193 – On to Niagara Falls

June 1986

We stopped in Denton, TX, to see my sweet 94 year old Christian aunt, in a rest home there. She thought we had more children and kept looking for them! It was hard for me to leave Aunt Harriet, knowing I would not see her again.

Dan surprised us by pulling in to a Ramada Inn, having decided it might be better to quit the day early rather than drive for 4 more hours as he had planned. Stevie prayed: “Lord, please get us an apartment and help us not to be rowdy.” The price was right–$38– and a swimming pool– with a restaurant and a Laundromat on the next block. Working though the mound of laundry took us till 8:15 pm. While the clothes were washing, Dan and Daniel went to get some dinner for us. They came back with deep-fried catfish and chicken nuggets. It tasted so good Dan went back for more. Our reward was a swim! Tim played with his raft from Auntie Bev, and the other boys took turns jumping off the edge of the pool into our arms, kicking wildly.

We started out early the next day after devotions and prayer together. There was a big cross in the sky which we watched turn pink with the sunrise. We called on God for all our needs—strength, refreshment, safety, good attitude. We laid ALL of our fears before Him.

On day 10, as we entered Chicago area, Mark piped up, “It’s a glory to God that we get to move, huh, Mom?”

Dan’s mom, Beth, who the boys called Bebo, had carefully thought out how we would spend our time with her. In the morning we took the train into downtown Chicago to see GrampAl at his job at Harza where he was an engineer. We went to the top of the Sears Tower, the tallest building in the world at that time. We loaded into two taxi cabs and went to the Chicago Institute of Art. We visited a hands-on area for children as well as exhibits in Arms and Armor, the American West, and a paperweight collection! Excellent, fun, interesting, stimulating. On the way home we let the boys spread out in the train car and sit where they wanted. The next day we went to a dairy and had ice cream sundaes for lunch!

In the account book journal I wrote down funny or insightful comments by the boys and Tim and Steve took turns doing art work about the sights and the bugs. I planned to attach photos and scenic folders or postcards, but that did not happen. Several years later I used the account book and my journals and wrote a 91-page book about our 2½ years in Livonia, NY. I had it spiral bound at Office Depot. We included 27 pages of photographs of family highlights and we gave one to each boy for Christmas that year.

We continued on our journey, going north through Indiana and Michigan and into Ontario, Canada. We stopped at Niagara Falls and took the tram ride up the hill to gawk and stare at the thundering tons of water crashing over the edges of the earth. 

In two hours we would arrive at our new home and the end of this travel experience. God has been faithful every mile of the way.