Well Christmas break starts this week. I can't wait till it starts, because then I'll have two weeks off from school! I am hoping to get some new books when we do our book and game Christmas as i have read all my books quite a few times already. We will also spend that week playing lots of games and generally spend time as a family.

Thanksgiving Weekend (by Annie)

Last weekend we had my moms best friend from her childhood, Laurie, and her family over for Thanksgiving. On Wednesday Laurie and Sarah had a lot of fun sorting out all our Playmobil, every time Sarah would finish sorting her pile Lauri would give Sarah half of her pile, Laurie's excuse was that Sarah kept beating her so she had to keep giving Sarah more and more of her pile. On Saturday afternoon we went Geocashing and ended up getting adopted by a cat. We are calling her Hobbs. Then that evning we all played Bible Outburst, at first it was the girls against the boys and then the parents challenged us kids to a game and we almost beat them, it was a matter of missing one answer on one of our questions, or we would have won. All in all we had a really good weekend playing and making new friends.

Thanksgiving be Sarah

The long weekend was really fun with the Arthur's here. While they were here we cleaned the playroom and Lauri and I got stuck on the sorting. I'm a lot faster than her so she kept dumping stuff from her pile into my pile and we had a lot of fun working together and laughing together. We had so much food for thanksgiving we all ate a lot especially me and I also had alot of pie. The whole weekend we plaid alot of games. The ones I liked the most were Bible Outburst, and Qwerkel. Saturday we did a little geo casching and when we got there Annie yeld "kitten!" and we all looked and there was a kitten by the side of the road. We stopped to get out and the kitten came running up to us, it obviously wasn't scared at all. She followed us on the walk, we took her home and gave her some food, she was ravenous. We didn't know what to name her but we started calling her Geo. Later that night our mom told us that some friends of ours had to put their dog down a little while ago, and his name was Hobbs. So we named our girl cat after a boy dog. Everyone fell in love with Hobbs. Even Maggie seems to want to be with her a lot.

The other day we made applesauce, it was fun being in the kitchen most of the day but I did get a little tired of seeing apples everywhere. We where all really happy with how many quarts we got, 166 in 12 hours and a hour of clean-up afterwards. We all had our own little job and we all got it done, and it was a lot of fun being a family that day. The only injuries we got were a cut on Annie's finger and a smashed knuckle on my hand. And the apple sauce is VERY GOOD!!!

What I'm thankful for (by Annie)

I am thankful for my family, our nice warm house that we get to live in, and all the nice toys, books, and other nice things we have. I am also thankful for the Guinea Pigs, and Maggie. I am thankful for all my friends, both out here and back on the west coast, as well as the wonderful church families that God has blessed us with.

Sarah's Thankfulness list

I am thankful for a safe, warm, and dry house that I share with my wonderful family. And plenty of food that goes on the table. The many church members the when we moved here welcomed us with open arms and my many friends at Pathfinders. And for the friends that are coming for Thanksgiving. For the love and mercy that God shares with us every day, and for the many blessings that He has given us over the years.

The Long Weekend (by Annie)

Well I'm back. Last week I was out on the west cost for a trip to the orthadontist. As well as a much needed visit with friends. My Mom was a little nervous about putting me on a cross country flight by my self, but I made it fairly uneventfully. I got in Wednesday after noon in time to meet up with a friend and get to Pathfinders, where every body was very happy to see me. On Thursday I went to PAA with another friend and spent the day there with her. Then eventhough my stay had ben way to short I flew home on Friday, only to be picked up at the airport by my family, and whisked off to Chatanooga to see some friends we havent seen in forever.

Differences In The Language (by Annie)

It's amazing how different the language is out here. Not only do they use different words, but the words that are the same are some times pronounced differently as well. For instance here y'all is used a lot, were as in the Northwest you really don't hear it at all. I have also noticed that the people down here tend to talk slower than the people in the northwest.

southen accents by Sarah

People that are working in the stores we go to have southern accents, and they talk different than what I am used to. A few people in our church have a mild southern accent but most of them just say "y,all"

sounds in AL by Sarah

There is a lot more dogs barking out here and there are a lot more bird calls. There is a lot less traffic noises at our house out here and I like that. I also like the noises that the guinea pigs make. When you go out in the bake yard you can hear the horses across the fence and when you go out in the front yard you can hear the fountain that is in the pond. Some times you can hear the frog that lives there.

different sounds (by Annie)

Down here in Alabama, I here different sounds than I hear in the Northwest. For example there aren't any tornado sirens in there, but I do hear more planes out there than I do here. There are also different birds out here than there are there, such as Mocking Birds, Blue Jays, and Cardinals.

