Three years ago, my cousin Katie & her husband Jeff had their first son, Layne. There was just one problem—Layne was born 10 weeks early. It was quite the surprise to everyone and he spent a lot of time in the hospital hooked up to all kinds of machines, literally fighting for life.
This little fighter survived, with much thanks to the March of Dimes. Read about what Layne and his family are up to in 5 days...
Read MoreChad and I (and Sock Monkey, of course) were traveling machines for the holidays! We traveled via car, Metra, and Amtrak to get to Jackson, Michigan and Blackstone, Illinois to spend time with our families. By the time we returned to Kenosha, we had taken 6 different trains and 6 different car rides in just under 9 days. The original intent was to avoid the unpredictable wintry weather. Ha, unpredictable indeed: we didn't end up with ANY wintry weather. When was the last time that happened in the Midwest? Regardless, the relaxation, reading, snacking and movie-watching on the trains were SO worth it. It's our favorite way to travel.
"And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." —Ephesians 5:20
Last year, we started a tradition to stay in Kenosha for Thanksgiving and spend it with two of our best friends, Aaron & Nicole. We did that again this year, and it was definitely a hit—again. We are truly blessed to have them in our lives. God has done some incredible things in the lives & learnings of all four of us individually this year, but also as friends. We're so thankful we get to spend so much time with those two. We love them to death!
We had quite an eventful trip last year for the holidays, so this Christmas, Chad and I decided not to drive at all. On Saturday, Dec 19 we took the southbound Metra (a block from our house) down to Chicago and walked to Union Station to take an Amtrak to Pontiac, IL. Chad's friends picked us up, we stayed for a few days with his family and then headed back to Chicago via Amtrak to catch a different Amtrak to Jackson, MI. After spending a few days with family/friends in Jackson, it was back on a train to Chicago to catch the Metra northbound to Kenosha on Sunday, Dec 27. We only had a little bit of layover and it ended up being cheaper than driving (and much safer!). It was a little tricky getting all of the gifts we were taking (plus our clothes/items) into small enough suitcases to make for convenient travel: walking & shoving into luggage racks. It was even MORE difficult to get it all back...we were absolutely spoiled this year! We brought back DOUBLE (or more) of what we took with us. Thanks to Chad and his master packing ninja skills and my Uncle Rick's donated suitcase, we made it with all of our booty! I'm sure the two of us were quite comical to watch in the snow covered streets of Chicago.
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