tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49843570073587838412024-03-14T02:23:18.136-05:00Life's Journey with 8The everyday happenings of life with 2 married children, 2 college students, 1 tween, 2 children, 1 preschooler, 1 granddaughter, 2 grandchildren on the way, and a Pastor-husband.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.comBlogger1378125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-62423402536171283842019-03-07T14:51:00.000-05:002019-03-07T14:51:19.763-05:00Ben turns 11Yesterday Ben and I went bowling. I usually take the kids to a movie for their birthday but we couldn’t find a movie we wanted to see so bowling it was.<br />
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Game 1 scores. Wow. Those are pitiful; however the first ball I rolled was a strike. It went downhill from there!<br />
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It was a fun time.</div>
Ben had never been bowling. He kept calling strikes “bullseyes”!<br />
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-12694806739449593382017-12-19T00:45:00.000-05:002017-12-19T00:45:44.190-05:00Progress<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So much progress at the house these past few weeks. And, these pics are all out of order! This is a pic of the front of the house and the beginning of new siding being put on.<br />
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The new deck right outside my bedroom. This is a very nice sized deck and I am excited for this new addition!<br />
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This will be my new laundry room, complete with a nice window and a door! I am thrilled to have such a nice sized dedicated laundry room! And, I may even get cabinets to put in here. In this pic, the deck hasn't been started.<br />
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While the roof was off and the trusses were being replaced, looking toward the front door. I must say, I like all the sunshine not having a roof let in the house.<br />
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The back door which has not been replaced yet. It is one of the last physical reminders of the fire.<br />
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This is new! A door in my bedroom leading out onto the deck, which will be screened in. I am so excited about leaving this door open and having all the fresh air coming into my room.<br />
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New windows and new front door.<br />
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The soot filled back door.<br />
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Looking from the living room towards the new laundry room. The space in front of the laundry room is the kitchen.<br />
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Replacing the trusses and the roof<br />
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Brand new, all clean front door.<br />
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Looking toward the back of the house.<br />
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Things are moving right along. The house has all new wiring installed, the plumbing is started, the new a/c system is installed and the roof is being finished. The deck is almost complete, and as soon as the roof is finished, the drywall will be started. It is really taking shape and we are excited to see what the finished product will look like.<br />
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We are ready to be back in our place. The rental house has been a blessing and a God send, but we know it is just temporary. It is a strange feeling, to say the least. God has been so good to us, however. He has met all our needs abundantly. <br />
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It will be 14 weeks this Wednesday that the fire happened.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-16680966700758147052017-11-21T22:51:00.000-05:002017-11-21T22:51:57.534-05:00ThanksgivingI find it very hard to believe Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow. It seems to have just snuck up on us this year, probably because of the craziness of the last ten weeks.. Somedays it seems like the fire was last week, sometimes it seems like it was months ago, not 10 weeks ago. 10 weeks ago tonight was the last "normal" night in our home. The power was off, so it wasn't totally normal. I remember before I went to bed, I looked for Schnitzel. He usually was in bed with Emma or Jack, but this night he wasn't. I looked all over and finally looked in the back room. There was a pile of blankets on the floor, and as I called his name, I saw the blankets begin to move, and then eventually he peeked his head out. He was buried in the pile of blankets, one of his favorite places to be.<br />
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I hated that he died in the fire, but I am so very thankful he wasn't hurt. He was found in his favorite chair, all curled up like he was sleeping. I am certain he was sleeping when the smoke started, and he wasn't even aware there was a problem. If he had been panicking, we would have found him at the front door trying to get out. But he was curled up in his favorite chair. He aggravated me and was forever trying to get food or sneak away from the house. But I miss the crazy dog. Sigh.<br />
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I saved my old melted computer in the hopes I can get the hard drive out and get the pictures off of it. It has all the pictures of our mega vacation this summer on it. I blogged 11 days of the trip, but I'm missing 14 days.<br />
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This is looking from the living room into the kitchen and den and the porch which will become my new laundry room.<br />
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This is looking the other way toward the front door.<br />
