The Summer Travelings of the Chilton Clan... or The Story of Lots and Lots of Road Time

Ceilidh Meadows Farm

What an amazing blessing God gave us by providing all we  needed to fly to the U.S., drive around, and visit so much of our family. We are grateful to Him and those he prompted to give so we could be there for Daniel's graduation from Marine Corps Boot Camp.

One sweet (rental) ride.

An overview of our weeks there and  few pictures....

Lori and the four younger children arrived in Maryland in late July. We occupied the Hancock's farm in Carroll County. Thanks, Hancocks and Bohmers, for the use of beds and camper space!!!

This was most of our summer.

 We soon traveled south to spend time with Lori's dad and then east to pick up Josiah and back up to the farm. Now, as I'm writing, I realize I didn't take nearly enough pictures! It was good for the younger kids to see Josiah's world there at Cherry Point.

Many of you know that Josiah severely broke his arm on the 2nd of July. Poor Ben, had to call me and tell me they were on their way to the hospital! Please pray for complete healing.

Bang! Bang!

The twins, Caleb and I left Kaiah to be nurse for Josiah and headed off to Ohio for a long weekend visit with friends. Charis enjoyed her first experience shooting a weapon.

A fun reunion with friends in Ohio

We enjoyed seeing Bradley and Melissa off and on throughout the summer even though they had a trip to Honduras in the middle of it all!

Returned from Ohio in the nick of time for a dear friend's wedding

Whew! after much juggling and arranging, Grandma, Uncle Paul, Mom, Dad, Josiah, Kaiah, Caleb, Charis, Channah, and Ben made it to Parris Island for Daniel's graduation. What a scorching hot day for a celebration.

Our Marine Corps graduation tree.

 With Daniel and Ben we headed west to celebrate with Pop on Lookout Mountain. A few days later Kevin went back to Cameroon. And on that day all the kids and I drove back north to Maryland. Kaiah, Caleb, Charis, Channah and I only had a few more days to spend before our flight back to Cameroon. Daniel's leave ended the day before and he made his way on to Camp Lejune for the second part of training. Josiah remained a few more days before heading back to Cherry Point.

All in all it was an incredible time to share with our family and friends.

Stevie enjoyed the ride.

A Most Unique Christmas

How to handle Christmas was a bit of a dilemma this year. We are not interested in acquiring a bunch of toys that quickly break and the children are largely beyond the "new toy" stage of their lives, which basically limits our "toy" type gifts to computer games, which only go so far with our crew. So, rather than break our brains trying to find a bunch of creative gifts, we decided to give our whole family a much needed vacation for Christmas instead. Thank you to relatives who helped with expenses!

We'd never done a holiday vacation before and may never do one again but overall we are happy we went. It was good for us (particularly Lori) to get away from our unfinished house and from Christmas happening in a home without some family members who are greatly missed. It was also good to bless the kids who are here with some time at the beach. It has been a long time since we were able to take a family vacation, so overall, it was a good idea for us to get away.

We'd managed to find a few treasures and a bit of candy to put in the stockings which we enjoyed getting into on Monday before we packed on Tuesday to depart on Wednesday. The drive to Limbe  was, well, let's just say it wasn't the smoothest trip ever. Then, when we finally arrived at our hotel we discovered that they had not kept our reservation as expected. But after we settled on a compromise, vacation improved considerably.

The beach was fabulous, the views were spectacular, the food was good, our bed was comfy and we relaxed. We enjoyed a great buffet dinner for Christmas Eve (which we neither cooked nor cleaned up after!) and got the chance to meet several interesting folks working with the Peace Corp, who were also staying at the hotel over Christmas. We also met a Christian family who runs a restaurant in Limbe and were able to tell them about the work we do here in Cameroon with RFIS; they have been looking (without success) for a good Christian school where they could send their children over the next few years, so meeting with us and learning about our school was a great encouragement to them. God is good!

Here are some pictures that we hope you'll enjoy!

Kaiah - just for fun!

And, thankfully, our drive home was ever so much better than our drive out, and we made it back safely to our very lonely dogs, who were quite happy to see us!