Sarah's comments on the Camporee at Alamisco

It was cold but we had a fun time anyway. The food was better than the food at our old club. I really liked the treasure hunt though I helped set it up, so I took all the little kids around to all the places. The view from the campfire bowl was pretty. Naya, Dana, Rosie, Joanead, and I had a lot of fun having a tickle war.

Camporee (by Annie)

Last weekend we went on the Gulf States Camporee, it was very cold (especially in our dress uniforms). We were able to earn the Camp Alamisco honor as well as watch the drill teams from the other clubs perform. On Friday night I was invested as tLt (teen leadership training). Then on Saturday night I performed my candle routine "Come to Jesus" as part of the talent show.

Sarah's new friend Rosie

Rosie is one of my new friends in Alabama. Columbus Day she didn't have school so she came over for the day. Rosie and I had a lot of fun together. We made lunch together and we took pictures of each other. We had a fun time coloring, talking and hanging out. Rosie, Emma and I had a fun time playing Blokus together and when we were done Rosie wanted to play again so she and Emma played again and I watched. At about 4:30 pm Rosie's peronts came and picked her up. I am wating till more of my friend can come over some time.

I love to cook and learn new recipes. I usually make diner on Tuesday night because of piano. I can make about 25 dishes including breakfast, lunch, diner, breads, salads, desert, and snacks. I like cooking because I like smelling it and eating it when it's done. their is nothing that I don't like about cooking it is always fun. I have two cook books and I hope to make some new recipes out of them. tonight for diner I am making a really good dish called potato's and dumplings and I am really exited about it.

WOW!( by Annie)

10-6-09 WOW! I can't believe it's October already! before we know it, it will be 2010. A couple of weeks ago Sarah and Emma got some very cute guinea pigs, their names are Peppy (short for Peppermint), and Doodles. It's amazing how much they've grown in just a few weeks. I am very excited about getting my own phone in the next few days.

Mayahna's Birthday

Well, I must say, other than the fact that the living room still has no furniture, we are starting to feel a bit more settled. It's still not feeling entirely like home, but having celebrated two birthdays here now, it at least feels like this place is a part of us now. School is off an rolling, that feels good. Things are going well, even with both boys home. We usually get through the main block of material by about 11, (depending on whether we got started at 8 or not - yesterday Sarah made us yummy apple enchiladas and they were not ready to eat till around 9, so that set the whole day back by an hour) That includes a nice walk mid-morning to get our blood moving again, and a snack when we get back from the walk. The girls often still have stuff to finish up in the aftenoon, but they don't usually need my help with that, so maybe I will get some time to start sorting out the mess that is some day going to be my craftroom. Annie and Emma are both in piano lessons, and doing well. In fact Annie is taking from two different teachers, one for hymns and contemporary Christian music, and learning to improvise, and one (a student at Oakwood) who focuses more on classical music. Today in Mayahna's birthday and we opened her presents this morning at breakfast. Lon was home, because his car-pool guy is not able to take him right now, so he's driving to work for a few days, so he gets to call his schedule a bit more. She got a bunch of stuff for setting up a little play house in one corner of the play room. A kitchen set, a doll bed and a doll highchair. Later today we will get that all set up for her up there. I gave the kids a light day of homeschool today, so that we would have time to go up there and play with her. Thankfully the weather is nice, (cooler) and so it is not too hot up there since the AC STILL is not fixed.

Things that are weird in the south

In the northwest it's Best Foods and in the south it's Hellmann's. In the north it's Dryers ice cream and in the south it's Eddy's. In the north you can by 10 to 15 pounds of four at once but you can't in the south because it would become infested with bugs. In the south they start school in early August.

a little creative writing using 'order words; by Emma

First we went to Yellowstone, we drove around and we didn't see any moose but after we left Yellostone we saw two moose, a male and a female, so that was rather weird. While we were in Yellowstone we did see a bison and alot of Elk too. Second we went to the Crazy Horse monument. It was big and rather interesting - especially the Native American history that was there. After that we went to Mt Rushmore. They had this one thing there that you could choose a piece of the mountain on a little screen and you could push a button and see part of the mountain get blown off. Next we drove for a very long while. But after a while we got to Wall Drug. It is a big tourist attraction in the middle of nowhere. Then we went to the Corn Palace, after driving more. It is a big building that is decorated in corn, it was pretty cool. After we left there we saw lots and lost and lots and lots of corn growing. It was rather boring. But we listened to a really cool Adventures in Odyssey tape, though. Before we stopped for the night, we saw a farmer selling corn from his truck so we bought some and had corn on the cob for dinner. Soon after that we got to OshKosh. Around that time, about a day later, most of our friends got there. During that time was the most fun by far, because there wasn't very much sitting in cars. Last we went to Alabama. We are now there.