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They were still replacing trusses in this picture. I try to go look at what they have gotten done every few days or so and the progress is amazing. Looking forward to moving back in and getting back to normal. I hope. :)Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-37170693952742824342017-11-18T23:03:00.001-05:002017-11-18T23:03:20.824-05:009.5 week post fire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Once we removed all the contents, things moved quickly. The roof was the next to go. They pulled off everything but the plywood and it made it look like a starry sky in the living room.<br />
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It wasn't long after that the plywood came off so they could replace the burned trusses.<br />
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The fireplace looks better, but it's not quite done being cleaned yet.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-79329020859140302462017-11-18T22:57:00.000-05:002017-11-18T22:57:39.869-05:00The Attic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The attic was the last place left with our things. Because of the fire and the ceilings falling, they were unable to get to it safely until everything else was cleared out. I didn't hold out hope that there would be much left up there, but there were a few things I really wanted. In the box above, is a part of our Christmas tree, obviously ruined.<br />
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We stored a lot of clothes in the attic, in rubbermaid tubs and in plastic bags. We had just emptied and reorganized the attic this past January. Most of the clothes were kids clothes. I had all of Jack's outgrown baby clothes for grandchildren, along with a lot of Emma's toddler clothes on up for Myra. Then I had clothes for all the boys, Paul had camo up there, luggage, suitcases and all our holiday decorations. This box was full of clothes, and obviously, ruined.<br />
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This box held my Fall decorations. They all had to be thrown away. Whatever wasn't ruined by fire, seemed to be ruined by the large amount of water they filled the attic with to put the fire out.<br />
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As I went through each and every box, there was one box in particular I was looking for. Some of these boxes still had a considerable amount of water in them and the contents were ruined. I was looking for Christmas ornaments. There were some very special ornaments I had made last year that I wanted to find. I had looked through every box until there was just one box left. The lid had melted a little bit onto the box, so I couldn't get it open. Joseph came and ripped that box top off, and there was the box I was looking for! And because the lid had melted on, the contents inside were preserved. No fire, no smoke, no water. It was miraculous. <br />
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And here is one of the ornaments that I wanted so badly. It has the hospital hats from the older four kids. I can't tell you how relieved I was to find it. I shared my joy with the workers at the house, but I don't think they understood. :)<br />
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This was another special ornament, with both sets of my grandparents. I know I could have made another, but I'm not sure I would have been able to get their handwriting. To see my name, written by my Grandma, is priceless. Or to see "Grandma" written in her own handwriting is so special.<br />
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I felt like God smiled on me. Of all the boxes in the attic to survive perfectly, it was this one. This box has many many other ornaments we've used through the years, all perfectly preserved. It was a miracle.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-73295623499939034582017-11-10T15:18:00.001-05:002017-11-10T15:18:18.516-05:00LIfeIt has been a rough few weeks around here. I'm not exactly sure why. It is almost like a roller coaster- for a while, everything's good, everything's ok, everyone is happy and just like that, everything changes. The mood is dark, the road ahead seems endless and the tasks ahead seem overwhelming. I think we all feel and express this in different ways. <br />
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I've been close to tears and even full of tears at times these past few days. Sometimes the loss seems huge, even though we have alot of the things we wanted from the house. Even in the demolition of the house, it seems sad. It's sad to see most of your earthly possessions being thrown in a dumpster. It's disheartening to throw away your decorations and your children's artwork. It is sad to see the house down to the studs, even though it's going to look better than it did. I can't explain it and I am a bit surprised at how I am still feeling 8 weeks out.<br />
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It's still hard living in this house. It's a nice house and we are grateful for it, but it's not our place. We don't really know where things go, which means we have a hard time keeping it picked up, and finding things, like shoes. The back room is filled with things we have salvaged from the house. But all those things need to be gone through and dealt with and then a place needs to be found to put them until we move back in.<br />
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It's been hard finding a new routine. Schoolwork is still not back to where it was before the fire and neither is housework. There have been so many new adjustments at once.<br />
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So that is how our life has been. Up and down. I'm ready to be back to "normal" and back in our own place and back in a routine. The contractor assures us the house will be done before Christmas, which is several weeks earlier than we thought. That's great, but the amount of decisions that need to be made about the remodeling of the house in that amount of time is staggering and a bit overwhelming to me.<br />
