Alabama to LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA... they made it

Cindy and I caught up with John Douglas and Scott Sanders as they completed the last few miles of a grueling 500 mile bicycle trip.

They finished about 5PM 12 August when they arrived at Jackson Arch of Virginia Militery Institue (VMI). These 2nd classmen pedaled north from Alabama to Lexington, Virginia along US Highway 11. They had hot but nice weather and no mishaps along the way.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY - James and Georgianne

This week we had a nice time celebrating TWO birthdays.
In case you didn't know, James and Georgianne Patterson will get married in March; we are all making plans to have a nice time celebrating this upcoming happy occasion.
We are thankful that the Lord protected James while in Iraq with the Marines and has brought this young couple together.
gfd3

Our honored guests

We have been blessed to have our good friend and former pastor, Peter Leithart, stay with us this week. Peter teaches at New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho; and is the pastor of Trinity Reformed Church.










Our friend, Rika Matsuuchi, has also been staying with us for the last few days. She is from Osaka, Japan and studying in translation school there. She cooked us a Japanese meal which we enjoyed very much. Rika left this afternoon and will stay with a friend in Athens, Alabama.
gfd3

VMI OR BUST

We drove John and Scott Sanders up just north of Ft. Payne to Hwy 11, where they started out on their bike trip today. They averaged 18mph and have already called home and are in a motel just south of Chattanooga and plan to leave there at 4AM to try to get through Chattanooga before the traffic gets too heavy and it gets too hot.

John returns from Morocco

We just picked up John at the airport. We are glad he is home from Morocco ...thanks for keeping him in your prayers over these past weeks. We are not sure what his schedule will be the next few days, but he and his friend, Scott (who arrived last night), are planning to leave on a bike trip sometime in the near future, heading back to VMI.

Here's John with the turban he wore on the trip to the Sahara! He looks like a real Berber, doesn't he!

John was in Fez for about a month studying Arabic. He really enjoyed his trip; he will start his third year at VMI as a 2nd Class Cadet.