Stateside Trip

Hello everybody!

I am happy to announce that we made it home safely on July 31st.  It’s good to be back!

I really enjoyed our trip to the US this year, but it’s good to be home.

We flew into Houston on July 3rd, and we made it to my grandparent’s (on my mom’s side) the next day.  We enjoyed spending time with them, and we enjoyed getting to see fireworks the night of the 4th of July.  Allana and I spent the night at my great-grandma’s house, and we enjoyed spending time with her, as well.  I’m disappointed because I didn’t get a picture with her.  It was fun seeing my great grandparents, though.

These oreos were SO yummy!

Eating sandwiches at the park.

 

She looks afraid of it.

Pardon my horns.

From Broken Bow, OK, we made our way toward Colorado. On the way there we stopped at different churches to preach.  I enjoyed going to churches that were familiar, as well as getting to meet new people.

Lydia, Allana, Tavia, and I.

Something really special happened to me this year.  I have two really good friends that I haven’t seen in 8 years–Tamara McKillop and Tavia Townley.  Tamara lives in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick; and Tavia lives in Maine.  While visiting Bro. Holmes’ church in Little Rock, I was walking around, and I heard someone say, “Sarah!”  I remember thinking, “Who do I know here?”  I looked around, and saw Tavia coming over.  I shrieked.  I really did. I was so happy to see her, though it was the last place I expected to see her.  We got to talk and take a picture together, and send it to Tamara (lol).  It was one of my favorite services and surprises in the US. 🙂 🙂  At that same church, we also got to see Deena.  Deena came to Honduras several years ago, but we hadn’t seen her in a while.

Deena and I.

One of the highlights of every trip we make to the US is Heritage.  I had been looking forward to Heritage since early on this year.  I’m already looking forward to next year!  This year was incredible!  It seems that every year, it get better and better, but I think this has been the best year yet!  Every single preaching went side-by-side with the others.  I enjoyed getting to see many of old my friends, and making new ones.  I had lots of fun with the Pirtles. We traveled together to Colorado Springs from Raton, NM.

Kenlee waited around a while. He never showed up.

My Truklette family

Allana, Cherie, Denae, and I

Allana, Story, Me, and Cassie

This year, the preaching affected me more than any other year.  I think it’s because of my age, and the changes I’m going through in life.  I had a couple face-in-the-carpet moments with God.  I loved the altar calls, because every time, it seemed I would get more and more.  I feel like every area of need in my life was addressed.  I enjoyed getting to hear Pastor Garrett preach, because I hadn’t heard him in a long time.  Each and every message spoke to me.

I also got to meet Maddison Merriman from https://stickynotesandicecream.wordpress.com/, but sad to say, we weren’t able to get a picture together.  I’m disappointed that I didn’t get to meet Ashlynn, but I’m looking forward to officially meeting her next year.

Another highlight of this trip was the Schreck Team.  This year, the entire Schreckhise family got together to celebrate Granny and Pawpaw’s 50th wedding anniversary.  We went to Branson, MO, and had an awesome time!  On Thursday afternoon, we got together to decorate for the party that night.

Nathaniel decorating

Me and Emily posing

My dad trying to figure out how to tape the balloons together.

Then, we went out to eat at a BBQ place close by, and met up with Granny and Pawpaw there.  We had some yummy food, and a great time together.

The parents

The cousins

Then, we went back to the cabin we were staying in for the celebration. As part of the celebration Granny and Pawpaw gathered everyone around to talk and tell stories.

Everybody taking pictures!

Granny made her own wedding dress!

Fun times! Oh, and that cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory was delicious!

The beautiful bouquet Pawpaw got Granny for their 50th. The vase was beautiful, as well. 😉 😛 😀

Another cool thing that happened is that President Trump and the First Lady sent Granny and Pawpaw a signed letter of congratulations.  It was neat!

On Friday, we went to Silver Dollar City with Uncle Brad, Aunt Lycia, Daniel, and Emily.  We had a blast!

When everybody got there, we had an awesome time.  We went to all of the water rides.  I don’t know if anybody has ever done the river blast, but it’s so much fun!  Everybody except my dad got sopping wet.

We’re soaked!

We did the American Plunge, and I was ready for it until we went over the edge…LOL.  Here are the pictures for your enjoyment!

We ate lunch together and had an awesome time all day long!

In line for Fire in the Hole.

Eating lunch

Nathaniel, Me, Emily, and Daniel.

After all that fun, we were exhausted!

The next morning, we took some family pictures.

The entire Schreckhise clan!

We cousins also got some pictures taken together.  Some crazy, and some half-normal.  You’d just have to know us to understand. 😀 😀

Half-normal…

We kind of look like we have mental problems. 😮

The Brent Schreckhise family.

After that, we took the Lord’s Supper (except for us it was the Lord’s Brunch 😉 :P)

We had a really special time together, and a very good prayer service afterwards.  We cousins got to pray for Granny and Pawpaw, and for all the parents, as well.  There was a very sweet presence of God in the cabin.

The grands praying for Granny and Pawpaw.

It was also special because at the end, all the cousins huddled up and prayed for each other.  It was a special bonding time for us.  I was so happy to see my family.  I hadn’t seen some of them in 3 years!

The cousins and Granny and Pawpaw got some awesome matching shirts. They say “Team Schreck” on the front and have a number on the back that represents the order in which they were born.

We got to take some fun picture together with Granny and Pawpaw.

That afternoon we went to Dolly’s Stampede, then later that night we saw Samson at Sight and Sound.  At Dolly’s Stampede, we had lots of fun, but I think my favorite was Samson.

Sadly, Granny wasn’t feeling so good.

We even got a picture with Samson’s deceased and resurrected dad-turned-angel, Manoah. 😀 😛 😉

I have to say that Samson was by far my favorite Sight and Sound drama so far.  I have seen Noah, Moses, and The Miracle of Christmas, but Samson is my favorite.  I could relate to so many scenes and stages of his life.  It also taught me several things.  I never thought I would feel sorry for Delilah.  I even felt like I was losing a friend I’d grown up with when Samson died. Several of us were taking notes on some thought-provoking things they said.  We were sitting in front of these people who kept “amen-ing” and saying “hallelujah” to everything.  They were cracking me up.  Lol. 😀  I greatly recommend you going to see Samson.

Well, I really enjoyed our trip, but I am glad to be back.  I’m thankful for all the fun times I had with family and friends, and for the life-changing moments in God’s presence.  I’m sorry it took me so long to post, but ever since we’ve been back, we’ve been super busy.

Thank you for your patience, and for reading my blog.

Also, I used everybody else’s pictures.  If you see you picture here, thank you for letting me use it! 😛 😉

God Bless,

Sarah Schreckhise