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Beauty from ashes.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-69095933848160742572017-11-08T22:49:00.001-05:002017-11-08T22:49:52.517-05:008 Weeks Post FireIt has been a busy week at the house. The end of last week we finished going through our stuff, and deciding what we were keeping and what needed to be thrown away. That was exhausting. We had salvaged alot in the previous weeks, but several things, such as the weather and heavy ceiling tiles, kept us from finishing the job. We also had to address the basement, which was a wreck. But Paul recruited lots of help and they got the job done in one day. That only left the attic, which wasn't touched until yesterday. There was not much left in the attic that was salvageable, but I managed to find some treasures. We lost all our Christmas books we have collected through the years, our Christmas trees, all clothes I was saving for children to grow into, Fall decorations, hiking backpacks, sleeping bags, luggage, etc. It was sad to see all the fire had ruined.<br />
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I had not been able to find Jack's quilt and another blanket I made for Paul Jr. in Kindergarten. I had looked and looked everywhere I thought it might be but couldn't locate it. I asked the demo team to keep an eye on it, but no one had seen it. Some of the team cleaned up the kids room so I would be able to look, but when I got there I still couldn't find it. I was afraid it was thrown away, so Joseph helped me dump out some of the bags from that room, and we found the white blanket. It was wet and smelly and moldy. On a whim, I looked into the washing machine and found Jack's quilt! I was elated to find it! It also was smelly and moldy, but I felt better knowing I could at least try and get them clean.<br />
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This is the back porch. Right inside the window is the kitchen where the fire started and was the biggest. <br />
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We bought this violin about 18 years ago for Zack. It had been sitting in my closet, waiting for another child to take an interest in it. It was sad to see it go.<br />
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The clock in our room was still going and keeping time.<br />
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I made this blanket for Paul jr. when he entered kindergarten in 1995. He used it for naptime, and all my children have used it since then. It was in rough shape when I found it. It looks better now, but I'm still working on it.<br />
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Jack's quilt had been in the washer since before the fire started. We started a load of dirty clothes, and then a few minutes later the power went off. These wet clothes had been sealed in the washer for over 7 weeks and were quite smelly and moldy. But, Jack's quilt is now perfect! All the mold is gone and it smells clean. I was thrilled.<br />
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Some of the pile that came out of the basement.<br />
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A little boy's shoe that was in the attic. It obviously was burned and then fell down through the ceiling the night of the fire.<br />
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One of the many full dumpsters.<br />
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After many hours of work removing everything from the interior of the house.<br />
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Looking down the hall. Girls room on the left, and boys room right behind.<br />
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The crew helping in the basement.<br />
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The two brothers discussing something important.<br />
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This was in my bathroom. I was amazed at the thick soot everywhere.<br />
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The soot was very evident when the bathroom rug was removed.<br />
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All the circles are where my bottles of essential oils were in the medicine cabinet.<br />
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The dismantling of my bedroom.<br />
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A random box from the basement with Paul's ski boots on the top. He's not used them, in, oh, about 30 years.<br />
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My wonderful washer and dryer. They worked so well and did such a good, quick job on the laundry that I hated to see them go. They were fairly new. <br />
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The beautiful log bed Paul bought a few years ago. Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-18805154951985042932017-11-06T21:05:00.000-05:002017-11-06T21:05:32.629-05:00Progress!7 weeks to the day after the fire, clean up began. It was incredible to me that for 7 weeks the house sat virtually untouched, and then in 3 days, it was basically empty of everything, including sheetrock, ceilings and floors. Crazy. I snapped some pictures of the last time I went in the house before clean up began. <br />
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The mold grew so quickly on the couch. One day after the fire, the couch was covered in green mold.<br />
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Looking into the kitchen over the breakfast bar. Fridge is far left, all rusted out.<br />
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Laundry/School room/Sewing room. By this time, everything had been dumped out, either by us or the people who did the inventory.<br />
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Back door. I lost alot of homeschool curriculum and books because of the water and the smoke.<br />
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My desk. My Ott lamp melted and everything else was covered in soot.<br />
