Pictures - Ouch : (

I just looked through our blog after posting my post 5 minutes ago and saw 3 or 4 pictures of our home in Washington. Ouch, that hurt! I'm glad we are gone but we don't have a home now and our babies were all born there. We had a settled life there. We're not settled now and it seemed so strange but painful to see those pictures. I don't think I will look at those pictures for a good, long time until we are settled into a new home. : (

Pennsylvania

We are now in Lewistown, Pennsylvania. We will be heading towards Amish Country tomorrow to see if it is a place we would like to call home. Kentucky was as fast paced and self centered as Washington State with no Southern hospitality that we could see. Here in Pennsylvania which is a State we have looked at and looked at again and again for over three years, it is the most gorgeous State we have ever seen. And it's Winter now! The homes in our price range out do Kentucky by miles. You can buy a 5+ bedroom farm home with good acreage and a barn - a gorgeous home, for a good price here. The State is very, very clean compared to Kentucky where they had junk cars and garbage, etc... every few homes it seemed. Matthew and I both feel we could find a home here and settle in quite well. Though the home schooling laws are one of the most extensive on the testing, etc.... we have come to the decision that that does not take precedence over a good place to live anymore. Anyways, I have a friend who lives in Amish Country whom I talked with last night and it sounds like such a good place to live as we share many of the beliefs of the people there... the Anabaptists and the Mennonites though the Mennonites may not accept us because of our past of marriage before, which is sad because we repented and came to the marriage alter pure. A church should focus on where one is today, not where one was yesterday. Jesus accepted ones who murdered but repented and did right all their days thereafter.

It sounds like many in those Counties considered Amish country work from their homes, which is what we will continue doing once we settle.... selling eggs, chickens, etc... I would love to learn how to make cheese one day. I hope we can find community there and some people to fellowship with. If Amish country is not where we feel the Lord wants us, we will very likely stay in Pennsylvania. I hope to have some maple trees on our property so we can tap them for making syrup. I love the four seasons and would anticipate each season with joy.

The kids are doing wonderful! They have adjusted to their new schedule. We have adjoining rooms here at Motel 8 and everybody is asleep but me. I am so glad to be here. I really think we will be settling down here. I hope so. We may be looking at a couple of homes in Newport and Fannettsburg. I'll see about taking some pictures. Goodnight.

Heading to Kentucky

We have gone through much of the Eastern side of Kansas and our hearts are just not here. They have gone back to the beginning, the small farming communities we found a couple of years ago in Southern Kentucky. Our truck is out of commission and we have decided it best for Matthew to buy another good, used truck so we can finish our drive. We are in Holton Kansas right now at the Red Roof Inn with adjoining rooms for only around $350.0o a week, we are pleased. We stayed at Value Place in Topeka and found it to be filthy... I found a dead cockroach in the kitchen drawer. I'll spare the rest of the details. I bought another camera and will post pictures sometime later when we have the time. Anyways, it looks like we'll be heading through Missouri tomorrow and into Kentucky the following day. Please pray for our travels. It's been very hard on us all but not terrible. We have all of our needs provided for. And the pregnancy is going well. I'm just starting to feel sick. : )

We're in Kansas

We arrived 2 nights ago. Our camera is lost and I believe it is in an Arizona rest stop, but that's okay. I think it's God's way of showing us we don't need to see our journey here so much but where we are now. We are staying in a short term residence/hotel called Value Place. It will do for now. We looked at the home yesterday and it was not what we thought it to be. We will be looking at two homes today in Emporia to rent month to month for now so we can have our belongings sent there from Washington. The truck leaves our old residence today as a matter of fact. The kids are doing very well under the circumstances. I am very excited about our future and just so glad to be gone from Aberdeen and to be here. People are so much more courteous, respectful and kind outside of Washington. It will do us good for our souls. I'll try to pick up a cheap camera here in the next day or two. Thank you for your prayers of safety... I'll share more later.