Time Flies

...when you're not blogging. It just seems to WHIZ by, in fact!

It's been way too long since I actually wrote anything. My blog seems to indicate I haven't actually written anything since Monday. Not Monday last week week, but Monday TWO weeks ago. How in the world did that happen??? I have NO IDEA what's happened since then. Uummm... we've been doing school faithfully. That's a bittersweet thing.

I’ve been trying for days and days and days to blog—really, I have! (Actually, THIS post was written in parts, on three different occasions--I'm just now putting them together to actually post them!) It just hasn’t been working out so great for me. In the beginning it was because I was so busy trying to get ready for The Big Trip. The past few days it’s been because I haven’t been able to get online. But here I am—ready to record the happenings of my life… if only I could remember them.

Let's see...

James took a trip to my folks' house WITHOUT me and the kids. That's so wrong. Okay, so it wasn't actually a vacation type trip--but still! ;-) He had a Ways & Means meeting last week, so he flew out Thursday morning. Very, very early Thursday morning. So early we had to leave the house at 3:30 to get him there. What a TERRIBLE way to start a day! Anyway, the kids and I were on our own until Sunday night. We played some games and had a pizza party (of course) and otherwise had a nice, relaxing weekend. I spent a lot of time working on my chorus book. The one I'd made a few years ago has completely fallen apart, so I'm going through a new one and writing down all the chords and all that junk. Takes forever, but I LOVE having it when it's all finished. :-)

On Saturday while James was gone the kids and I decided to take a walk. It was a beautiful day out, 70-some degrees and a nice breeze. We hadn't made it half a mile when I started noticing HUGE drops on the road. It started sprinkling and we decided to turn around and head back home, just in case. It hadn't been a full minute before I HEARD the rain behind us. I turned to look and could see the sheet of rain heading our way, and fast! We took off running, but there was no chance. About that time the thunder and lightning started up, adding to the frenzy. Ha! The drops were gigantic--it felt like you were being pelted with water balloons! We laughed and ran the whole way home and were totally drenched when we got there. It was great!

We hadn't been home very long when the Clarksons showed up. They were up in the mountains looking at rental houses and just thought they'd stop by. I was so glad they did--we never have people just pop in on us like that!--but Katie and I looked HORRIBLE! Our hair was all ratty and matted from the rain and she looked rough and I looked ten times past rough. I bet the Clarksons call first before they come next time. Ha! No, it was so great--the kids ran and played the whole time while Brother Chris & Sister Shanda and I just sat at the table and visited. It was so nice.

We had visitors on Sunday morning, then after church we (the Clarksons, the kids, and I) went to the Chinese buffet with them. They are a really sweet older couple who have been attending Ryan Peter's church (they're from Indiana) and we really enjoyed visiting with them. That night was my ABM service and I was thankful to have it over with. HA! No, it wasn't that bad. ;-) After church we ended up going to the Clarksons' house to hang out until James' flight arrived just after 10:00 that night. It seemed silly to go home and then come back into town for the third time in one day! Besides, it made for three visits with the Clarksons in one weekend and I think that's a new record. :-) It was great. I love them so much!

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday--it's all a blur. It was filled with all of the pre-trip activities.

I managed to have the house all cleaned up spic and span (which feels sooooo good) when we left at about 8:00 Friday morning. We stopped at Fazoli’s in Amarillo for lunch, as has become our custom when taking this route. We then drove on to Oklahoma City and were able to schedule an impromptu dinner with the Adams at Cracker Barrel. :-) That made me very, very happy. I’m so glad we were able to get with them on such short notice. We had a nice visit and a few really good laughs. Brother Ray apparently doesn’t know the difference between “autumn” colored hair, and “auburn” hair. Ha! HE CRACKS ME UP!

We didn’t make it as far that night as we had hoped (we were shooting for Missouri, but had about an hour of Oklahoma still to traverse when we called it a night), so that put us a little behind schedule on Saturday. Since moving to New Mexico, our route back east takes us through St. Louis. The kids always love seeing the Arch and we had determined that THIS was the trip we were going to stop and actually take them up into it. It was a case of very, very poor planning. We are way too smart to make plans to go to a major tourist attraction on a Saturday afternoon in August! I don’t know WHAT we were thinking…

We got there and had to stand in line to go through security (it was just like at the airport) for 15 minutes or so—just to make it into the building. We saw the HORDES of people there (a billion or more, in my estimation!) and considered just looking through the museum and then hitting the road, but two-thirds of the children really wanted to up into the Arch. We looked at the line to purchase tickets and explained that we would have to wait for a very long time for our turn, but they “reeeeeeeeeeally” wanted to go up. Joe had no interest and was ready to get on the road again right away. (The sooner we leave, the sooner we make it to Pennsylvania, the sooner he gets to fish in the creek, --all that jazz.) I don’t know what possessed us to do it, but we decided to stick around and wait it out. So we got in line and bought our tickets (after 30-45 minutes of waiting our turn), then meandered through the museum. Then we meandered through the museum again. Then we watched a Louis and Clark video about the preparations for their expedition. Then we walked around the museum once more. We finally went and sat down on a bench and James disappeared for a few minutes. He showed up again with a bag full of taffy—really, really soft and flavorful taffy. The huckleberry and pear ones were fantastic. We ate our taffy, then waited some more. We took the kids to wait in line at the bathroom (even that had a 10 minute wait or so), then it was FINALLY time to get in line for our capsule ride to the top. We were in line there for another, oh… 20 minutes or more. We handed in our tickets, walked down the ramp, then waited for ANOTHER 20 minutes or so… !!!!! It was totally insane. Joe was soooooooo frustrated and by that time I had joined him. What a waste!!! I mean, it’s not like it’s THAT cool to go to the top of the Arch, you know?! We were finally led to our capsule door where (you guessed it) we waited for another 10 minutes or so. It was pretty hilarious how, after having waited for all that time, we watched all the people who had just come down from the top and they all looked totally miserable. Not a smile in the whole bunch of them. James stood there as they walked past asking over and over again, “Was it worth it? …Was it worth it? …Was it worth it?” Ha! (It so obviously wasn’t.) It was FINALLY our turn to go up and we were soooooo relieved. We crawled into our itty-bitty pod, big enough for five cozy people, and began chugging our way to the top. We’d barely just begun when Sam decided he didn’t like this one bit. The pod shifts back and forth as you ka-chink your way up and you can see through the glass door way, way, way down the higher you get—and that wasn’t fun at all, Sam decided. Every time the pod would shift he would yell, “Dad, STOP—you’re rocking it!!!” Ha! He wasn’t a total wreck, but he was pretty worried. It was quite funny. I didn’t remember until we were on our way up that I really don’t like heights myself anymore. I’d gone up years ago with no problem, so I never considered it would be an issue. Ah yes, I remember now. It wasn’t terrifying, but I do get a sick feeling in my gut every now and again when I THINK about where I am and what I’m doing.

