Over the Catskills and Through the Corn to Grammy’s House

Greetings from Indiana.  A lot happened and happened fast since our last newsletter.  So fast in fact we are having to tell you about in the past tense.  

You may recall that Becca’s contract in Maine was supposed to run into September, but the hospital decided to close its Labor and Delivery unit and no longer needed Becca’s services.  They offered to keep her on in a different capacity, but when we learned of several open positions near our family in Indiana she applied for those and was offered two.  She is now working for IU Health North in Carmel, IN, a suburb on the northside of Indianapolis. 

We are getting the opportunity to live with Andrew’s mom and dad, and looking forward to a time of special memories and bonding as we do life together.  Andrew’s grandfather is in the same town and his two brothers and their families (a total of 5 cousins) live within an hour.  We are also just an hour from Becca’s grandmother, aunt, and cousin + family, and look forward to getting to spend some time with all of them in the coming weeks.   

Before we came west we got to do a couple of fun things in Maine including an ocean fishing trip for Andrew and Lilian, a trip to see the trolls at the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden and a visit to the Children’s Museum of Maine in Portland.  All of that could have been a newsletter unto itself, but as Becca’s late mother often said, “Life happened,” and rather than overwhelming you with a novel we will try to just give you the “Reader Digest” version.

We went west by first going south and seeing Becca’s family one last time, spending the night with Becca’s Aunt Cindy, and meeting up with siblings and cousins outside Boston at a park for a belated Hiram birthday party.  This was supposed to happen on our way to Maine, but was prevented by Covid hitting the Newkirks in June.  While Covid prevented Becca’s brother Ben, cousin Christine, and their families from joining this gathering, we did have some pleasant surprises added to the mix instead. It just so happened that Becca’s dad and Step-mom were in greater Boston caring for his ailing mother-in-law, and a childhood friend from Brazil, Caleb White, and his family stopped in briefly on their way to New Hampshire. 

From greater Boston, we kept going south for a bit into Rhode Island before turning west for Orange, Connecticut, the home of PEZ.  There is a fun little PEZ Museum/Visitor Center we enjoyed, and we rode a carousel and ate some yummy Indian food in Stamford, CT.  

After a night in Connecticut, we headed to the Finger Lakes Region of New York and spent two nights on the family dairy of our good friend Rachel.  Rachel and Becca meet in college and remain close, but Rachel resides in the UK now with her husband and kids, and we had not gotten a chance to see her in nine years.  It was so good to finally meet her two daughters, which just hit it off splendidly with Lilian and Hiram.  There was fishing in the pond for catfish, swimming in the swimming hole, lots of yummy food, fort building and much more.  The visit was brief but a large blessing to all.  

When we left the farm we passed through Houghton, New York, the home of Becca’s alma mater, and more importantly Becca’s mom’s final resting place.  We had lunch with one of Becca’s close friends from the area, briefly showed Lilian around a bit of the campus, and then visited Bev’s grave site.  Leaving Houghton and going to our next night's stay in Jamestown, NY had us passing through Cuba, NY, which just so happens to be where Becca and Andrew met.  As we were passing by the church where we met, our good friend Pastor Jon was working in his yard, so we had a very brief but very good impromptu visit with him and his wife Ashley. 

Then it was onto Jamestown, NY, which is where Lilian was born and we lived for the first four years of our marriage.  We got to visit and catch up with a few of our friends from that time in life, but alas the visit was too short and on too short of notice to see many of the folks we would have liked to have seen.  We did get a chance to stop in (again way too briefly) at Green Heron Growers, the farm which gave Andrew his start into farming.  

Then it was on to a night and a day at the Spring Valley Community of the Bruderhof south of Pittsburgh.  Our time at Koinonia introduced us to many Bruderhof friends and it was so special to see a small sample of their way of life in person and to catch up with so many special friends.  

As we left Pennsylvania, we were briefly in West Virginia but as both kids were sleeping and there was lots of construction we didn’t stop to geocache there.  That night we stopped in Columbus, OH after having dinner and catching up with one of the bridesmaids from our wedding, whom we had not seen in over 10 years.  

The last day of the trip had Andrew “Back Home Again in Indiana.”  We spent a night with Becca’s Grandmother and Aunt in Fort Wayne and the next day arrived at our home for now, aka Grammy’s house.  

The plan for now is that this contract will go through the first week of November and then we will start making plans for the holidays and winter.  In our next update we hope to be able to share more about the vision we have for our future ministry.  In the meantime, please send us a line or two and let us know how you are doing.