… Again… and again…
Ah… Day 1… October 26… an anniversary of sorts…
Just a little background information, for those of you who don’t know or who have forgotten…
It was seven years ago, today, that we made a decision from our tiny, molding (though we didn’t know it), not much bigger than a double wide trailer, house on the Eastern Michigan District campground, that we were going to set off on a journey… across the country… to follow God wherever He wanted to lead us in order to fulfill the call to ministry on our lives…
It has been an interesting seven years… I do not have time to go into the full scope of what this means at the present hour… So, for today, it must suffice to say it’s been interesting…
Then… a year ago, today, we began our current ministry assignment. And… well… that’s been interesting so far, too… Don’t worry… interesting could just as easily be written “good” here…
At any rate… today is not seven years ago, nor is it one year ago! Today is today, and it is the beginning of our vacation… a vacation that we have been planning for over the course of the past two years!!! And we are ready!!!
We left home at 1:45pm, just 15 minutes after we were scheduled to leave, so not bad for a couple of OCD people with four kids and a van that was probably never meant to carry this much stuff! I still am a little amazed that it all fit. I hope we didn’t forget anything that we really needed, because it is way too late now…
We presented the kids with “travel packs” filled with goodies of all kinds and listened to squeals as they informed us of everything they contained… as if we didn’t already know. This event, of course, guaranteed that the entire back seat of the van was covered in mess within a few moments of departing the driveway!
Caleb kept saying, “I can’t believe I got my own CD player”! He said it three times in about ten minutes to be exact. I found this especially cute. He also chimed in with, “I am so lucky!”, which was adorable, as well. His best quote, however, and the quote of the day for today was about three hours into our trip when he exclaimed, “We’re never going to get to Disney World”! I have video of this, as well as another one that I plan to add to this post within the next couple of days.
For now you get trip Pic. Of the Day #1:
Sardines:
We had a relatively uneventful trip until we stopped for gas in Clarksville, IN and Phil informed me that we were going to eat at Cheddar’s… which is my favorite restaurant… and which I was thoroughly unprepared for… as in dressed in sweats from head to toe, ate pizza for lunch and snacked on too much candy on the trip! I am really not one for surprises. Let’s say I was certainly surprised. After changing my pants in the back of the van I agreed to go into the restaurant, where I proceeded to eat very little of my delicious food, because there comes a point where you just can’t eat anymore, or you will throw up! I am looking forward to eating the leftovers tomorrow for dinner unless Phil pulls in somewhere else and exclaims that we just have to eat there… Truly, though, I appreciated the gesture. It was very, very thoughtful (and well thought out) of Phil.
Of course, it would be completely unreasonable to think we could get through a whole travel day without a meltdown of some sort, so grace came through for us at Cheddar’s. I honestly don’t even know exactly what set her off, but it had something to do with unwrapping silverware. And suddenly, Grace became moody and pouty… and she even tossed a coat over the booth and hit someone… and she would not eat any appetizers, which I thought I was going to hear about from her later… but didn’t! She finally decided to eat a few fries and half a grilled cheese sandwich, and she was “really sorry” by the time we reached the van. I hope this new attitude lasts until at least noon tomorrow…
We were about ½ an hour behind schedule after dinner, which would have been fine were it not for gridlock traffic, due to what (in the end) appeared to be a one car accident. This delayed us by another ½ an hour, which was too bad, because Phil most likely could have made up the time…
About an hour before we arrived at our hotel (the highly acclaimed Motel 6 in which we intended to crash for about the same number of hours), all the kids started getting fussy with each other and Ian just started flat out screaming. This went on for about 45 minutes, until Seth, Grace, and Caleb were instructed to remain completely silent or risk forfeiting their trip, and Phil and I burst into song (“The Itsy, Bitsy Spider,” of course) which finally calmed Ian a bit. After the “Itsy Bitsy” spider was exhausted, all of the other spiders took their turns at the water spout. We started with the Daddy Spider… and the Mommy Spider… and the Seth Spider… and the Grace Spider… and the Caleb Spider… and the Ian Spider. Since Ian was still wide awake, we went on to friend spiders… and the Miss Monica Spider took her turn… along with the Keegan Spider… and the Mr. Robert Spider… and the Miss Amber Spider… and the Avalyn Spider… and the Aubrie Spider. And Ian was still wide awake, so we returned to family spiders… the Grandma and Grandpa Spiders went up the water spout… and so did the Aunt and Uncle Spiders… and then the Cousin Spiders… And, thankfully, by the time the Abby Spider “went up the spout again”, Ian was nodding off, just in time for us to pull into our hotel… And my arms are very tired from doing the Itsy Bitsy Spider motions that many times in a row… I wouldn’t suggest it… Just in case you wondered…
Not long ago, we managed to get all people under age 10 tucked in bed… which would be almost ideal if Ian was tucked in his own bed! It was as this process was going on that Phil let me know that we only had access to dial up Internet, and we didn’t have what we needed for our laptops to connect without wireless. Phil proceeded to grab the phone book and look up the nearest Panera Bread, which he found down the street… And in a few moments, I am going to send him back to make this post and send some schoolwork in for me (which I completed on the ever faithful Lillian the laptop, while we were stuck in the aforementioned traffic jam)…
And now it is time for bed. Because I have been awake for goin’ on 20 hours… and I am really tired… and Day 2 awaits…
Lisa
Ah… Day 1… October 26… an anniversary of sorts…
Just a little background information, for those of you who don’t know or who have forgotten…
It was seven years ago, today, that we made a decision from our tiny, molding (though we didn’t know it), not much bigger than a double wide trailer, house on the Eastern Michigan District campground, that we were going to set off on a journey… across the country… to follow God wherever He wanted to lead us in order to fulfill the call to ministry on our lives…
It has been an interesting seven years… I do not have time to go into the full scope of what this means at the present hour… So, for today, it must suffice to say it’s been interesting…
Then… a year ago, today, we began our current ministry assignment. And… well… that’s been interesting so far, too… Don’t worry… interesting could just as easily be written “good” here…
At any rate… today is not seven years ago, nor is it one year ago! Today is today, and it is the beginning of our vacation… a vacation that we have been planning for over the course of the past two years!!! And we are ready!!!
