hello from Cranberry!

We are really enjoying our road trip so far! We are feeling blessed by the great people God has put into our lives, and by this time to re-connect with many of them. If you're interested in seeing the pics from our road trip, I'll be updating them on my flickr page when I can. (here's the link: road trip photos)

We drove from Apple Valley on Saturday to Chicago. Spent the night with Steve and Susan, he is a former pastor from our home church who now teaches at seminary. (We enjoyed their puppy, Maggie, too! ) We visited their church in Chicago on Sunday morning, and then had a great afternoon in sunshiny Chicago seeing a few of the sights. I went with Dave and Jacob on the Navy Pier ferris wheel, despite my fear of rides and heights it was a gorgeous view.

We spent Sunday evening and Monday morning with Mike and Lane and their kids. What a fun family! We haven't seen them for almost 20 years! He is a family counselor After breakfast we set off for the home of one of our Liberian sons, Doco, and spent the afternoon and evening with him, his wife Alison and their darling baby Kiara. That was another special reunion.

Yesterday we drove more than ten hours. We had lunch in Columbus, Ohio, with our Tanquist connections. We work with Mark Tanquist, and my brother is married to Martha Tanquist, so somehow we are all related! Mark and Martha's sister and her husband fed us a wonderful Mediterranean meal. Yumm!

We drove until 8:30 last night where we spent the night with the Carter family in Pennsylvania. Many of you prayed for the Carter girls when they had their cerebral malaria, and we are happy to report that they are in great health and look beautiful.

Please pray for Joey who is having a great time in Northern Ireland, but has injured his wrist. He doesn't have good internet access so we haven't heard an update but we are praying for it to heal quickly!

Decker Update: September 12

Dear family and friends,
Hello from Minnesota! We are enjoying the early fall-like temperatures, and the sunshine, and so many things about being in Minnesota in the fall. One thing we're enjoying is the return to "routine"-- in that we have started up our homeschool again for this semester. However, after a week or two of routine, it's all going to change again... this seems to be the pattern for our lives these days.

September 3: off to N. Ireland

September 3: off to N. Ireland, originally uploaded by MaryD SN-MN.

Today's the day-- Joey's taking off for Northern Ireland where he will spend his first semester of this school year! We are excited for him and look forward to some great pictures in the days ahead.

State Fair crowd

State Fair crowd, originally uploaded by MaryD SN-MN.

We enjoyed being among the MANY Minnesotans who spent time at the Fair!

State Fair: cheese curds!

State Fair: cheese curds!, originally uploaded by MaryD SN-MN.

Joey,Jacob, Dave and I enjoyed our day at the Minnesota State Fair--we miss this annual event when we are in Dakar!

State Fair: all the milk you can drink!

State Fair: all the milk you can drink!, originally uploaded by MaryD SN-MN.

(Joey and Jacob are very tired of getting their pictures taken, but if you look carefully you will see them at the front of the line getting their "all the milk you can drink for $1 at the MN State Fair! ) For Jacob, still living with us in Africa most of the time, it's fun to have fresh milk as opposed to powdered milk!

More State Fair pictures here (on my photo blog) if you're a fan!