Maine-ly Wonderful!

Other than a brief respite in Gorham to stretch our legs and wander through an antiques store, New Hampshire was kind of a blur....

LL Bean Store in Fremont--Locking Moose!

Bridge Crossing near Portland

Maine......more black and white houses; Moose statues--restaurants-t-shirts and signs; everything Acadia; lots of harbors and rocky shores; the cute local language: ba haba (Bar Harbor); lobster pictures, icons; tons of American flags on electric poles on Route 1; weathered wooden shingled homes; and fishing boats in every harbor.  So very lovely.

Rockland ME~~picturesque.

Sunset near Frasher Point, Schodic Peninsula

Dinner, had a"lobsta roll"--a wrinkle is actually a sea creature!

As we were lying in the bed last night, recapping our day, Bill said.  Today was TOGETHER:  We ate pancakes together, we worked on a word search together, we read Psalm 9 together, we took a walk together, we ate tuna sandwiches together, we biked 13 miles around Schoodic Peninsula together, afterwards we drank a well-deserved glass of Arbor Mist together, we created camper stew for dinner together...and we watched a sunset together.  In the movie, Shall We Dance?, Susan Sarandon says that marriage is important because it is a "witness" --2 people who witness and know one another's lives: the highs, the lows, the mundane.. but TODAY was definitely a high!

Passed this old fisherman's wharf on our bike ride-Bill's fav.

Acadia's Schoodic Peninsula on
our 13 mile bike ride!

Vermont's Charming Towns

September 24  The beauty of not being on a schedule:  the points of interest that you thought you were going to can be switched!  A conversation at our RV park led us to BROMLEY Ski Resort rather than Stratton Mountain, where we had a little fun on the alpine slides.  Who says old folks can't try new things?


Vermont was pretty amazing as we drove through many mountains and stopped frequently at little spots along the way.  Seeing a farmers market in LONDONDERRY prompted us to stop and get local organic veggies and share the best bowl of sausage chili w/ homemade corn-bread crumbled over!  Yum!

WESTON was the home of the Vermont Country Store (one of about 5 businesses there!) which boasted every imaginable item you could want with lots of Vermont gourmet food samples.                














An old fashioned --very SLOW train ride in CHESTER
was our last stop.  We rested and watched the small towns
go by, then turned around at the OKEMOS Resort, and headed back down the mountain.

Ending the day as we headed towards New Hampshire was this quite glorious sunset--billowy clouds with sun peeking through, tinges of pink and gold.  Who could ask for more?

Welcome to VERMONT

Psalm 4:7 (Message) "I have God's more-than-enough".  Our verse for the morning as we headed into a restful, relaxing and refreshing day.

In BENNINGTON, VT we took a 3 hour break to visit some highlights, strongly recommended by the visitor center!  Of course, we WILL stop to browse at antique stores!

Such a slice of Americana as we enjoyed lunch at the Blue Benn Diner, yes- there were personal jukebox choices in our booth!  On to 3 covered bridges,  and several "pull overs" while I took photos of the HUNDREDS of white houses with black shutters--so cute!

The Bennington Battle memorial honors the Green Mountain Boys who held the British in this town, 2 years after the Boston Tea Party; along with help from NH and MA patriots.  It proved a turning point in the American Revolution--quite a memorial.

The final stop was at First Church (Congregational) that was the first formed Protestant Church in Vermont, and Pastor Bill was allowed to "preach down" to the congregants!! The cemetery there held the grave of Robert Frost and also a funny little story about an early female "rebel"!

Last Stop in PA ~~ Only Stop in NY

Camp Orchard Hill played an integral part in the lives of our kids for 13 years while we lived in PA.  How absolutely excited we were to stop in DALLAS, PA and see what God has been up to in the ensuing years.  Back in 1996 when Bill served on the Camp Board, the camp was reaching about 2000 campers annually -- now, it is 12,000!!  More staff, more facilities, more donors, more creative programming-- but the same Unchanging God.


Heavy eyelids on the NY stretch caused us to stop for a 5 mile bike ride in BINGHAMTON.  Geese, ponds, sunshine, soccer kids...


We also made a few pit stops for...well, you know why!  This shows the continual mountains we traveled through and the funny sign (well, I thought it was funny)--not only were we in a town similar in name to ours, but it also boasted our fav MSU spartan!!

PS....Forgot one photo

Several of the Costa Fam: Laura & daughter, Ricky Jr., Janet and Sarah

Tri-Valley ~~a Continuing Legacy

We still remember when Pastor Randy Ott and his wife Lynne (living in heaven now), welcomed us into the Schulkill County area in 1989.  Our kids played soccer together, our churches supported one another, and our families celebrated 6 years of Thanksgivings together at their family cabin in the Pocono mountains.  #sweetmemories

What an amazing visit with friends in the Tri-Valley area where Bill served as pastor for 8 years at Calvary Chapel Ev. Free Church.  Unbeknownst to Bill, daughter Mikkel contacted the Athletic Director and asked if her dad could be honored for his part in establishing soccer there 20 years ago!  Memorable. Uplifting. Humbling. Tearful.

Kimmels, Carol & Carla Hoy

Ricky Costa

Millers with Katie and youngest son

Bowman family

Angie Geist, Kara Harmon & son

Klingers, Glen & Diane Ebert

Dave & Patsy Williams

Thx for the goodies!
Buddy with Carl & Carol

Dave & Pat Hummel

Kara, one of our "kids"

Servant Extraordinaire!

Dave & Annette Wolfgang

Janet Costa, mercy is her middle name.

Phil Barry, assistant coach in 2010

An even greater joy than this award and tribute was finding out that the legacy of our “pioneering efforts continues on:  Kids Klub in this area has grown to 2 weekly clubs of over 50 kids each; the High School SWAT Team Bible Study, started in1994 with a See You at the Pole event, is still ongoing with 60 kids.  In all honesty, we left this valley in 1997 feeling like we had not accomplished what we had envisioned at the small church there—a bit defeated and broken.  Yet God again proves how much BIGGER He is than what our perspective feels like.  Ephesians 1:15-16, “Because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love toward all the saints, I (we) do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my (our) prayers…. #Godisgood  #Godkeepsdrawingus #Hiswaysarepastourunderstanding

Presentation by Wayne & Girls Coach