Memorial Weekend trip to the South

After a snowy, frigid and somewhat extended winter in Wisconsin it was time for the Caleb and April Roth Family to take a trip to the warmer southern states. Granted our house didn’t quite look like this when we left but we did get a frost while we were gone.

As we traditionally do we stopped on our way down at some friends of ours in the New Castle, Indiana area. We went to prayer meeting Wednesday night with the Irwins and stayed the night in their beautiful house with their wonderful family. They have quite the arsenal of weapons (toy) as well as good cowboy/soldier dress up gear. April and Sarah went to high school together in Michigan and enjoy having their children play together while they catch up.

We left Indiana on Thursday morning and headed to Hixson, Tennessee. It is always so good to see family again!

Friday morning Mom got some more use out of her Tennessee Aquarium passes and took some more of her grandchildren to see the penguins, butterflies and sharks. Lorena and Landry came along to give Cita a bit of break from her hectic week and so that she could get prepped for camping on the Community Baptist campsite – we also stopped at the river walk for the first of many outdoor meals during our stay.

We also made a quick stop by the Chickamauga Battlefield so the kids could get this great picture on a canon and see a real arsenal of weapons (not toys). Ryrie and Regann stayed the night with Aunt Cita and family which included a breakdown (out of gas) at Baskin-Robbins (there are worse places to breakdown). Ryrie felt that staying in the truck with his seatbelt on was the best way to wait for help to arrive.

On Saturday we had a great little cookout out at Grandma and Grandpa’s. Curtis and Lauren came along with Lauren’s sister and her husband as well as Lauren’s folks – it was good to renew our acquaintance with them and spend some time with Curtis and Lauren.

Sunday’s are always very important days for the Roth clan as we come together to worship God and this Sunday was no different – a good portion of us went out to Community Baptist in Hixson Sunday morning. Dad led us through a time of remembrance as it was Memorial day weekend and he reminded us of the privilege we have of living in these United States and exhorted us to thank God for His sovereign placing of us here. I was privileged to bring the message of the morning from Psalm 119:89-96 reminding us of the importance of God’s Word in our lives and how that should be fleshed out biblically. We used a bit of a different format with the message and sang a few hymns throughout to reinforce the truths we were hearing. I plan to use the same message this Father’s day here at First Baptist West Bend as we exhort our fathers to keep God’s Word saturating their homes and lives.

Sunday afternoon brought on another cookout with some of the church folks and the Clair, Cita, and Caleb clans. Sunday evening some of us darted down to our old stomping grounds at Calvary IBC to see some old friends. It was a precious time – Dan Spriggs, of course, forced me up to sing even though I didn’t have a tie on! I was thrilled to be a blessing!

Monday we had a great Memorial Day complete with some play time in the sprinkler/slip and slide for the kids and an evangelistic picnic with the Community Baptist Church folks – we had a good number of unchurched folks out and Dad shared a clear gospel message. The children enjoyed an inflatable jumping gym/slide.

At that point our kidos were pretty well picnicked/cooked-out. They don’t get to eat outside quite that often as their dad is still quite the city-slicker (and a control freak). Andric loved it all though, he would just graze around taking handout food from anyone who would give it to him. We took some time to snap a shot of all the grandkids. It was nice to have Cary, Amanda, Audrey and the beautiful Caris there.

Monday night April and I went over to visit Curtis and Lauren’s new place. They’ve done a lot of work to it and it is looking very nice! We also sneaked over to Starbucks for a frapuccino – thanks to Aunt Cita for helping get the kids bathed and in bed so they weren’t so stinky and cranky for Tuesday’s drive and so we could stay out a little later than we normally do.

Tuesday morning we left early to head up to Louisville to see Clif and Sally where we were lovingly greeted by Tara their friendly dog. Clif graciously took us around Louisville a bit and the kids got to play on a great playground and we also took a walk around the Southern Baptist Seminary campus which is quite a lovely place. That evening we met up with Sally and went to their last community group meeting which was a great experience for us – our boys had a blast pushing around the fire engine with a bunch of little girls in it that they didn’t know.

By Wednesday morning we were ready to head back to Wisconsin but not before a quick jog over to Michigan to drop of Ryrie and Caedrin for a week long visit at Grandma Running’s. When we got back we were excited to see a new garage door and opener on our garage. It is a big blessing because now we can put our van in the garage and out of the weather. Summer is almost here and it is finally feeling like it in Wisconsin.

Hope you all enjoyed seeing us as much as we enjoyed seeing you!