Road trip

A few weeks ago, we took a trip to OK.  We had a grad student along (who rode with us in our van), since he gave a presentation at the water conference.  It was a work trip, but the kids and I tagged along. We enjoyed great hospitality and visiting with our friends there.  Friends from church hosted us, and we had their entire upstairs, which consisted of 4 bedrooms and two bedrooms.  It worked out wonderfully, especially once our kids started to get sick.  The ones who weren't throwing up could sleep peacefully, and we took advantage of the bathrooms to give baths and rinse out clothes and sheets.  It was a very busy trip - we had an activity or social gathering almost every morning and afternoon, plus eating with a different family for every noon and evening meal.  With almost everyone we talked to, we just picked up where we last left off.  It was a blessing!  Derek gave a keynote address on Friday night and was encouraged by the level of engagement of the audience.  Saturday, our van got a flat tire, and our hosts graciously helped us get it to a repair shop and loaned us their van until ours was fixed.  (Derek was several hours away at a field site.)  Again, in God's providence, we were provided for through the help of others.

I am thankful to say that the trip back was uneventful.  The kids were not feeling back to 100%, but no one threw up in the van.  When we got home, we had a few more surprises: our garage door did not work, a breaker was tripped, and our internet didn't work.  We think lightning caused a power surge while we were away.  We had to get a new garage door opener mechanism, but our desktop still doesn't communicate with the internet.  After a large time investment with both our internet provider and a dell customer service representative, we haven't been able to figure out a solution.

During this time of unpacking and various phone calls, I did not have much extra attention to give to the boys.  Here are some of the things I found them doing while: putting icecubes in the toaster and listening to it sizzle, pouring water in our jelly jar, markering their faces, and flushing various items down the toilet.  The last one needed special attention, so after pulling out several toothbrushes, a night light and other things, we had a call maintainece.  They were able to retreive toothpaste and a stapler. 

Thus, reality.

Since then, we've been getting back into our regular routine and things are pretty much back to normal :)