The Great White North_4th of July Trip

PART 1:

We were very blessed to have Angie's dad fund a trip up to MN/ND over the fourth of July.  This is a childhood tradition for Angie as her extended family gathers at her grandparents lake house for a mini-reunion over the holiday weekend.  We were so excited to introduce Eley to the family, for our girls to have fun cousin play time and to enjoy a week relaxing and unplugged (no wifi is a good thing).   Below are some pictures of the week.

 Cady Learning to Fish

 Grandpa Brad with Angie's sister Shaina and all four grandchildren

 Eley's First Boat Ride

 Grandpa Brad and his grandkids

 Great Grandpa Noren and Great Grandma Audrey with 15 of the 19 great grandchildren

Maddie's prize fish

We love the Meland side of the family so much and were blessed to remember the legacy of faith led by the family patriarch Noren Meland.  We look forward to joining everyone again next summer and building lake side memories with our own children.  

PART 2:

One exciting part of this trip was that we got to reunite with Pastor Denny Neels and his wife Sue, the pastor Bobby served with in Alaska.   Our good friends retired and moved to Niagara, ND a town just 15 minutes from Angie's family's hometown of Northwood, ND.   It is incredible to see how God continues to use connections made from years back as Pastor Denny's church in Niagara (St. Andrews) has been supporting us during our time at Seminary.  We were able to spend the night at the Neels farm house, catch up, introduce them to our girls and eat a wonderful halibut meal just like years ago in Alaska.  Bobby was also able to preach at St Andrews and share about our time at seminary.  It was an uplifting visit and a true blessing.  

As we drove home from this trip we couldn't help but reflect on the incredible story of our lives, where we have come from and where we are going.  Sometimes Seminary can feel bit lonely as people are coming and going quickly but this trip was a reminder that people often come back into our lives and that though far away, our families carry an incredible legacy of faith and love.  Our hearts were richly blessed.