Day 31--Iowa

As we drove across the Mississippi River and looked down on Iowa before us, Brady yelled out from the backseat "Is this Iowa?", and as anyone who has seen the movie "Field of Dreams" knows, there was only one answer I could give, "No, it's heaven".

We've been building up Iowa in our family for a long time.  You see, Macy's best friend in her orphanage, Moses, was adopted by a great family in Mason City, Iowa.  So, for months we've been talking about Iowa, and telling Macy that we would be visiting Iowa sometime soon.  And soon came today.  

And, speaking of "Field of Dreams", before we could make it to Mason City we had to make a stop along the way at the actual farm where they filmed what is maybe my favorite movie ever.  They have preserved the baseball field and farm to look exactly like it did in the movie.  It's not commercialized and they let you go out on the field to play.  And it was......perfect.  

Part of what makes "Field of Dreams" such a great movie is that it's a perfect blend of nostalgia and sentimentality, mixed in with Father/Son relationship themes, and baseball in it's purest form.  And, to be honest, I am all of those things....sentimental, a father and son, and I love baseball.  So, to be on this field playing baseball with my boys was, well, heaven.  

Tiff and the whole family got into the spirit!

I could've spent hours here, but we were all anxious to get to see Moses and the Barkemas.  We quickly purchased the movie from the Gift Shop (which was our only cost of the day...there was no admission charge to play on the field) and the kids watched the movie again as we drove through the cornfields to Mason City.  

Macy got more excited and more hyper as we got closer and closer to Mason City.  By the time we pulled in the Barkema's driveway she was practically sprinting out of the car to see Moses.  And judging by the smiles in these pictures you can see that she loves her best friend from Ghana.

And, I think he might love her back....

We had such a fun afternoon and evening with the Barkemas.  We took a spin on their boat on Clear Lake and did some serious tubing.

After tubing we came home, ate some dinner, and the kids kept playing in the backyard.  While the kids played, it gave us a chance to hear about Jeremy's last trip to Ghana, and his trip to Moses' village.  We didn't have the chance to visit Macy's village, so it was cool to see pictures and hear the stories of what the villages are like.  

We spent a week in Ghana with the Barkema's back in October of 2012.  At that time, we all thought we'd be bringing our kids home in the next few months.  But, the Barkema's, like us, had a really difficult time getting Moses home from Ghana.  They had even more paperwork issues than we did, but their patience has been rewarded.  They have an incredible family.