Around town (by Annie)

A few weeks ago I saw an article in the paper about a study that was done to find the best place in the nation to raise kids. Madison was number two on that list! We haven't been able to do much sight seeing because we have been busy unpacking. I have been to both of the malls though and I was happy to find that they have a lot of the same stores as the malls out there do. The closest mall is also only about 15 minutes away.

The Neighborhood (by Sarah)

Our neighborhood is on the Placid Drive loop. It's pretty and green and I really like it here. Ther are about 10 to 15 houses in our neighborhood and they are all pritty big. The lawns are fairly large and well taken care of. Our house is on the back of the loop and is one of the smaller houses in the neighborhood. Our back yard is fenced which is unusual in our neighborhood. We have a small pond and fountain in the front. There is a pathway that stretches across the house and many plants and bushes.

Pictures are posted on Facebook

I believe this is a link you can use, whether you are a facebook member or not - let me know if it doesn't work.

Sharon

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=104953&id=855079716&l=ac3b7ea64f

WOW!! That was positively AWFUL!! I wanted to post so often, and I couldn't get on. It's quite complicated and I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say, it was FRUSTRATING!!

Anyway, it's fixed now, and I'm going to try to get something posted here on a MUCH more regular basis. We arrived safely on the 18th, as expected and spent the first week living in the house, pretty much with just the stuff we had in the trailer with us. On Sunday of that week the church all showed up to help us move our stuff from storage over to the house. It was awesome!!! We fed everyone pizza to tell them thanks, and commenced the 'settling in'. THAT has been quite a process, which is coming to a near-end soon, hopefully. It IS nice to have a great deal more space to settle in to, and it is also nice to have gotten rid of alot of junk. But we also got rid of things like our kitchen table, and our living room furniture. Which we have not had time/money to replace just yet. Hopefully that will be able to happen in the next few weeks (the furniture anyway - the table will likely end up being a custom build, and we won't likely get it for a couple of months yet) (we want a round one that seats 8, with a lazy suzan in the middle - and three leaves that can be added, so that it can seat up to 14) But we are using our folding tables for now, and that is working fine. The bedrooms are all pretty much set up. Annie and Sarah are waiting till October for their new beds, when we can make a run to Atlanta and go to IKEA.
Most of us are adjusting pretty well. Emma has actually been the one who has had the hardest time. She refuses to call this 'home' - even when we are at the church or something, and she wants to know when we are leaving, she won't say "when are we going home?" She has been extra sad, too, because of all the losses of her pets that happened in the months and weeks before we left. So we went and got her a new hamster a few weeks ago. Well, wouldn't you know it. It died too! So we are looking at getting a Guinea Pig instead. Much more hearty and cuddlier, too from what we are told, we have a baby one on reserve that will be available next Thursday.
Yesterday we went to a nearby 'mountain' (think Mt. Tabor) and did some hiking. The kids had a blast, running around on the interesting rock formations, etc. We'll have to get back there with the camera some time soon and take pictures to share (of course, I'll have to figure out how to load pictures on to here, too!) Next Sabbath we will be going to some caves with the Pathfinders. It is a very active group, here. We're looking forward to getting to know everyone more as we do more with them...
School has not started yet, we are hoping to get it started in the next week or two. We have to join an 'umbrella group' here. Basically an organization that can vouch for us as to how much work we do, and assumes the position of 'administration' in regards to our 'school'. It was quite a process narrowing down the choices (though many were 'full' and therefore not an option to us for this year, so I'll have to go through it all again in the spring, if we decide we want to change!) I have it narrowed down to two now, and I'll make the choice in the next week, and we'll start school the Monday after that, hopefully, or the next one at the latest...
Ricky and Tommy are going to be home with us this year, so that will be quite a challenge, keeping them occupied and learning, too! I'm actually going to use a structured curriculum this year, called 'The Weaver Curriculum" from Alpha Omega. They take a bible lesson and weave it into the rest of the subjects, for instance, if you are studying the plagues. You might study frogs in science and Egyptian Geography in Social studies. I'm looking forward to it. I think it will be fun, and I think I will enjoy it. I'm a little nervous about it, as I do not have a good history or using prepared curriculums, I usually find them frustrating. But this one seems so similar to what I would have created, if I had time/energy. I think we are really going to enjoy it.
The house is nice. It's very open and roomy. The kitchen is smaller than the one I had, but it would have been pretty hard to find a bigger kitchen than that one, and I really like that everything is right off of the kitchen, there is an eat-in dining space, with a built-in desk there, there is a formal dining room, which we will use as a den, for homeschooling, the utility room is just off of the kitchen too. So there is no traipsing up and down the stairs to see if the laundry is done or not... Yea!! There is a large living room with a vaulted ceiling with exposed beams, and a big fireplace. And Lon's and my bedroom is off of that. We have a jetted tub!!!! I've been in that on a regular basis!! The kids bedrooms are all upstairs except Annie, and there is also a large play room up there. Downstairs, about half of the space is finished. There are two rooms and two large closets in the finished space. Annie is in one of those rooms. The other doesn't have a window, so we will use it as a guest room, I suppose. The rest of the space is a room that could be developed into a family room, and another room that serves as camping storage and storm shelter. There is also a three car garage on the main floor. It sits on 7/10th of an acre, and it's out in the country. Horses off of the back property line. There are about 20 houses in our little 'development' and our lot is probably one of the smallest ones. There are about three other families in the 'neighborhood' who also homeschool. It's a nice quiet street, and the best way to meet neighbors is to be out walking in the evening. Many of the neighbors either walk, or sit out on their porch during that time, and we have met many of the neighbors that way. Most people seem very friendly.
The church is definitely friendly. And very community focused. They went out and passed out flyers before Pathfinders and Adventurers got started back up this fall, inviting community kids to join in, and there are several families attending one or the other because of receiving a flyer! Quite exciting. Sabbath, during the Adventurer meeting I heard one little girl reply "no" to the teacher's question "y'all know about Jesus, right?" How exciting for that teacher, to be the first to tell that little girl about Jesus!!
Well, for now, I guess that will be all. Check back often, though, I'll try to post often, too. We miss everyone. Looking forward to heaven! When we can all be together in one place, and with our saviour!!

