Comfort Inn Effingham

... happy.

On Sunday I went to mass at the St. Louis (new) Cathedral Basilica. You have to clarify "new" or "old" because the original cathedral is still in use and situated directly under the mid-day shadow of the Arch by the riverfront. While it is lovely, the new Cathedral is absolutely spectacular. Its walls play host to the largest collection of religious mosaics, IN THE WORLD. Way to go St. Louis. Impressive. And ...

... use of original artifacts and modern multi-media interpretative elements; a special effects theatre; a Holavision production; and a gallery displaying priceless Lincoln artifacts (security cameras and alarms are everywhere). Unfortunately, cameras are not permitted in the museum except in the Plaza.

Abraham Lincoln, his wife and three of their four sons are buried in Oak ...

Ok, well it was our first day on the road. We left around 11am. We had borrowed my dad's truck a couple weeks ago to do our move, so the first stop was back in Indiana to drop the truck off and pick up his minivan. THANK YOU DAD! We made a quick trip by Ivanhoes because hey, well you don't pass that up :-) (That is the most awesome ice ...

On the way out of Champaign-Urbana, we saw this giant cross next to the I-57. Must be one of those quirky roadside attraction things. It's huge and looks like it has floodlights all around it. Man. This really marks the start of the Bible Belt, doesn't it?

... however the outcome was good, no impact, but we did have something to talk about for the next hour! No photos either, the batteries we wore out...anyhow, we checked ourselves in pretty early to have a nightcap...thought we deserved it after all that and the fact it is our 15th anniversery. Hope all is well, Love dave and nancy

... waiting period waived due to his medical needs. If that happens I would be able to leave Vlad a few days after court and then spend a couple days in Moscow dealing with the Embassy then be on the way home. If I am unable to get the waiting period waived, I will probably be heading home around the 1st of October. It has been a crazy morning figuring out the flight schedule. The flights are getting very full to Moscow and just moving ...

YIPPEE!! I finally got the "call". My court date has been set for September 15th. I will be leaving either the 8th or 9th. The best part of the news is that I am going to be with him on his 2nd birthday and that he will not have to celebrate another birthday in the baby house. I will update this blog as often as I can to keep you all up on the latest news ...

... group of people that came together, and Dale got a chance to see a lot of people he hadn't seen in a long time...as well as meet a few new ones. Later...after everyone was good and tipsy, we headed to the Karaoke bar. You will see no pictures of this...but trust me there are some. We drank more than we planned to, but still managed to make it to bed at a fairly decent hour.

... s coffee shop in the Square. And that was the first place we headed. That is ALWAYS the first place we head every day we are there. It's a great little place, and it seems like every other person that comes through the door you know. Well, we will be here for 3 days...we have a lot of people to see (Friends & Family), and not a lot of time to do it.

... we got totally taken, but unfortunately there's not too much you can do in a situation like that. We just took it and smiled and said "thank you officer". The mood took a definite turn at this point. Very little was said for the remainder of the drive (hours) and now we were going to be getting in later than expected. About 40 minuets from town Dale called his Mom to tell her we were almost there, and let her know the day we had had. Her and her partner Sharon ...