Our first stop was to see my great-aunt Ruth. On all of my trips north and south between my California home and my Washington home, this has been our halfway stop. This time we spent an extra day in order to actually spend time with my extended family. Aunt Ruth is one of the most welcoming, down-to-earth people you will ever meet. I love spending time with her! We were also able to see some of my extended family during a meal Aunt Ruth hosted at her house. It was a treasured time in a place that I've been many times, but rarely am able to stay longer.
The Jelly Belly factory was only a short detour from our planned path south, so, of course, we decided to stop! It was such a fun adventure being able to see the process of making the candy, trying the jelly beans at a couple different stages of production, and observing all of the different flavor options. We both really wanted to buy a bag of Belly Flops, jelly beans that don't quite make the cut, but resisted in order to save money. Instead we sampled a few flavors and took our memories with us. :)
In order to break the length of driving and to be close enough to Santa Barbara to meet my family in time, we wanted to stay with one more person on the way down. Many of our options fell through. We made one last contact to a Biola friend that we had gotten to know better through our former roommate. She had room and was available for us to stay! Little did we know that God perfectly timed it for us to be there exactly at a time when she needed our encouragement. Ahhh I love how God works in the smallest details!
Then it was time for us to spend time with our individual families for Thanksgiving. Wow...had we really come this far?!
No comments:
Post a Comment