Had to mention one more thing, since I noticed that you are following this, Mark, we DID make it to Wall Drug. I thought it was very fun, the kids were all, "whatever" - especially Annie - she just kept asking "what is the big thing about Wall Drug?" But she did really like the Corn Palace!!! (of course that could have something to do with her addiction to popcorn!!)

I gotta figure out how to post pictures to this!! I'll try to do that tomorrow. The day that we stayed in one place for a while, for Tommy's birthday, we played Bocce ball, and Lon did pretty good, his first game, he was in the lead, until I figured out that he has a bit of a problem with his close game. There is a HILARIOUS picture of my four balls all clustered around the jack, and his all about 15 feed down the field!! I'll try to get those posted as soon as I can figure that out. I may end up posting them on facebook, if it is too hard to post them here.

Access to internet has not been nearly as forthcoming as we were expecting it to be. But we are all mostly well, and have arrived safely at OshKosh - I am currently at the hotel room of a friend so that Sarah and I could take showers, so I have have access for a few more minutes, until she is done.

Friday evening we pulled in to the parking lot of a small church in Albert Lea, Minnesota. We camped there for the night, attended church, Sabbath School, and pot luck there, along with four other visitors from the NW, a truck driver from Coure d' Alene, and a family from Moses Lake that we know from way back, the Larson's, and their granddaughter. They are on their way to OshKosh too. We stayed there, camped next to the church for the remainder of Sabbath, and pulled out early in the morning and drove the last few hours. Just as we crossed the state line into the state of Wisconsin, at about 9:00 we pulled in to a rest stop to eat breakfast, and low and behold, in pulls Bob Gaede and his son. They have been here all month, visiting family, and helping do early set up. He informed us that we would be able to pull right in to the club camping spot, right when we got there. Which was WONDERFUL to find out, as our funds are running rather tight, and so we were planning to 'camp' in the Walmart parking lot and be at the gate at 8:00 to wait for the 10:00 official opening time. He told us how to go around to the south gate, that there was a dump station there, and fresh water filling point, and then we could pull right in to our club's spot, and camp tonight!! Yea!! So we knocked out the last four hours of driving, and did just that!! It is WONDERFUL to be somewhere where we won't have to move for several more nights. I'm looking forward to next summer's trip out to the NW with OUT all the extra gear we have to schlep in and out of the trailer ever time we need to bed down, and without the dog - she travels well, but it's just one more thing... We will be traveling SO much lighter on that trip.

