Driving Home...

We are in route home. Staying at dear friends in Iowa tonight and driving home tomorrow. It will be a LONG day but we all miss daddy and can't wait to be home. Please pray for travel mercies!

We are doing well, enjoying our time here. I miss everyone!

We are at Angelas safe and sound. Reuben is darling - seeing everyone is so worth the drive. Amy, thanks for feeding Tom!

In Mn - couple hours to go!

Now in WI!

Stuck in traffic near WI border. SLOW :(

We are in IL!

Safely in Indiana

We are safe and sound at my grandparents in Indiana. Trip went well, a long day but good. We have a 12-hour trip tomorrow up to MN. Thank you for your prayers!

We are off!

We are hitting the road again as soon as we load up.  Tom is driving us to Roanoke to pick up our -newly repaired van and then we will drive to my mom's house in WV to sleep tonight.  From there we will drive up to IN to my grandparents to stay the night Thursday.  We will arrive, Lord-willing to Angela's in MN on Friday night.  Please pray for our safety, travel mercies, and a wonderfully working vehicle.  :-)  Thank you!!!

--
Amber
Child of God
Proud to be helpmeet to Tom
Blessed mommy of three

The Rest of the Story...

Our trip came to an abrupt halt when we were only about an hour from home. We got as far as Roanoke and our van (which had just gotten a new transmission) started making a horrible noise in the back end whenever I took my foot off the accelerator. It was a grinding/howling sound and was getting worse and worse. I called Tom and had him listen to it and then pulled over and looked underneath. It was dripping black stuff from this joint back there... I have no idea what that stuff is called. I took a couple pics with my phone and sent them to Tom. He called our mechanic and then called someone to tow us. We waited in the parking lot for a good while, the kids were SO dissapointed, but behaved well.

When the tow truck arrived, a very nice man from the company also brought his personal vehicle so that we could all ride to the repair shop. He even had a car seat and a Dora movie for the kids to watch. They have a family run business, he is the 3rd generation. I was thrilled when he pulled up to the repair shop to see that there was a park across the street, though we didn't end up using it.

We were at the repair shop for a good couple hours. They got it in to look at it pretty quickly and the man came in to tell me that "your rear end is gone". I almost laughed and thought of lots of snappy comebacks, none of which would have been appropriate. ;b

Tom thought about towing it back home, but when I told him it had cost $100 to tow a few blocks away, he decided to let this shop repair it. It was another family-run business and seemed good. They weren't able to begin working on it until Tuesday, so we called Enterprise and had them come pick us up with a rental. They only had a Ford F-150 left, so we squeezed into it and put all our stuff in the back. We couldn't afford a one-way rental to MN or to rent a car for a month, so we had to head back home. Since we had a full day rental and unlimited miles and we were all so dissapointed, we consoled ourselves by going to pick up my mom from WV and brining her back to our house for the week. That has made things more bearable. We made it home around 9pm - a long, tiring emotional day but we are safe and sound.


A few things to note and be thankful for:
1. We were only an hour from home.
2. We did not get stranded on a busy road, but were able to pull over safely in a Hardee's parking lot where there was a bathroom for use. :-)
3. The people with the towing company and the repair shop were kind and helpful.
4. The children were very well-behaved, even in their dissapointment.
5. It was a mild summer day (no a/c remember?)
6. I did not take our dog with us - can you imagine?

Our plan now is to wait until the van is done, and then decide what to do. I would love to pick it up and then hit the road from there, but it depends on WHEN and HOW MUCH?

Renting car to drive home. Van rear end went out. Week to fix.

1 hour from home - van broke down AGAIN. Still figuring out what to do. So sad.

On the road!

We will be hitting the road in about 4 hours. We've packed the van up and are ready to go! We will be picking my mom up in WV and then staying the night at my Grandfather's in IN. After that we trek the last 12 hours to MN.

Congratulations to Joe & Angela on the birth of their 3rd son, Reuben James born at home on Tuesday at 11:44 pm, 8lbs 19 1/4".

Can't wait to snuggle him!

Test from mobile.

In the kitchen

I feel pretty accomplished this evening. I have been in the kitchen cooking for the last two days, preparing for my trip, making some meals for a friend, and stocking the freezer for Tom while we are gone. Here is what I got done:

• 2 meatloafs


• 3 quarts of meatballs


• 1 large and 1 small beef/veggie soup


• 1 large and 1 small chicken/veggie soup


• 2 dozen burgers mixed and flash frozen


• 1 large chili


• 4 dozen banana muffins


• 4 loaves of zucchini nut bread

Tomorrow Rose and I are going to make oatmeal cookies and I think I'll do some chicken thighs in barbecue sauce and some corn casserole. I ran out of eggs today.

Here is a pic of Heather helping roll out the meatballs. She also made the zucchini bread herself, deboned the chicken, and poured the banana muffins. Will helped make the banana muffin batter and put the paper liners in the muffin tins. Rose has been busy cleaning her very messy room, hopefully she can help me tomorrow. :-)

Independence Day Collage