Alabama Trip

We left on Wednesday. I think it was a Wednesday... We drove and drove and drove and made it into Arkansas, then on into Bessemer the next day. We were scared (heard horror stories from my Mom) about the rush hour traffic on the Interstate, so we took some smaller highways and dropped into town from the northeast side. I love the roads there. The trees are changing colors right now and they line the winding roads and cast tall shadows. Just like on TV. ;-) The drive was very pretty and leisurely.

We found the church without a problem--and were amazed at how close we had been to it when we were in town after the Assembly, and had no idea! It is BEAUTIFUL. So beautiful it was a little overwhelming for us poor western folk who are used to meeting in store fronts and daycare centers! Ha! Inside and out, it is just so nice. HUGE and beautifully finished, but not fancy and intimidating. Still, I wondered how long it would take me adjust to such a change! Can God move in beautiful church buildings like He does in the little corners we're used to meeting in??? Of course He can. :-) I didn't think to take any pictures of the building itself, but James took this one of the sign out front when we drove up:


Is that not the coolest thing?! We felt so welcome, right off the bat. :-)

Then in the fellowship hall, where they have a section partitioned off for Children's Church there was hand colored banner that the kids there had made that said, "Welcome Katie, Joe & Sam." I intended all weekend to take a picture of the kids with it and somehow managed to fail! They were sooooo excited when they saw it--that that was just the neatest thing ever. :-)

When we got to the church Brother and Sister Powell had just arrived with their fifth-wheel and were busy getting it all set up, hooked up, plugged in and everything else there is to do. It's amazing how much work is involved in the convenience of a camper! Ha! They kept insisting it was no trouble at all, however, and in a little while we were unloading the contents of our van and getting settled into our new home for the coming week.

The Powells were still getting the trailer set up when our new pastor and his wife, the Hopkins, arrived. They had introduced themselves after the Assembly, but things were so crazy and rushed (and I couldn't see them well through all of the tears--ha!), so this felt like the first time we'd met them. They just stopped by to see that we'd made it in safely and ask if there was anything that we needed. How thoughtful!

The next morning we drove down to Vance so we could check out a house we'd found online that James just loved. It was a beautiful house and a nice drive, though a little long. Unfortunately, the house was surrounded by not-so-nice houses, making it a risky venture. We always try to keep resale value in mind. We wandered around a little bit on our way back to Bessemer, checking out some areas and getting a feel for things down there. We went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few groceries and happened to run into Sister Ridlespurge. They are nosy people and had been driving past the church to see if we'd made it in yet or not... but I don't think they were actually stalking us to Wal-Mart. HA! They are GREAT people--we love them already. They're the ones who told us they're nosy, by the way--I'm only repeating their confession. ;-)

That afternoon James needed some time alone, so I loaded up the kids to do some drive-by's of several houses on our list. Katie enjoys looking at houses with us, but the boys are always bored out of their gourds. They were both asleep by the third or fourth house. We marked several off the list that day--in fact, I think we only had one that we actually went back to see with the realtor later on. It's good to drive by and see what won't work (just judging by the area and whatnot) before you haul a realtor all over the county with you. ;-)

By the time we got back to the church Mom and Dad had arrived with their own camper and were setting up next door to us. :-) We visited for a little while and played a little croquet with the kids, then it was time to go get ready for service--the first service of Minister's Convention.

But that will have to come in another post. More later...