High tide

Low tide - see how the beach stretches on

We pray that you have enjoyed a wonderful celebration of our Savior's birth and have had a blessed start to this new year!

Just a List, Memories added

In honor of my Dad's 80th birthday!! A few of those memories I promised. If you missed the whole blog the first time just read on to the end.


"Do you remember trudging from our house to yours one night during a blizzard. You said you would never do that again. Maybe that was why you decided to move south?????   


Remember the time the van started to drift down the driveway with us kids in it. You jumped in and stopped it! 

We enjoyed many years of camping with Don and Belva. Before the season would start we would go on day trips to scope out out new campgrounds we would like use when the weather warmed up. Don was the driver and Belva, with the help of a campground guidebook, would give Don directions to each campground we wanted to check out. There was no GPS available at the time so Belva had only a map for guidance. At one point she said the next place was 13 miles away and Don drove and he drove and he drove and there was no sign of any campground. After that when we were traveling somewhere we would laugh and say, "Well it's only 13 miles away!"

We finally found the campground up a dirt road, which had a five star rating in the AAA book. The "beach" mentioned in the book was a dirt area on the edge of the pond covered in tree branches. The indoor pool was so green you couldn't see more than a couple of inches into it. Needless to say we did not choose this campground for future use.

Thank you for teaching me to fish and play with worms. It has helped me here in many, many ways.

 

Do you remember this: One Sunday night at church, our Pastor, Mark Pett, decided to change up the hymn singing time. He asked for us to pick a favorite hymn. I raised my hand and asked for 'It is Well With My Soul.' Then he threw the 'curve ball', he told me to come up and lead it. I didn't and still don't sing well- I make a joyful noise to the Lord. I was so embarrassed but went up in front and began to sing. The next thing I know, you were there singing with me. Loved you for rescuing me!  'It is Well With My Soul' is still one of my favorite hymns. 

🎁🎉Happy Birthday Don Bailey!!❤️

I liked the this title so much I just wanted to use the idea again. I've revised this blog from a while ago and added a few memories, some mine and some my friends.
"This is just a list. A list of some of the little things my mom and dad taught me growing up. But most the things on this list have helped me survive 20+ years here in the sun and rain and busyness and beauty of Africa" is what I wrote the first time and today I'll focus the list on things I remember learning specifically from DAD. 

My Mom and Dad taught me...

Grammy and Pop

* how to love - everyone
* camping
* to persevere
* not to be freaked out by mice and roaches
* frugality- research before you purchase
* to be patient and "If you need an answer right now, the answer is 'no'"
* to drive a manual transmission
* to enjoy beauty and the sound of birds
* gardening

So, it is not the most flattering picture but it does portray Pop's patience and love of gardens and children.

* the essential power of prayer
* not to be scared of the dark but to take the opportunity to look at the beauty of the stars instead
* appreciation for the little things
* interest in travel
* to allow kids to be kids and fall out of trees and play soccer in the mud 
 
 * take your time and do it right the first time!

* since Dad played Tuba (or something like one was in our attic during my growing years) and Mom played trumpet I have to assume they were patient while I learned but never mastered music. So I learned to be encouraging and patient as my own kids experiment with and enjoy music.

* appreciation of sports - many and diverse: I remember watching "the Wide World of Sports", bowling, (American) football, golf, pool, Olympic sports of all kinds, and especially BASEBALL!!

*and because the list could go on quite a while, I'll end with the most important of all: to be 100% dedicated to the gospel of Jesus Christ so that others may live.

Yes, I've probably missed quite a few but his memory is still better than mine ever was! (Just ask Peggy or Kara, or my husband or kids.)

And onto a few memories: NO, WAIT a minute! I don't want to spoil the fun for Sunday when his Big Party is. So, I'll edit this post with memories later. Meanwhile, here's a few photos.

Pop's mother, Ethel Bailey; I'm pretty sure he learned a lot of the above from her. I only wish I'd have learned the fabulous skill she had with a crochet needle!

Dad, may you enjoy another 20 or so years!!