Texas Trip

Warning: this is a long blog, written by one overtired mama who is trying to go to sleep but can't because she is too overtired.


We got off to a late start going to Texas last wednesday. We were planning on leaving at 5pm. Then it got moved to 7 because Harrison had his last Art class that night which ended at 7. Tom and Leah were so generous by offering to let us borrow their new minivan. We decided to take them up on it since it would be more comfortable; plus it would save us about an hour since our car can only go 60 miles per hour or else it shakes. With a speed limit of 70, that's a lot of lost time. So we were all set in the mini van and on our way to get harrison. After picking up harrison we noticed the check engine light come on. We called tom, and I don't know what was said between paul and tom, but I assumed everything went okay because we were on our way. Driving for about an hour, we decided to get some gas, and that is when we discovered why the check engine light went on. The car wouldn't take any gas. So we called Tom and he said this has happened once before, and it was supposedly fixed already. We were blessed to have enough gas already in the van to get us back home where we got back in our car. Please pray for Tom and Leah as they have taken the van in as of right now, and the mechanics can't seem to find the problem.


So it is now 9pm, and we are leaving for the second time on a 9 hour trip. Within about an hour Noah and Harrison fell asleep. I worked on my computer doing pictures for my scrapbook pages. At midnight I started to drive, reflecting on many college trips driving late at night from South Carolina to Florida. Good times with friends. Then my age caught up with me ... I was to drive until 3am, but I only made it till 2:30. Paul grabbed his coke and off he drove and drove and drove until we got there at 7am. What a man. Since Noah got up at 6:30 while we were still driving, he was ready for the day. Harrison woke up also, and he was very excited to see his cousin Landon. So the moment we got in Paul went to sleep until about 11am. Noah started to check out Jason and Shannon's beautiful home, and Harrison waited patiently for Landon to get up. Jason and Shannon didn't tell Landon that Harrison was coming because they wanted to surprise him. So when Landon woke up and saw Harrison, he had tears in his eyes he was so excited. (Shannon and I did too because it was such a precious moment).

The rest of the weekend consisted of ...

A family celebration for Jason and Landon's birthdays. Jason loved his scarf that we all pitched in for. And yes he was already wearing his FC Dallas shirt when we gave him the scarf.

The boys played basketball with their dads. The dads took advantage of the lowered basket and did a few slam dunks. Harrison and Landon would go out and shoot hoops several times during the weekend, and they counted out that together they made over 614 points.

Paul and Jason left Friday afternoon to go to Waco, Texas to visit some friends of theirs from college days at Baylor. Paul was excited for the quality time he got to have with Jason in the car going down and over lunch with a good friend, Justin. He also enjoyed playing some hoops with them, but he is a little sore today.

So Shannon and I were left with the 6 kids (7 sometimes when the neighbor girl came over). We managed pretty well considering their ages were 6 weeks, 22 months, 3, 5, 7, and 11. Noah loved baby Cailin. He kept going over to her and being gentle and saying 'baby' and smiling at me. On Friday, we even did a photo shoot for baby Cailin and made challah bread for Shabbat dinner while the kids were running around everywhere inside and outside. Both Shannon and I even got to take naps at different times. I was sad to miss out on Landon's award ceremony that night, but I knew that Noah was exhausted and he wouldn't last. But Harrison still keeps talking about how cool it was because they had guys that would jump on trampolines and dunk the basketball. However, I stayed home and worked on Cailin's birth announcement. Some of you reading this may even get one in the mail. (you can click on it to see it bigger)

On Sat. we got to watch Kelly ride her bike without training wheels for the first time. She did great. The kids played in the backyard and just had fun.

After Noah's nap, we went to an indoor pool. It sounded like a fun idea but once we got there we realized that we had too many kids who couldn't swim well (or at all) for only two adults to monitor. Shannon was a real trooper holding baby Cailin. They came in the water, and we all even got to go on the lazy river together. I was holding Keaton, Harrison was holding Noah, and Landon and Kelly stayed close to Shannon. And then the time came for Shannon to feed Cailin. This is where we are just praising the Lord that every thing turned out okay and no one got hurt. Shannon was watching from the side of the pool, and I was in the pool with all the kids swimming, running or jumping from place to place not knowing where one of the kids was half the time. The pool wore everyone out.

We came home, had something to eat, packed the car, and then Paul got home - so we headed back to Kansas. Noah fell asleep almost right away and Harrison followed suit within an hour or so. So we were thinking this is going to be great. However, Noah continued to wake up almost every hour or so just as I was about to fall asleep, so we would give him a bottle with a little water/milk combo. Paul just kept driving while I was in a delerious state. Not only was I not able to fall asleep, but about 2 hours before we got home, Noah started crying real loud this time. So I reached back to find his pacifier, only to discover the whole car seat soaking wet. Yep, with all those bottles he peed right through that diaper. We were blessed that after changing his clothes and putting some clothes from our suitcase in the car seat to asbord some of the pee, Noah was able to go back to sleep for the rest of the trip home. We arrived home at 5:30am due to the daylight savings time change. We all went back to sleep until noah woke up at 8:30. When I got out of bed to get Noah, I realized I pulled out my back from trying to sleep in so many weird positions and could not bend over without sharp pain. I am laying with an ice pack on my back as I am writing this.

Then tonight our church was hosting a dinner theather with Adat Yeshua to watch 'One Night with the King'. So since it had been such a long day, I got a frozen party size 5 cheese lasanga and made a salad, and we were good to go. Praise God for the people in our church who help out - making food and setting up at the synagogue. Noah and I left just after the movie started and came home. He went to bed at 6:30 so we will see what time he wakes up tomorrow.

So as I am typing this and looking back on the trip, I am still really glad we went. It was great to see Shannon and Jason's home and life in Texas. It was great to hold the new born baby Cailin and take my first photo shoot of a newborn. It was great see Landon and Harrison have so much fun together. It was great to see Paul and his brother Jason laugh and just hang out. It was great to see Shannon in action as a mom (wow)! She reminds me so much of my sister. What wonderful role models I have to look up to and learn from. I know I just said "great to see" several times in a row, but I'm too tired to think of how else to phrase it. What I would change though is if we were to drive all night again, I wouldn't even attempt at going to sleep and instead just work on pictures on my computer, or listen to music, teachings etc and not give Noah the bottle every time he cried. I still don't know how Paul did it, but he drove the whole way back, even after driving from Waco to Frisco to pick Harrison and I. That means he drove for over 11 hours straight. I am impressed and grateful. Thanks again, honey.

p.s. We were entertained by Noah in the car with his new favorite activity of blowing zerbets on his foot.