Finally Home

Home (n.) An environment offering security and happiness; a valued place regarded as a refuge or place of origin.

I'm finally home. Not of the eternal variety, but the closest I can get while still constrained by this earthly body. And this earthly body is completely enjoying all the good food and even better company of my family.

We left Oklahoma Friday evening around 6:30 pm and arrived in Louisiana at 5:30 am, waking most of the house and doing our best to stretch our stiff legs after the 11 hour journey. The kids slept for a good bit of the trip and were ready to play, but Trevor and went to bed for a few hours. In retrospect, I think that we do the overnight thing again. Trevor and I just exhausted ourselves and the kids were too excited to sleep until after midnight at the prospect of going to Nannie and Papa's house so they didn't really benefit the way we had hoped.

The first few days of our visit have not gone exactly according to plan, because Nathan came down with one of his viral fevers (which is gone now and he's feeling much better) and what I thought was allergies turned out to be an upper respiratory infection. But a steroid shot, a Z-pack, a prescription for Allegra and a smallish bottle of codeine cough syrup later, I am feeling like a million bucks.

Ronna, Aunt Gail and I threw Amber a family baby shower, and she received so many nice things for baby Travis. It was good to see some of the extended family that we don't normally get to visit with when we visit, and Ronna gave a beautiful short devotional on the importance of putting God first, then her husband and finally her children. It was a good reminder for all of us that God has purposed this order for our good, and that our family life is far more pleasant and God honoring when we remember it.

It was halfway through the shower that I realized that my "allergies" were not allergies and I left the shower without helping with cleanup and went directly to bed. I slept for pretty much the rest of the afternoon and the next day until my doctors appointment, where I received the awesome arsenal of drugs that brought me back to my normal state.

We had Mama's surprise 60th birthday party last night, combined with Patrick's 40th birthday at a really cool restaurant called Tapitini's in Covington. The food was really good, and we had fun eating (of course) and visiting with everyone. Mama received a notebook written by Gramps in his hand detailing memories from his childhood and life, which was a priceless gift. Granny put a condition on the gift that Mama had to make copies for the rest of the family.

So I'm sitting here now (feeling 100% better) and enjoying a leisurely morning with the family, drinking coffee and watching Star Trek. We have nothing planned for today except going to visit the Grannies and a little shopping. Mama spent the weeks preceding our visit preparing and freezing most of the main meals, so we don't have to spend half of our day cooking for such a large group of people. We just pull it out in the morning to defrost and then heat it in the evening. It's been really wonderful to enjoy the tasty food without having to prepare it!

I'm looking forward to a day with no boundaries and the promise of more good company and remembering when.

It Was Bound to Happen

I received a phone call from the school nurse this morning around 9:30am. Nathan was in her office, and the following is the conversation that ensued:

Nurse: What's the matter Nathan?

Nathan: My tongue hurts.

Nurse: Well, let me see. Hmmmm, it looks really red and blistered. What happened?

Nathan: Well, I had a little bit of trouble with the mailbox.

That's right. But instead of a flagpole like in A Christmas Story, it was a mailbox. Nathan was dared to stick his tongue on it, and he did. Being from such a warm climate, it never occurred to me that I should instruct him on the do's and don'ts of winter living. His poor tongue has seen better days, but I'll bet cash money that it never touches another frozen object again!

Just as an aside, this is my 500th post. It feels like a milestone of some sort, but of what kind I'm not sure. The real news is that I'm still blogging after all this time! I tend to get really excited about new projects and then get bored with them fairly easily. (Hmmm...I wonder if that's where Grace gets it from?) But blogging never seems to lose it's attraction for me. I may go through dry spells and only post a few times a month, but then I'll write for several days at a time. It's like a comfortable pair of jeans that always feel good, even when it's been a while since you've worn them.

So here's to 500 posts and to winter lessons learned!