The order of business for tomorrow is to find a place that will take care fo Maggie for us for the week, and to find a place to go swimming with the kids, as we have not done that yet, on this trip, and we told the kids we would do it ALOT, so we have to make good!! At about 6 in the evening we start making airport runs to get everyone else from the club picked up from Appleton. Then everything gets rolling on Tuesday afternoon for the actual camporee. You probably won't hear from us much after that, they keep us pretty busy!!

The traveling has gone pretty well, really, no major mishaps (one small one that only cost us a $12 repair) and nothing more than a minor cold passed around among us. Sarah and I had it yesterday and were pretty wiped out, of course the heat didn't help on that front either, but we were both pretty low energy, but it was Sabbath, so we just rested. Mayahna and Ricky have had a bit of a hard time with all of the changes taking place every day, but hopefully things will get easier now, that we are staing in one place for a while.

I think I mentioned in my last post that we decided not to drop south on this part of the trip, that we would stop to see the kid's birth aunt on the way to Alabama on Sunday evening, next week. So that part of the trip has not taken place yet, if you knew about it, and are wondering why I have not mentioned it. The one sister, that lives in S. Carolina, couldn't make it up, so it made more sense to just stop in St. Louis (where the other sister lives) on the way south, rather than going out of our way to see them now. The reason we were going down there before OshKosh was because of that other sister coming up then - the original plan called for us to drop south before, because she was unable to make it up on the date we would go through after - but now that she can't make it at all, we changed our plans to fit better, and will just stop there next week. We'll go over and see the S. Carolina sister some time after we get settled in our new place.

The kids are getting pretty excited about getting to Alabama, I think Sarah would rather that we just keep right on going and get there, rather than staying here for a week. But I know that once her friends from PVC get here tomorrow, and once she meets her new friends from Alabama, and once the activities get going, she will settle in and enjoy herself.

We are a LONG ways from the activities this time, so there will be a LOT of walking going on this week. That will be kind of nice, after all the SITTING that has been going on!! I guess we were pretty spoiled last time, and didn't realize just how lucky we were!!

Well, sounds like Sarah is about done, I better wrap up. Hope all is well with all of you!! post a reply if you like, so I know you have been here, reading!!

(written by Sarah on 8-5-09)
We had a fun day in Yellowstone, we saw buffalo, deer, elk, old faithful, many thermal pools, and a very daring chipmonk. I was so exited to be in Montana and Wyoming. Seeing lots of cows and sheep in all the fields and some deer by the rode was very exciting. Seeing lots of rocks and trees was kind of boring. We also saw two moose by the side of the road - one male and one female and got some good pictures. I didn't get a very good night's sleep last night but we got to see a very beautiful sunrise this morning, while we were driving down out of the Rockies and the black hills in South Dakota.

Well, today has been a most relaxing day – Up until now we have been a bit rushed – trying to get to Mt Rushmore in time to meet up with Mrs. Stanley to get some paperwork to her. Now that we have made it to that destination, and now that we have decided not to go south to visit relatives, we have a much more relaxed itinerary from here on out. The first day, when we left Coure'd Alene, we didn't actually look at our spread sheet that had our trip planned out, until just as we were leaving town, at nearly 2:00 – only to discover we had 8 hours of driving to do to get to the campground we had reservations at, just outside of Yellowstone. So we pulled in there, VERY late (early actually – due to the time change) and bedded down quickly, so as to get up and out into Yellowstone as early as possible in the morning. We spent a nice day, Monday, exploring Old Faithful and other locations inside the park. We saw some wildlife, elk in particular, a couple of buffalo, a couple of osprey and a bald eagle. We were REALLY hoping for a bear and a moose, but didn't get so lucky. We camped back at the same campground that night, and drove, out through the park on our way east, in the morning. We stopped at the boiling mud pit on that trip through, and kept our eyes pealed for moose and bear. When we left the park, the highway took us through amazing territory and the Big Horn National Forest, where we did manage to spot a moose!! Two of them, actually! It was quite exciting.

