes from such sweet things). We had a fun lunch in Sausalito before proceeding to Solomon's house, where we received a warm welcome. We spent the evening talking about the Lord and important matters, and meeting Solomon's son, Darwin. The next day we did all the Frisco stuff- cable cars, subway, Fisherman's Wharf, Lombard Street, etc. Then we spent the evening at Nazarene's (another cousin) house.Wed-Thurs, 3-4 Oct: Since we were headed to see Jayakar's sister Joanna, we left fairly early. It was really fun, because Jayakar's parents, Prabhudas and Samadanam, had just arrived from India to see their daughter and her new baby boy, so we had a good time visiting them, also. It gave us the perfect opportunity to tell them in person that we also are expecting a baby. They were very excited. Joanna looked very good, and little baby Vijay was doing quite well also. It was so fun to hold a tiny baby! It was a quiet couple days around their apartment, other than a quick trip to meet Jayakar's boss, Rob, at the Pasadena Cramster.com office. We really enjoyed our time in LA.Fri, 5 Oct: Originally we were going to head from LA to Tucson. Jayakar has lots of relatives there, but as the final days of the trip progressed, I became more and more exhausted, and we finally decided to let visiting the SW wait for another trip. We left Joanna's late, since we only had to make it to Las Vegas for the night. We did some brisk walking that evening to see the lights, and were surprised at how cold it was. (To the very end of the trip we were all still friends- and kids at heart!)Sat, 6 Oct: We were even more surprised when we encountered a snow storm in southern Utah the following day. Jayakar got to see a real blizzard for a bit! Thankfully the roads stayed good, and we reached Grand Junction, CO for the night without a problem.Sun, 7 Oct: Dad was a bit worried about what weather we would have going over the big mountains of Colorado, but God gave us a beautiful final day with blue skies and decent temps. We spent the evening with Aunt Gaynelle (now Jayakar had met all the immediate relatives on both sides of the family). As the evening progressed, the decision was reached to drive through the night to get home. So about 11:00 pm, we headed off on the long drive to Iowa. Every one of us was extremely glad to reach home after 21 days and 6520 miles of vacation!
First Days in Iowa
Sat-Sun, 15-16 Sept: We headed up to Waverly, seeing Mom's sister, Marcia, and her family, and getting to meet Grandpa and Grandma (and others). We also had a meeting of friends from Waverly Fellowship days, and Jayakar got to experience his first bonfire and tractor/wagon ride (thanks Bill and Sandy)! Then on Sun we had a big family get-together for many on the Juhl side. Aunt Peg even flew down from Alaska just to meet us! No, we didn't make Jayakar do a quiz on names or who's who.
Thurs, 13 Sept: Our trip over was long, but we were able to function, and never seemed to suffer jet-lag. Unbelievably, we arrived in Chicago one hour early!, and that enabled us to finish our work at the Indian consulate and go home rather than staying overnight in Chicago. Getting home that first night was a real blessing from God. We even got home in time to see the house in the daylight, and take Jayakar on his first country truck ride, and watch the sunset!!First days: Jayakar started learning how to do several things during our first days home, such as using a mower and driving American-style (on the country roads ). Dad also took him to his first store- Menards, of course! It was great fun to show him around- things in America are so different from India.
Rio and Rambo
As we prepare for our permanent move to the States, selling the dogs was one of our biggest concerns. But with our God, we need have no fear. We had a couple people come and look at them, and they even said they were going to buy- but they didn't come to pay when they said they would. Then, after our morning prayer- with a special request about a good home for the dogs soon- a man called for us from the gate. Jayakar went out and talked with him. Turns out one of our neighbors wanted to know how much we were asking for the dogs.Within a short time we were visited by the family. They decided to take them within moments, having seen the dogs behavior over the past months as we walked and played with them. What an answer to prayer! I can't tell you how concerned I've been that they would end up in a cage all their lives, or used for wholesale breeding. But instead God sent us a well-to-do family with a girl that has wanted a Rottweiler for a long time, and my dogs will be pampered pets! The family wanted to take them both so they could continue to be companions for each other. I couldn't ask for a more ideal situation- and it's ALL from the Lord. Within half-an-hour of that morning prayer, the dogs were sold to the perfect family situation and we had the cash in hand. Receiving the money like that was also a SHOCKING thing. God is SOOOO good.
Welcome!
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Welcome to our blog site! Instead of bombarding you with massive e-mails, I will send short updates from time to time with my blog address so you can view many pictures and stories at your leisure. I hope you enjoy this new form of finding out about the Oguri Family!
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