Anya developed a bit of a sore throat at camp. It wasn’t too bad during our drive from Alexandria, MN, to Danbury, WI, so she could quiz me on Swedish vocabulary from my Anki (intelligent flashcard) app on my iPhone. This is a great app for building vocabulary.
Anya also continually searched the satellite radio in the rental car for the best song currently playing on dozens of favorite stations.
We arrived in the late afternoon in Danbury, and Ed and Karen took us for a pontoon ride up their river. They are close to undeveloped land, so it is a peaceful ride.
Their cabin is a beautiful and restorative place that they have put a ton of work into.
I enjoyed hearing stories from their 40 years of work in Pakistan. It was so good to see them after the two years we spent together at Trinity. Ed and Karen were our Missionaries in Residence and were wonderful gifts to the community.
Anya’s sore throat was worse and she was cycling through fevers. This made the road-trip miserable for her. I just made a quick stop at my uncle and aunt’s condo in a retirement complex in Madison, as I didn’t want to get others exposed to Anya’s contagious state or extend Anya’s misery in the car.
Her fever got up to 104, so I gave her some ibuprophen. Fortunately, she was feeling better enough to eat when we arrived at the Hanson farmstead in Union Grove, WI. There was an amazing dinner with 8 of the family here. The pork chops were the biggest I’ve every seen! Eric’s cousin, Jim, is masterful at grilling them. Donna cooked all day, including fresh lefse! Deanna, cousin-in-law, hosted the meal with her two young men sons, who are Anya’s second cousins. The oldest is starting well in an engineering firm as an electrical engineer. The youngest is in the last couple years of university but working this summer in the business his dad started.
However, it was a bit heavy to realize that of the 8 of us, there were 3 widows and 3 fatherless young adults. Eric passed in 2010 and his cousin, Dave, passed in 2012.
Anya got a ride back to Donna’s across the road on the golf cart.
We are on the farm! Eric spent many of his summers growing up here. This was heaven on earth for Eric!
With blessings,
Beth