Anyway, we made it to the top and got out… and had to wiggle our way through MOBS of people (shouldn’t there be a maximum capacity law in affect up there?!) in hopes of finding a spot where you could actually look out a window. It was hot up there and it smelled soooooo bad (no offense intended, but several somebody's up there hadn’t bathed and/or used deodorant in way, way too long) and after the kids looked out the window for about 30 seconds they were ready to go. Ha! So they got one of those great speeches that we parents are so adept at giving. “We waited 4 hours to get up here and we finally made it—now you get back up there and look out that window right now!!! Now turn around and smile for the camera and LOOK HAPPY, you understand me?!” Ha! It was sooooooooooo great. We talked the whole day (while we were waiting all of that time) about MEMORIES and how that’s what we’re doing—making memories. We’ll always remember the day our family went to the St. Louis Arch and we’ll look back and be so happy that we did it, blah, blah, blah. In the end, we certainly have memories… but they’re not the ones we expected! Ha! We’ll remember waiting around for hours and hours with a ka-jillion other hot, sweaty, crabby people, then the ride being scary for Sam and the top being not so thrilling for anybody (as well as hot and smelly) and the four+ hours of our trip that were wasted when we COULD have made some serious progress, etc., etc., etc… We have memories of how cranky Joe was because of what a terrible waste of time it was. And one of the very best memories—when it was all said and done and Sam was complaining about riding in the pod being scary, we reminded him that he was one of the ones who really, really wanted to go up into the Arch. His response? “Dad, this is the worst decision I’ve ever made in my whole life!” HA! I love it—from a six year old! :-)

Anyway (!!!), after we FINALLY got out of there we stopped and ate at Steak ‘n Shake. That made the evening take a definite turn for the better. :-) ~Aaaaaahhhhh~ Nothing like a Frisco burger and fries with extra Frisco sauce when you haven’t had it in a year!

We made it through Missouri and Illinois and BARELY into Indiana before crashing for the night. It left us with nearly 10 hours left to drive on Sunday, so it was another long day of sitting in the van. But we finally MADE IT!!! Wa-Hoo! We are now in Pennsylvania, ready to enjoy a week with James’ parents. :-)

This morning Joe burst into our bedroom at 7:45 saying, "You guys going to sleep all day??? I've had four pancakes and a bunch of bacon, I've been up to the barn to get the fishing poles, been riding bikes and..." then he listed several other things he'd been doing while we slept the day away. It was 5:45 were we come from, you know?! The kids just LOVE it here. They've been riding bikes and splashing in the kid pool and running from bees and finding snakes and fishing the creek and capturing crawdads and decorating the lane with sidewalk chalk and who knows what else. They run wild outside ALL THE TIME here. James and his Dad and I went to town for an oil change and some shopping, then stopped by the Amish store on our way home to pick up a few things. Got some cloves for you, Mom. :-) The kids stayed here with James' Mom. They will no doubt fall into bed and be snoring in no time tonight--they've been playing hard since early this morning. Love it. :-)

In other news, GOD LOVES ME SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!! I’ve wanted to attend IYC for… well, all my life! For a plethora of reasons, it just never has worked out. After the Assembly last year I began praying that God would work all of the necessary miracles (and there were a few of ‘em!) to make it possible for us to attend this year. It’s been a long, long road with lots of maybe’s and not-lookin’-so-goods, and several different options over the past couple of weeks that would have enabled me to attend 2/3 of IYC, then maybe just about 1/2 instead, and then none at all again—but at least James would be able to go. But as of yesterday afternoon, I AM GOING TO IYC!!!! 100% of the time!!!!!! I am soooooooooooooooo excited!!! ~sigh~ God is soooooo good and loves me sooooooo much to have worked this out! It’s just perfect and I’m so thrilled. :-) So the plan is to enjoy a great week in Pennsylvania, then leave bright and early Saturday morning and go to IYC!!! ~aaaahhhh~ Life is Grand. :-) And just so you know, Ashley Werkheiser is worth her weight in chocolate. (I would say gold, but she deems chocolate as the more valuable of the two and it just seemed fitting to say it this way instead. Ha!)

Sorry there are no pictures. I tried adding one, but it was taking soooooooooooo long with this dial-up connection! Maybe next time. :-)