Maine Woods and Family Reunions
Ah, camping in the Maine woods. Well… camping in an RV in the driveway of my mother-in-law’s house somewhere near the Maine woods. That’s the same thing, isn’t it?
We stopped for two days in Mapleton, ME, where Jason grew up. For those who don’t know, Mapleton is very far north, about ½ hour from the Canadian border. Thus our trek through Canada to get there. Total driving time from Rochester, about 14 hours.
Unfortunately, Jason’s mother did not happen to be home during our visit, which we found out via cell phone about 10 min. before we arrived. But that is another story for another day. Nevertheless, we had a great time visiting with her boyfriend, Jim, and riding his 4-wheeler through potato fields. The kids even got to steer by themselves! Jaron proclaimed it the coolest vacation ever.
Surreal moment of the day:
Yesterday we had lunch with some old friends at their house. Afterwards, the kids were outside and noticed that the neighbors had a trampoline in their yard. There were two boys playing on it, and we asked if we could join them. One of the boys, a about 8 yrs old named Michael, was very nice and let the kids have a turn.
After we left, we stopped at a local park to let the kids play at the playground. After a while, I noticed that the boy with the trampoline was also there with his family. “Hey look,” I said, “there’s that Michael kid we played with.” Jason noticed that the older woman that Michael was with, a short stout woman with black hair drawn up into a bun, looked kind of familiar, but couldn’t place her.
As we were leaving the playground later, Jason noticed a man with a large camera talking to another man, apparently getting ready to do some photographing. Jason said, “Oh my gosh, that’s my Uncle Kevin!”
Uncle Kevin is Jason’s dad’s youngest brother. He still lives in Presque Isle, but we haven’t seen him probably since our wedding. Jason went up and said hello to a very surprised Uncle Kevin. Kevin said, “Did you see Mary? She’s over there with the grandkids.”
That’s right. Mary was the stout woman Jason had seen and Michael was one of the grandkids. To everyone’s surprise and delight, we were able to have a little family reunion there in the middle of the park, and introduce the kids to their great aunt and uncle, and second cousins. Jaron kept saying, “I was playing with my cousin and I didn’t even know it!”
Such is life in Northern Maine.
This morning, Jason preached at church where he grew up, State Road Advent Christian. It was great to see lots of old friends and worship with them. Though I’d forgotten that drowsy feeling you get during a 20 min. testimony time and pastoral prayer, and the headache you get from trying to follow a transparency that keeps moving up and down because the 12 yr old running it wants to make sure that whatever line you’re singing is at the very top of the screen. I definitely prefer the kind of worship we do at Artisan.
We stopped for two days in Mapleton, ME, where Jason grew up. For those who don’t know, Mapleton is very far north, about ½ hour from the Canadian border. Thus our trek through Canada to get there. Total driving time from Rochester, about 14 hours.
Unfortunately, Jason’s mother did not happen to be home during our visit, which we found out via cell phone about 10 min. before we arrived. But that is another story for another day. Nevertheless, we had a great time visiting with her boyfriend, Jim, and riding his 4-wheeler through potato fields. The kids even got to steer by themselves! Jaron proclaimed it the coolest vacation ever.
Surreal moment of the day:
Yesterday we had lunch with some old friends at their house. Afterwards, the kids were outside and noticed that the neighbors had a trampoline in their yard. There were two boys playing on it, and we asked if we could join them. One of the boys, a about 8 yrs old named Michael, was very nice and let the kids have a turn.
After we left, we stopped at a local park to let the kids play at the playground. After a while, I noticed that the boy with the trampoline was also there with his family. “Hey look,” I said, “there’s that Michael kid we played with.” Jason noticed that the older woman that Michael was with, a short stout woman with black hair drawn up into a bun, looked kind of familiar, but couldn’t place her.
As we were leaving the playground later, Jason noticed a man with a large camera talking to another man, apparently getting ready to do some photographing. Jason said, “Oh my gosh, that’s my Uncle Kevin!”
Uncle Kevin is Jason’s dad’s youngest brother. He still lives in Presque Isle, but we haven’t seen him probably since our wedding. Jason went up and said hello to a very surprised Uncle Kevin. Kevin said, “Did you see Mary? She’s over there with the grandkids.”
That’s right. Mary was the stout woman Jason had seen and Michael was one of the grandkids. To everyone’s surprise and delight, we were able to have a little family reunion there in the middle of the park, and introduce the kids to their great aunt and uncle, and second cousins. Jaron kept saying, “I was playing with my cousin and I didn’t even know it!”
Such is life in Northern Maine.
This morning, Jason preached at church where he grew up, State Road Advent Christian. It was great to see lots of old friends and worship with them. Though I’d forgotten that drowsy feeling you get during a 20 min. testimony time and pastoral prayer, and the headache you get from trying to follow a transparency that keeps moving up and down because the 12 yr old running it wants to make sure that whatever line you’re singing is at the very top of the screen. I definitely prefer the kind of worship we do at Artisan.