We actually met up with Mrs. Stanley at the Crazy Horse exhibit, which we were quite excited to be let in for free at, simply because we mentioned that Thomas is half Native American. It was quite an amazing, extensive exhibit of Native American history and art. It will be a VERY amazing sculpture when they are done with it. And, being the first week of August, there were TONS of motorcycles there!! (Sturgis is just a few miles away!) Mt. Rushmore felt almost a bit like an afterthought, though it was awe inspiring too, in it's own way. We also saw some big horn sheep, there, just at the entrance sign. That was cool.

We left there, and found an RV site in Rapid City – where we are right now. We had planned to take the day to do more relaxing things, playing at a water park, etc. Due to it being Tommy's birthday. But we woke up to rain today and had to change our plans. So we have just been here at the campground all day, tidying up the trailer, and getting laundry done, playing bocce ball, and generally getting our lives a tad more organized. As soon as the laundry is done, here in a few minutes, we are going to head out, hit a DQ (thank you Charlene!) for birthday cake - and then go miniature golfing at a pirate coarse we saw in town this morning when we were on a grocery/birthday present run.

From here on out, we only have to cover 4-5 hours of driving each day in order to reach OshKosh on Monday morning, early. God is taking care of our needs, so far, as they come up. But continued prayers for the finances would be much appreciated – and also for and extra measure of strengthening of our trust in Him to continue to do that...

On the Road Wednesday Afternoon- Annie

7:00 AM - It was really cool, last night we got to see a huge bull moose, and then a little while later we saw a cow moose as well. After leaving our camp site this morning we got to see a beautiful sunrise. It's amazing coming out of the Rockies. There's not a lot of rolling hills, you come out of the Rockies and it's rather flat.

4:00 PM - We just left Crazy Horse. It was very cool! There were all sorts of informational facts as well as lots of models of how it's going to look when it's done. We're just a few minutes out from Mt. Rushmore. Several hours ago we passed these strange hills, they look like a giant hand grabbed a handful of earth and pulled it upwards into a point. We've also seen a lot of Prong Horn.

6:30 PM - We just left Mt. Rushmore. It was even better than I remembered it! They had a really interesting documentary on how the mountain was carved.

offline

well, we thought we would have easy access here at camp, but turns out that is not so much the case. So we will begin posting daily next week, when we hit the road... Too busy relaxing here at camp anyway. Please continue to pray for God's intervention in our financial situation; things were not quite so 'ok' as I reported in my last post... Thanks so much for all your support and prayers so far. We know He will take care of us, and we KNOW He is in control of our situation... maybe what I should ask for prayers on is peace in our hearts regarding the path that He has us on...

Leaving (Annie)

Thursday at 9:30 pm I left our house in Camas Washington for the last time. It was a bitter sweet moment. Bitter, because it means I'm leaving all my friends I have out here, and sweet because it means that I'm starting a new chapter in my life. I am kind of excited about getting out there for a few reasons. First, because it means I will get my own room. Moving also means that I have the possibility of getting to ride horses more often, as our new next-door neighbors have horses.

We Finally Left =( (Sarah)

When we left or friends house at 4:45am we were all pretty sleepy and slept most of the way. We all started waking up about 6:00 when we stopped at a gas station and got some food. Then we watched a movie until we got to my auntie Anita and uncle Mark's. We spent about 4 hours at their house and had one of the first sit-down breakfasts we've had in a long time (Tommy had a GREAT time with their dogs). We left Yakima and traveled for about 4 more hours. That's including our stop in Tri-Cities for a nap for my mom and some gas for the truck. We got to Walla Walla, where my grandparents live, and had a dinner of waffles that was delicious. It is hard too believe that we are actually on are way.

A First Step in the Journey (Sharon)

Well, I guess it is time to get this started. Several of you have mentioned that you really wished we would blog this trip, so I have had it on my 'to do' list for quite some time. But the demands of getting out of town were pretty intense, so I have not been able to start it till now. The last two weeks are probably the most demanding weeks I have ever lived through. Fortunately many of you were praying for us too, and we definitely felt your prayers. We were able to just work through all the things that needed to be done. I believe (at this point) we got all of them done, and we only left the house five hours later than we thought, though we ended up not leaving town till the next morning.