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Ellie and Emma's room. The ceilings fell when the fire in the attic broke out and they had to pour so much water in the attic to put it out.<br />
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Sam, Ben and Jack's room. <br />
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My room. So much wet insulation everywhere.<br />
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Looking over the bed into the other corner of my room. That's my wedding dress under that pile of clothes. But I was able to find the little white dress that was mine when I was a baby and that all of my girls and granddaughters have worn when dedicated.<br />
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My room again, but this time you can see there is no ceiling.<br />
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Our bathroom. So dirty and smoky.<br />
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More of the boys room. Under that pile is Jack's little bed.<br />
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More of the boys room. You can see the mold growing on the bed.<br />
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Kitchen window, sink and dishwasher.<br />
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This is where the first fire originated. There was a stove in here, which caught on fire and burned everything around it.<br />
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My two instant pots and Vitamix. On the top shelf was where I stored boxes of pictures. We were able to salvage some of those pictures.<br />
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Dining room table and hutch. The dining room was also hit hard.<br />
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Some of the china my mom gave to me. I was able to save a few plates.<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gt26nkoTuVk/WgEQyAcYJyI/AAAAAAAAlO8/WFtenLbOLtM_4Vxeee3kB4sTNH2rzfZ7wCLcBGAs/s1600/20171031_193218046_iOS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gt26nkoTuVk/WgEQyAcYJyI/AAAAAAAAlO8/WFtenLbOLtM_4Vxeee3kB4sTNH2rzfZ7wCLcBGAs/s640/20171031_193218046_iOS.jpg" width="640" /></a>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-79135184957642625992017-10-18T22:42:00.001-05:002017-10-18T22:42:15.663-05:00Wednesday, October 18Tonight marks 5 weeks since the fire. 5 weeks since our life was turned upside down. 5 weeks since we lost Schnitzel. 5 weeks we have been dealing with insurance, with smoky, salvaged items, with donated clothes, furniture and house goods, and with setting up house in a strange home. 5 weeks. Some days it seems like it was 5 years ago; some days it seems like 5 days.<br />
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Things have settled down. We've kind of found a new normal. This house has lost the "strange" feel, and we've figured out how to do life here. People have been so kind and generous. One person, whom we don't know, gave us a freezer with a good amount of beef in it. Another person, an eye doctor, offered Paul a free eye exam and a free pair of glasses. Paul works for the local funeral home and picked up lady who had died. The lady's son and daughter in law recognized Paul from a clip the local news station did on the fire, and called him, and offered us the majority of the contents of his mother's house. Two leather recliners, lamps, end tables, coffee table,dining room table and chairs, china hutch, china, kitchen items, silverware, a king size bedroom suite along with many other items were given to us. All our homeschool books have been replaced, and then some, along with boxes of school supplies. My children have more and nicer clothes than they had before the fire, as do Paul and I. Our kitchen was stocked, and we've received several giftcards to walmart, kroger and publix. A gentleman in China, who wanted to help those affected by Irma, purchased a triple bunk bed for out boys.<br />
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We have been so blessed. God has been faithful in providing for us, over and above what we have needed.<br />
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It's still hard. It has been hard going to the old house and salvaging items. It's emotional seeing your home and all it's contents in such devastating conditions. It's hard seeing where Schnitzel is buried, and remembering him. It's exhausting at times. The transition to this new home has been so much harder than I anticipated. I couldn't have imagined how the loss of your house and stuff would affect every area of your life. It was cool this morning, and I realized, 5 weeks after the fire, that I have no socks. Or jacket.<br />
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Sometimes it's hard to know what to feel. It can be a roller coaster, and we have to remind ourselves that it's ok to feel bad. It's ok to feel sad and cry. We have suffered a great loss. Yes, it could have been much worse and we are thankful it wasn't, but that doesn't mean there wasn't a loss. <br />
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Beauty from ashes.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-32973744333727864242017-10-10T23:41:00.000-05:002017-10-10T23:41:05.096-05:00September 15Sam and Ben, who had spent the night at their friends house, were sick. Paul went and got them early Friday morning. They had a stomach bug, but Sam's asthma was flaring up. He could hardly breathe. Those poor boys laid around all day, hardly able to move.<br />
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Paul and I met a TV reporter at the house. She wanted to do a story on our house, and why it burned. She interviewed each of us, then walked through the house with us. It was the first time I'd been in the house, other than the night of the fire. I was amazed at the devastation. There was mold growing already because everything was wet. The house smelled badly of smoke, mold and wet insulation. I was able to grab a few things, but not much. It was very evident that we needed breathing masks to go back in.<br />
