Courageous Joy

SATURDAY - AUGUST 5th - DAY FIVE

Yesterday, Zander began telling us that he wanted to go home. He said he did NOT want to get the girls - they were "stinky Petes". Krista was his "girl" for years before they left home last fall. He was really quite adamant and vocal about the fact that he didn't want to see them and we should turn around and go back home. We continued to drive.

Highlights:

733+ bikers spotted today. I wish we'd counted them on the first two days. Now - they are on the opposite side of the freeway as we are past the SD exits. It's amazing to see all the types of cycles and trailers and such.....With the early starts I've not been able to do my hair etc in the morning. I put make up on at the first stop. Mike commented that I shouldn't fret that I look at least as good as the biker babes....:::snort::: the helmet head/bandana look. I inisted on curling my hair and applying make up this a.m....you'll note why later!

OH - a highlight on the second day is that for the first time in over 20 years of driving with Mike he got tired enough to ask ME to drive. I did fairly well I thought...until he woke up, asked where we were and then said to pull over. I told him I could make it to Sheridan. We went a few miles more and he said, "no - pull over now". I knew I was tired....driving with just one eye resting.....but I didn't realize that I was terrifying the whole van with my creative lane weaving. LOL

We stopped at BK off the freeway and met Cynthia, Emily, Josh and Nathan for breakfast at 6:30 a.m. YES - we slept in until 5 a.m. AND I had time to look NORMAL when meeting Cynthia. LOL For those who don't know Cynthia - she was Bre's first piano teacher. We struck up a friendship during that time that has lasted over the years and our moves. Cynthia and I co-own the homeschooling list Support4HomeSchool (link to the right if you want to check it out). It was fun to see them again.

We left BK at about 7:30. We THOUGHT we had a 6 hour trip in to Spokane...but we had not accounted for ROAD CONSTUCTION. Cynthia warned us about it in Bozeman but it was really much worse outside of Butte......which Cynthia probably really didn't know about because we all KNOW she slept all the way to Seattle in May anyway. LOL And a side note - for those of you from SHS - let Sharon know that we eat NORMAL and not to sweat what to feed us on Tuesday. Yes, at HOME I'm feeding the family a certain way but on the road....may I just say the Bacon revolt is once again in full swing? I'm watching what Zander eats as best as I can but he's EASY....I have crackers and Nature Valley Oats and honey granola bars....whole milk and a box of crispix and he's in heaven.

Josiah got to drive today - see note above about how rare this is.

We drove by Belgrade and I realized that our friends the Stricklers now live there. We'll have to see if we can look them up when we drive back through. I also saw a sign for "Wheat Montana" - bakery and deli. WM is who shipped Prairie Gold wheat berries to AK. Mike said we can stop on our back and see if they have about 50# for sale....because we can't find anyone in TX to ship it to us...and to have WM ship it is EXPENSIVE.

We discovered that getting a later start in the day really did make for more of a "stressful" day in the car with the little ones. We stopped for gas in Missoula and lunch in St Regis, MT. This wasn't the way we PLANNED it but we couldn't find anything in Missoula where we pulled off. We did find a nice little spot to eat in St Regis. I had my first really BIG salad since we left and was much happier for it. While the others are thrilled to have "double ham crossainwhiches" in the a.m. - the egg crossainwhich is getting a bit old. {sigh}

The girls called when we were outside of Missoula. The boys joked about how hyper Bre would be when we got in. I said, "nah - she's grown up". We told them we'd call them when we reached Couer de lane (however you SPELL THAT????). We called and could tell that she was getting a bit excited. They asked us to meet them at the church. We pulled in and the girls began running to the van....then Bre STOPPED and began jumping up and down and screaming - made me cry....made Mike laugh and drive by the girls. :::snort::: We all untangled ourselves from the van and hugged etc. The girls then gave us the big behind the scenes tour of the MC office and the church.

As we left the church, the girls invited whoever wanted to ride with them to come with them. As Zander walked off with them he turned back to Mike and I and said "I'm not mad at them anymore". The girls were a bit mystified but we knew exactly what he was talking about. LOL

We checked into the hotel and went swimming while Mike took a nap. Well - Bre didn't swim because she had a worship team practice later in the day. It turns out that another MC student - Nick was in the pool with his parents. He and the kids got into a huge splashing war.....they had a great time and released a lot of that pent up energy.

The girls commented on how amazed they are at the changes in Zander. Over and over I heard how wonderful it was to have him talking and interacting with them. What a huge pat on the back I felt after the work of the past 6 1/2 months. It also gave me determination to continue the course even on this trip. I heard one of them comment to the older boys "so this is Zander off of preservatives".....and really he's NOT as good as he is at home...because his schedule/routine is off and he IS getting some stuff as careful as I am trying to be. We are avoiding the obvious (flavored syrup, margarine, skim milk, soda) but you KNOW that there are things in the french toast sticks.... He's doing much better than I expected...and I continue to pray about each day.

After Bre went to worship team practice....Krista took us down to the Little Spokane River. It was SO pretty. I love pretty nature and this trip has been a balm. We left the river and went to Pizza Hut and then took Krista home.

Oh MY! We'd been saying for weeks that we were going to Spokane to get the girls. The older kids understood that the girls are in host homes and that there would be a few days here where they would see them but they wouldnt' be sleeping with us. Zander didn't understand. He sobbed and wailed when Krista got out of the van. We tried to explain but I don't think he will get it until he sees her again.