Mom, Dad and 12 kids ages 15, 13, 12, 11, 10, 8, 7, 6, 3, 2, 2, and 5 months will be stuffed into this small 15-passenger van for 16 hours to the upper Midwest. We’ve managed a comfortable route that the kids have grown used to. We blast out of here and stay in a hotel in Albert Lea, Minnesota, but we’ve chosen to skip the hotel this time around. The savings will be roughly $150, and you know that our gas tank will be swallowing that up. Grandma and Grandpa’s country home in Minnesota will be much more suitable…so we’re planning to make the entire trip.

Another cost-saving maneuver was retiring our old reliable bus. A family came by to look at the bus yesterday, and they are mostly likely going to buy it (I can see it in their eyes!). I was tempted to make this trip with the bus, but the gas mileage would be more than twice the mileage as our van with trailer. Oh well, we as a family need to make decisions based on what God gives us at the time. The bus has served us well, but now we’re onto different adventures.

There are three public events that we’ve scheduled in our trip. Here they are, and we hope to see you there!

1. Thursday, 5/22/08 Elk River, MN 3:00-7:00 details
2. Thursday, 6/5/08 Springfield, IL 6:30-8:30 details
3. Mon-Fri, 6/9/08-6/13/08 Birmingham, AL NCFCA Nationals details