Hanging out with "The Hills" family

Just last week, Mark and I met a handful of Norwegians at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit conference. This was particularly interesting to us because Mark is 40% Norwegian and he had always wanted to know exactly what the meaning was of his his last name.

(Drum roll, please...) - Haugen means "The Hills."

That said, we spent a great chunk of last week with "The Hills "family :) and had a wonderful time with Judi and Phil (Mark's mom and dad) and Steve, Amy and Isaac Martin. Going to rural Wisconsin was an excellent first stop for us in the US since the pace was slow and we spent wonderful quality time together catching up. Mark got plenty of fishing in, we ate huge meals at the classic northwoods "supper clubs" and I enjoyed an afternoon of shopping with Judi and Amy. The photo below is from a canoe trip we took with Steve/Amy. It was also so fun to see how much our little nephew, Isaac, had developed in the four months we've been away... he's saying all sorts of words now.

It was the first time I'd slept in a long sleeve shirt in five months as the cool breeze came through the window at night and we even made s'mores in the fireplace one evening. Our bodies enjoyed a break from the continual perspiration. We're so grateful for family... God has really, really been good to us.

The only culture shock we'd experienced this far in the trip was our initial US entry into Atlanta as people were very well-dressed and buzzing around quickly with blackberrys attached to their hips and Starbucks in their hands. The first thing we ate was a huge chocolate brownie.