The last week was pretty insane. We were living at the house, but our stuff was in the trailer, for the most part. The hard wood floor was down, and the painting was done, so I didn't want the kids running around in the house much, so they sort of hung out on their air mattresses that were blown up and laying on the dining room floor. They played computer games, and watched movies, and occasionally went over to the park. It was a pretty hot week, so they didn't have much energy anyway, and they were pretty tired from the high activity of Campmeeting the week before. Meanwhile I was 'tying up loose ends'. Selling the last few furniture items on Craig's list, getting left over items delivered to the right people, overseeing the various contractors that were doing work on the house (landscaping, hard wood, general contracting, etc) cleaning, and getting the trailer ready to roll. We just sort of worked through the week. But by Tuesday evening, when Mayahna tore a two inch hole in the wallpaper in the bathroom, I realized we needed to have a different plan for where the kids would be. So we arranged for them to be at Greg and Lisa's all day on Thursday, while Annie and I finished up at the house. Then we also ended up, at the very last minute, having them go to Sonny and Jan's for an afternoon on Wednesday. The trailer was at the 'shop' getting the bike hitch installed, so they couldn't be in the trailer, and there was something going on at the house, with a contractor, that made me uncomfortable leaving them there. Around noon, Sonny and Jan were at the house, finishing up some of the landscaping, and so I asked if the kids could spend the afternoon with them, while Annie and I went to our art class. (we took a watercolor class this last week, from Annie's art teacher, and REALLY enjoyed it!! I have always wanted to learn to watercolor, and it was a little piece of sanity in the middle of a very crazy week!) I am SOOOOOOOO grateful for friends who are willing to help out. There is NOOOOOOO way I could have made it through last week without the help of several friends. Lisa Sloop, Lori and Frank, Sonny and Jan, Lisa and Greg Davis, Patricia and Jarrod, Russell, David, Brenda M., and many others. God has blessed all of us with a super supportive group of awesome friends. We could not have made it through last week without them, and the prayers and emotional support of many others too.

We have had quite a journey over the last few months, really starting back on the fall, when we realized our need to work on getting rid of the debt we ran up when Lon was last laid off. We had no idea at the time, what huge changes this journey would bring in our lives, but it has been clear, every step of the way, that God's hand is in what is happening in our lives. There are times, when in our human shortsightedness, we get a tiny bit panicked, but when we take the time to stop and think about how God has been guiding us, we have been able to re-focus our attention on His providence (PROVIDE-ence) and sit back and watch Him lead us on an amazing path.

One example of this is the finances for the trip. About two weeks ago, we began to realize that the budget was going to run pretty tight. All of our contractors needed to be paid, and we had to make a deposit on the new house, and we needed money for the trip, and Lon was going to be taking two weeks off. It was looking MORE than tight... There were a few hours of panic on my part. But I kept reminding myself of the guidance God had provided so far, and that He was not going to leave us stranded in Nebraska with no money for gas. At some point, very close to when I was getting ready to actually pull out from the house, Lon called and told me that everything was going to be OK. When he had calculated the budget he had 'overlooked' one of his paychecks. There would actually be two checks waiting for us when we arrived in Alabama, not one. So we bumped out several of our payments, and will have plenty of money for the trip now. God is so good, He didn't even have to come up with the money for us this time. I think the whole thing was just another opportunity to exercise our faith muscles.

Another example is the bike hitch. It has been a pretty crazy process getting a hitch installed on the back of the trailer, so that we can put a bike rack back there. There have been several failed attempts and wrong parts ordered, and other wrong parts delivered, and appointments met by me, or by Lon, and parts are not there, etc etc. A real comedy (not) of errors. We had been mentioning to people that they might want to take their business elsewhere, and not deal with this particular shop. We ended up eating our words when I went in to pay for the whole thing which easily could have run close to $500 by the time the gal doing the install spent nearly six hours installing it!! We were still in the 'we are running very tight on funds' mode, and I was frankly, not sure there would be money in the bank to cover the check I was going to need to write – hoping something would sell on Craig's List to cover it. When I went in to pick it up, and pay, they would not let me pay. Not even for the labor. The part supplier had messed around with them enough that they were going to demand that the part be provided free of charge, and they were just going to eat it on the labor and not let me pay, because of all the hassle. I stood there, just feeling so blessed by God. I tipped the gal who was doing the install, because it was 6:30 when I went in to get it, she was still not done, (and didn't finish for another hour and a half,) and usually gets off at 3:30!!! I gave her a GOOD sized tip!! What a blessing!! So, if I said to you, some time last week, that doing business with the U-Haul in Vancouver is a bad idea – forget about it, they treated us VERY well!! They are very wonderful people to work with (they really were VERY nice about it all- just a comedy of repeated errors- and they recognized it and made good in the end). What a blessing.

