The AMewesing Times
Christmas 2014
Merry Christmas, beloved friends and family! What a year we have had! Jonathan turned 13 and is officially a teenager. He’s still our sweet, helpful boy, and we are hopeful he will stay that way through the teen years. Caroline turned 11 and now has an email address. Please write her – she loves to have email! Victoria turned eight, so her milestone was getting her ears pierced. She’s thrilled – one more way she can be like her big sister. Peter turned 16 and got his driver’s permit. Pray for us all, will you?! Ha, ha – no, really. Tim is, so far, still gainfully employed, for which we are tremendously thankful. I am still at home, home-schooling the kids and keeping house.
While many
things happened this year, the highlight has to be our cross-country trip. We had talked for several years about
visiting my grandparents in Oregon, and this year we decided to just do
it. We were on the road a total of 24
days! We started by driving to Niagara
Falls and riding the Maid of the Mist.
We then found our campsite…oh, did I mention that we had never camped
before? Caroline was especially
apprehensive about sleeping outside, but it turned out to be quite fun! The next day we drove to Indiana Dunes, on
Lake Michigan. Beautiful! Chicago was our next stop. We went to the Museum of Science and
Industry, drove around, saw Wrigley Field, and ate deep-dish pizza. DELICIOUS!
We had a short drive to our next campsite in Wisconsin. The kids swam and that night we found out
that, fortunately, our tent was indeed waterproof! The following afternoon we were in Sioux
Falls, South Dakota, where we poked around the falls (not as big as Niagara,
but quite pretty!). We drove to Mt.
Rushmore (so cool!!) the next day, and attempted to camp overnight at Devils
Tower, Wyoming, but a storm blew up – a BIG one. We ended up driving (during that awful storm)
to a hotel that night. The next day we
set up camp for TWO nights in Yellowstone National Park. It was COLD.
We woke up to 33 degrees.
Brrrrr. The kids, however, were
great. They were more than willing to
deal with the cold for the AMAZING things we saw – buffalo, bear, trumpeter
swan, Old Faithful, “mud pot” geysers, cool geothermic formations, elk, deer,
eagles. God’s handiwork was loudly
proclaimed in that place.
The next stop
was Oregon! We stayed five nights,
playing games, going to Mt. St. Helens, the Oregon coast, the Columbia River
Gorge, Multnomah Falls, a HUGE bookstore, and thrift stores! Tim flew home from there, while the kids and
I continued to Mt. Shasta, California.
The boys set up the tent by themselves, the girls set up the inside, and
I made dinner. The kids were great –
have I mentioned that yet? Next day was
full of fun – In-and-Out Burger, driving up and down Lombard Street (!!!), over
the Golden Gate Bridge, and into Monterey.
I took them to the aquarium, which they LOVED, and the next day we poked
around the neighborhood where we used to live, drove down to Pacific Grove to
see where the monarchs congregate (although they weren’t there then), saw seals
and otters, and ate at Compango’s. Best sandwiches ever! Then down to Sequoia National Park. I tried to go to Yosemite, but went to the
wrong entrance, so we had to skip it to go straight to Sequoia. Oh, and
something you should know is that starting in Yellowstone, we had to wear
different clothes into the tent than we wore to eat, to keep bears away from
the tents. Yes, bears. No food, toiletries, nothing that had an
odor, was allowed in the tent, ever.
It’s harder than you might think!
Anyway, after
Sequoia and seeing General Sherman, that HUGE tree (oh, and a black bear), we
drove to Murietta to see Tim’s sister, Heidi.
The next day was….DISNEYLAND! Oh
my gosh, we had a great time!! We were
sad to leave the next day, but had to hit the road. We drove through Las Vegas (while listening
to Elvis singing, “Viva, Las Vegas”),
then over the Hoover Dam, through the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, and
into the Grand Canyon. Another thing –
we were now out of bear country. Now we
just had to worry about rattlesnakes and scorpions, but we could take food into
the tent. Good thing – because it
started thundering as the boys were setting up the tent and I was cooking. We just tossed everything in there and got in
just as it started to rain! Next day, we
went to see the Meteor Crater and then to Albuquerque, New Mexico to visit with
some dear friends. The following day had
a stop in Abilene, Texas to visit with MORE dear friends! We stopped in Hot Springs, Arkansas the next
day. On to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, and a
cave tour and the next day – HOME!! We
were so glad to see Tim, the pets….and to have a lovely, hot, long,
shower!! It took us an hour to empty the
car, and two days to do the laundry, but it was worth it!
We
talked a lot about our trip and we all felt the enormity of God during those 24
days. So many times we confine God to an
hour on Sunday, or a few minutes of prayer before dinner. God is so much bigger than that. SO much bigger than we realize, yet He made
Himself small to come to us as a baby.
He kept His glory confined in a human body to die on the cross for us,
and then He released His glory when He rose again, so we too could have eternal
life. He died the death He did not
deserve, so that we could live the eternal life we don’t deserve.
Amazing grace.
We pray that you
know God’s love, mercy, grace, and peace this Christmas. He loves you.
We love you. Thank you for your
friendship, your prayers, your love. You
are important to us and we are so glad you are in our lives.
Love,
The Mewes
family
P.S. Let me know if you'd like email addresses for the kids - I don't just want to post them on the internet!!
P.S. Let me know if you'd like email addresses for the kids - I don't just want to post them on the internet!!