We left home at 1:45pm, just 15 minutes after we were scheduled to leave, so not bad for a couple of OCD people with four kids and a van that was probably never meant to carry this much stuff! I still am a little amazed that it all fit. I hope we didn’t forget anything that we really needed, because it is way too late now…
We presented the kids with “travel packs” filled with goodies of all kinds and listened to squeals as they informed us of everything they contained… as if we didn’t already know. This event, of course, guaranteed that the entire back seat of the van was covered in mess within a few moments of departing the driveway!
Caleb kept saying, “I can’t believe I got my own CD player”! He said it three times in about ten minutes to be exact. I found this especially cute. He also chimed in with, “I am so lucky!”, which was adorable, as well. His best quote, however, and the quote of the day for today was about three hours into our trip when he exclaimed, “We’re never going to get to Disney World”! I have video of this, as well as another one that I plan to add to this post within the next couple of days.
For now you get trip Pic. Of the Day #1:
Sardines:
We had a relatively uneventful trip until we stopped for gas in Clarksville, IN and Phil informed me that we were going to eat at Cheddar’s… which is my favorite restaurant… and which I was thoroughly unprepared for… as in dressed in sweats from head to toe, ate pizza for lunch and snacked on too much candy on the trip! I am really not one for surprises. Let’s say I was certainly surprised. After changing my pants in the back of the van I agreed to go into the restaurant, where I proceeded to eat very little of my delicious food, because there comes a point where you just can’t eat anymore, or you will throw up! I am looking forward to eating the leftovers tomorrow for dinner unless Phil pulls in somewhere else and exclaims that we just have to eat there… Truly, though, I appreciated the gesture. It was very, very thoughtful (and well thought out) of Phil.
Of course, it would be completely unreasonable to think we could get through a whole travel day without a meltdown of some sort, so grace came through for us at Cheddar’s. I honestly don’t even know exactly what set her off, but it had something to do with unwrapping silverware. And suddenly, Grace became moody and pouty… and she even tossed a coat over the booth and hit someone… and she would not eat any appetizers, which I thought I was going to hear about from her later… but didn’t! She finally decided to eat a few fries and half a grilled cheese sandwich, and she was “really sorry” by the time we reached the van. I hope this new attitude lasts until at least noon tomorrow…
We were about ½ an hour behind schedule after dinner, which would have been fine were it not for gridlock traffic, due to what (in the end) appeared to be a one car accident. This delayed us by another ½ an hour, which was too bad, because Phil most likely could have made up the time…
About an hour before we arrived at our hotel (the highly acclaimed Motel 6 in which we intended to crash for about the same number of hours), all the kids started getting fussy with each other and Ian just started flat out screaming. This went on for about 45 minutes, until Seth, Grace, and Caleb were instructed to remain completely silent or risk forfeiting their trip, and Phil and I burst into song (“The Itsy, Bitsy Spider,” of course) which finally calmed Ian a bit. After the “Itsy Bitsy” spider was exhausted, all of the other spiders took their turns at the water spout. We started with the Daddy Spider… and the Mommy Spider… and the Seth Spider… and the Grace Spider… and the Caleb Spider… and the Ian Spider. Since Ian was still wide awake, we went on to friend spiders… and the Miss Monica Spider took her turn… along with the Keegan Spider… and the Mr. Robert Spider… and the Miss Amber Spider… and the Avalyn Spider… and the Aubrie Spider. And Ian was still wide awake, so we returned to family spiders… the Grandma and Grandpa Spiders went up the water spout… and so did the Aunt and Uncle Spiders… and then the Cousin Spiders… And, thankfully, by the time the Abby Spider “went up the spout again”, Ian was nodding off, just in time for us to pull into our hotel… And my arms are very tired from doing the Itsy Bitsy Spider motions that many times in a row… I wouldn’t suggest it… Just in case you wondered…
Not long ago, we managed to get all people under age 10 tucked in bed… which would be almost ideal if Ian was tucked in his own bed! It was as this process was going on that Phil let me know that we only had access to dial up Internet, and we didn’t have what we needed for our laptops to connect without wireless. Phil proceeded to grab the phone book and look up the nearest Panera Bread, which he found down the street… And in a few moments, I am going to send him back to make this post and send some schoolwork in for me (which I completed on the ever faithful Lillian the laptop, while we were stuck in the aforementioned traffic jam)…
And now it is time for bed. Because I have been awake for goin’ on 20 hours… and I am really tired… and Day 2 awaits…
Lisa
1 comment:
COOL! I got my own Itsy Bitsy Spider!! lol
I was worried about you guys last night, though. I was briefly on the interstate and nearly got my van blown off of the road, so I'm glad you guys made it to your destination safely.
This is such a cool idea. Thanks for keeping us posted on the trip!
Oh, almost forgot.. House update.. they came back with a counter offer, but agreed to pay the closing fees. Gotta go talk to Stacia today. =)
Post a Comment