In my last post, I wrote about the joys of the first part of our USA trip, the wedding and surrounding days. (Click here to read it – A Month of Joy – Part One.) Here are some photos of the second half of our trip. NOTE: At the bottom of this post, I’ve shared a few current and pressing prayer requests.
After the wedding, we were incredibly blessed to be able to spend time with many dear friends and family members. On the Monday after the wedding, the owner of the air B and B we were staying in out of the blue offered us the use of another property she had. We spent a glorious day in the sun using the pool and private lake! Swimming, kayaking, fishing, playing games and eating good food made it such a sweet day to remember.
Our next stop after staying in the air B and B with our extended family was Noah’s parent’s house! What a joy to connect with these dear people. We had lots of good conversations – serious and humorous! We truly feel like the Mozingos are our family now. The Lord has knitted our families and our hearts together in love.
The wedding, time with Noah’s family and the time with his church family were all so rich and meaningful. Peter spoke at Noah’s church the last Sunday we were there and we felt such a warm connection with these brothers and sisters. Lord willing, we’ll be back one day to reconnect with them all!
Our next mini-stop on our travels was Chicago. While we were in the Chicago area, Peter and I celebrated our 24th anniversary and my 46th birthday. Amazingly one of my aunt’s friends blessed us with the use of her 42nd floor apartment in downtown Chicago the night of our anniversary. It was incredible. Peter and I kept saying to each other that we couldn’t believe we were actually staying in a place like this!
The next day was my birthday and my aunt and all the Meadlings (minus Hannah – well she’s not technically a Mead anymore!) came down to meet us in Chicago. We played a game in the apartment, went out for pizza and finished the day by singing worship songs together in the apartment, watching the sky grow dark and all the city lights come on.
Next on our agenda was a road trip (only 1500 miles round trip!) to see my mom’s extended family in Minnesota and North Dakota. We had not seen any of them for 11 years! Again, it was such a precious time with everyone.
After our long road trip, we landed back in the Chicago area and stayed with my aunt Carol. Those days included playing baseball in her yard, playing pickleball nearby, going for walks, having a water fight, playing school, spending time with Aliyah and trying to catch up on laundry! On the Sunday, Peter spoke at two Moody Church Sunday School classes and then did an evening service at another church. Busy days!
My heart is just overwhelmed thinking about God’s abundant blessings to us! So many undeserved gifts from the Lord. We are so grateful to him for all his kindness. Every good and perfect gift is from Him!
Life has been full since we returned to Chippenham. It’s been wonderful to be back home with our church family. The older 5 kids attended/helped lead Trinity’s youth weekend away. Peter has preached every Sunday and has finished the first draft of his latest book which I’ve been editing. We’ve also been busy helping Hannah and Noah settle into the cottage they are renting and also planning their ceilidh reception which was last Saturday. We all wore our wedding clothes and it was really sweet to celebrate with our English family and friends. We’re so happy to have them living here in Chippenham.
This past week has been a pretty intense one as Peter’s dad has been in hospital since last Sunday. Initially things weren’t looking good for him but he’s improved so much since then. It’s been an emotional week for all of us, especially for Peter and his mum. We are so grateful Dad seems to be getting better. We would appreciate prayer for him as he hopefully comes home from hospital this week. And prayer for us for strength and wisdom as we support them both.
Lastly, on Friday, Peter, Aliyah, Mariah, Joel and Kaylah are off on a mission trip to Albania with a team from Trinity Chippenham. We’d very much appreciate prayer for them and also for Jessah and me as we hold down the fort at home and support Peter’s parents. I’d especially appreciate prayer for no migraines while they are all away. I have had more frequent migraines since we returned, including a severe one last Sunday. We also have some illness in the house at the moment, so would you pray with us that everyone will be healthy to travel to Albania on Friday?
We hope to send out a short email update very soon with specific prayer requests for Albania the team. So watch your inbox for that! Thanks so much for reading to the end of this long post. We are so grateful for each of you and for all of your prayers for us! Thank you from our hearts for partnering with us.