So it's been a while since anything has been posted to really enlighten the reader about our whereabouts and happenings, but there's no need to fret because, hopefully this post will satisfy that hanckerin'.... or maybe not.
So in the beginning of april the family of children living and working around the bus in pennsylvania were at somewhat of a tough spot in trying to figure out what the next step was going to be in our travels. Work was slowly being accomplished in getting the Train de Vie to a point of road worthyness, and it was time for all of us to take a break. The family we were staying with, the Matheney's, were planning to head down to florida to help howie and amber plan their wedding and our good friend Jake was felling called to head back to seattle. And since we weren't really in a position to stay in the warehouse and with the bus without the matheney's this was perfect timming to take some time to travel without the bus.
But as we were packing up the buses and readying ourselves for departure in our seperate ways, G-d threw us a curve ball. One evening Oella (87 year old grandma Matheney) stepped of the Matheney's bus and a few steps later fell and broke her hip. And after a number of hours in the emergency room the news was declared that she needed to not be mobile for some good time. And this became "our" bus's opportunity to give the family some room.
So Marcus, Gary, Jake, Challa, Bear, and I set out to take Jake back to seattle, via thumbs and freight, and Bailey bought a greyhound ticket back to florida to visit her family. And so with the Matheney's still in Elizabethtown, PA we headed out.
And about a week later Marcus, Gary, Jake, the two dogs, and I had made it over the Appalachian Mountains, through Pittsburg and to Cleveland Ohio. We decided to use our money to buy a MegaBus ticket to Chicago to meet my mom on her business trip and see what could be done from there. And while Bailey had made it to Florida, the boys, dogs, and I were sitting comfortable at my grandparents house in Illinois praying about what to do.
And our wonderfully generous mother bought Jake a plane ticket back to Seattle, to provide for the urgency that had arrisen in the form of a sick loved one who waited in Seattle. So, a few days later, Gary, Marcus, Bear and I found ourselves at Jesus People USA and Jake and Challa were on their way to Seattle.
After arriving at this beautiful Christian Community of over 400 hundered people serving eachother and the surrounding neighborhoods, we decided to stay put for a "minute" and ask for G-d's descernment in what to do next. Should we continue our trek west to Seattle and then head back to PA, should we take care of some of the other relationships G-d has blessed us with across the country, or should we continue to marinate in this wonderful part of the Body of Christ?
A few days later G-d had given Gary his answer, by providing a plane ticket back to Florida, and Marcus, Bear, and I realized that it wasn't in G-d's plans for us to head back to Seattle just yet.
Right now Marcus, Bear and I are in Milwaukee, WI visiting some good friends of mine, and tomorrow we will head back to Pennsylvania, because it's time we began working on our bus again. And inthe mean time Marilynn (or Sonshine) and Shaena Matheney drove down to Florida and will bring Gary, Bailey, and maybe another future member of our traveling community back to the bus in the next couple of days.
So, the handful of people picked to work on this bus project will be back together soon working on the bus, but not without having had some good time apart growing individually through our time apart.
And that's how things stand right now as far as logistically, but idealistically having spent a good amount of time a part in different communities we will all be bringing back new insights and ideas to add to the mix of idealism and reality that is known as the Train de Vie.
I will post again soon on some of these new found thoughts, ideas, and relationships that this time has provided for us. And as for now, thank you Jesus People USA for blessing us with the hospitality to accomodate for us in these last couple of weeks.
