Well, we say goodbye to our annual 2-week working vacation this morning as we leave Branson, Missouri for the drive back home. Along the way will be conversation, prayers, a few old Jack Benny radio programs, and listening to the final chapters of Anna Sewell's classic, Black Beauty. It has been a very good getaway for us -- eventful, fun, refreshing, productive, and motivational.
Among our favorite moments on this excursion were wonderful times of fellowship with some of my cousins on the Ellsworth side of my family who live down this way, In fact, you see us with David Ellsworth in the top left, Ervin & Alice Ellsworth in the top right, and Gary & Martha Ellsworth in the bottom left.
Other highlights? Feeding the ducks down by Branson Landing on several occasions; the better part of a day spent at Silver Dollar City (thanks to tickets provided by David who is a Project Coordinator there); a few meals at our favorite Branson eateries (especially Farmhouse downtown and The Hungry Hunter out by the Lake); a bit of cheating on our Paleo diets at Sweet Susie’s; reading pleasure novels by Dorothy Sayers and Ngaio Marsh; and a lot of walking, including 90 minutes along Lake Taneycomo, the day's trek up and down the hills of SDC, and six times out doing a full 5.4 “lap” on the Table Rock Lakeside Trail.
Of course, there has been some work also. For instance, I wrote the November LifeSharer down here. We completed a special correspondence project that ended up with postcards sent out to 55 of our Vital Signs friends. We kept up on our social media duties, including the Saturday Top 5 and many responses to questions about the abortion-related amendments on the Nebraska ballot. We have been engaged in a very encouraging study of Psalm 37. And I made solid progress in a new Christmas-related short story.
Now, there have been a few challenges along the way -- dealing with Claire’s ongoing heel pain, my perennial blisters as well as another minor wound, and some car trouble that, at this writing, remains unresolved. But, praise the Lord, we are on our way home and very much looking forward to getting back into our regular routines. Thanks to all of you who lifted up a prayer to the father in our behalf.