So Thursday afternoon found Annie and I getting last minute stuff done at the house, running last minute errands, and doing our one last art class, while Sarah and the three little ones hung out at Davis's. (Emma was at camp this week) We had pulled an all nighter the night before, getting the last bit of cleaning done. I had slept for all of two hours. The plan was to pull out by 6:00 in the evening, so we could arrive in Yakima early enough to put air beds on my sister's floor and sleep for the night there. When we arrived at art class, I was just too tired to paint, so Annie painted and I laid down on the teacher's couch and slept. When I woke up I was rested just enough to realize that I was absolutely CRAZY to think that I could drive three hours to Yakima that night. So I called Davis's and asked if we could just sleep there for the night, and leave from there in the morning. What a relief that was. Annie and I switched gears from 'we have SO much to do in SO little time' to 'ok, lets just work through this and get it done'. It was a much more pleasant process. We finally finished up at around 9:00. The house looks amazing. Patricia brought over a bunch of stuff to stage it a bit, and the yard looks so good, and the front door has a fresh coat of paint, and it is just downright CUTE. We are hoping it will sell quickly. We drove up to Davis's, and I managed to get a few hours of sleep there. We got up at 4:15 and I put the kids in the truck and we got on our way at 4:45. Greg said later that when he woke up at 6, and realized we were gone, he was AMAZED to realize that the Canaday clan could actually be so quiet!!!

The trip was NOT uneventful. The trailer was very squirrelly and I was quite tense the whole way. Twice it fishtailed severely and one of those times I was not sure I would re-gain control. I was using both lanes, and thankfully there were no other cars around, just the semi that I had just passed and he dropped way back when he saw me having trouble. I was praying out loud for God's help, and I'm pretty sure the girls were praying too. We did re-gain control (He did) and I called Lon to have him look up what I could do to improve things. Apparently too much of the load was behind the axles in the trailer, so I stopped in The Dalles and shifted some heavy items to the front of the trailer and checked tire pressure, and we were back on the road. I'm pretty sure that I checked the sway bars at that point, but now, thinking back, I'm not entirely sure I checked both of them. We kept our speed down below 60 and plodded on up to Yakima for a WONDERFUL visit with my sister and her husband. They made us breakfast and we played Bocce Ball, and enjoyed their amazing massage chair. They sent us on our way with a bag full of goodies for the trip (puzzles, books, CD's – one of which was the very thing I had wanted to buy, but had not, the week before, when we were thinking that funds were going to be so tight - isn't God amazing?) and a pocket full of happy memories!! They are such an amazing aunt and uncle to the kids, what a blessing. We just really enjoyed our time with them. The kids are looking forward to spending time with them again, when we get back up in to the NW every summer. Annie and Mark have a Bocce Ball challenge going on... now we are going to have to buy Bocce balls, so that she can practice up!!

We headed to Walla Walla around 1:00. With one quick stop in Tri-Cities for gas and a short nap, and arrived safely in Walla Walla around 5:00. When we were unloading the things we would need for bed, etc. Sarah came in the house at one point and said, “Mommy, did you hook both of the sway bars up when we left?” Of course I did. But one of them was now completely disconnected. It had apparently slid forward enough that the end of the bar slipped out, and pushed the bracket back, bending it in the process. It totally would have contributed to the problems we had in the gorge, or it may have happend then, though, I don't think so. Honestly, I can not figure out when it would have popped out, but it is clear to me that there were angel wings involved in our safe arrival here, and prayers were definitely part of it too...

I'm exhausted, just from one day of travel (and all that led up to it, too), and am so grateful for Lon's parents being able to feed us, and help us sort out the sway bar situation, and just generally help me think through things that I was simply too tired to think through... Sabbath rest is refreshing me, even as I type and I know that tomorrow's trip on up to camp will be much more simple and I am looking forward to a week of relaxation and recuperation there. Lon will join us there on Wednesday and we will be together again, as a complete family, and not have any separations ahead in the foreseeable future!! What a blessing that will be!! I promise the future entries will not be so long, I am hoping that the girls and I can all blog on a daily basis from here on in. Maybe not every day during camp, though I could use that time to catch you up on the story so far... but certainly, once we actually hit the road there will be stories to tell every day... anyway, as Lon always says at the end of his blog, 'thanks for listening'!