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Anna had come up for the day to help me get our new place into shape. The people who had let us stay in their house are really good friends of ours, and it was very kind of them to immediately open their home. They are planning to rent this house, but were not expecting people so quickly, so their stuff was still in the house, which made moving in a little difficult. Anna cleaned and organized so I wouldn't have to. That was such a blessing.<br />
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We were so thankful to have a place to live as long as we needed it. However, this was hard. This house was not our house, and this stuff was not our stuff. We did the best we could at the time, but we were all feeling the stress. The shock and adrenaline rush was quickly wearing off.<br />
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Paul and I went and picked up Jack and Emma, and left with more clothes for the kids. People had been blessing us over and over with gift cards, donations of money and stuff for the house. It was also becoming apparent that Jack was having a hard time dealing with the fire and smoke of Wednesday night. He watched the first several minutes of the drama from the driveway, and it affected him. When we got to Paul's mom's house after the fire, he quietly turned to Paul and said, "Daddy, I'm a little scared". Broke my heart to hear that. If anyone mentioned going to the "old" house, he would start crying and screaming that it was too scary. Paul took him to the old house for some reason before we realized he was traumatized, and he screamed and cried and Paul had to leave. All we could do was reassure him that he was not going back to the "old" house.<br />
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Friends of ours made dinner for us at the church that night. It was delicious and so kind. While we were eating, a couple of people stopped by with donations of clothes, household items and schoolbooks. <br />
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Friday night was the first night we were all in the "new" house. We were short 3 beds, but people had graciously bought or gave us air mattresses, and sheets and pillows, so we were all set. I didn't sleep well at all this night and wondered if this house would ever feel like home.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-30746324059814537652017-10-09T22:16:00.000-05:002017-10-09T22:16:49.014-05:00September 14Paul and I finally got into bed around 3. My mind was so wound up and I had developed quite a headache. I wondered if I would sleep at all, but I drifted off around 3:30 or so, only to be up by 7. We both got up and went and sat in the living room with Paul's mom. It was surreal to remember what had happened the night before. Thankfully, the kids all slept in with the exception of Sam. He woke up quite early also. We both also had so many messages and texts to respond to.<br />
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Within 2 hours of us waking up, people were literally at the door. People from church, good friends and people we didn't even know. We were given so many gift cards and money. Friends of mine from CC were collecting school books, and another group was collecting clothes for the kids. I felt like I was in a fog. One of the sweet lady's from church offered to come and get Jack and Emma. I thought this would be great for them, to get them away from the trauma of the night before. When she arrived, they were so eager to go with her. When I handed her Jack's bag, I told her, "This is all I have for him". It was a stark reminder of the great loss we had suffered.<br />
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Ellie and I went out and did some clothes shopping. We had nothing. We ran around for a few hours then met up with Paul for a late lunch. I'm pretty sure we were all still in shock over the events of the night before. All day long both of us received several texts and messages, and gifts. It was amazing how quickly people came together to help us.<br />
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Our biggest concern was a place to live. We were told it would probably be six to nine months before we would be able to return to our home. That's a long time and we needed a place big enough, hopefully in our neighborhood. Paul had thought of just the place the night before, and before he even woke up, he had a text offering us a place to stay for as long as we needed it. It was a God send. Literally. We were very thankful.<br />
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We had supper at the church that night, prepared by a couple of ladies. While we were there, some of my school friends dropped by with big tubs of clothes for each child and crates of school books and supplies. There were even some toys. I was so thankful. What a blessing.<br />
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Jack and Emma spent the night at the Bearchell's and Sam and Ben spent the night at Dillon and Jimmy's, so it was just Paul, Ellie and I for the first night in the new place. Paul was at men's night at his friends house, so Ellie and Paul Jr. ran to Walmart, bought a dvd player and some movies so we could watch a movie. Paul got home and within five minutes of the movie starting, we both knew we were exhausted and just needed to go to bed. So we did.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-66138992369842676542017-10-07T21:15:00.000-05:002017-10-07T21:15:16.707-05:00September 13, 2017, Part TwoI sat in the van, with the air on full force, watching the firemen wrap up what they were doing. They had removed the stove from the house in their efforts to put out the fire. They were going in and out, doing who knows what. I couldn't cool down, so I sat in the van. I called Anna and Zack, and then my mom. I felt bad calling them, but I did not want anyone to find out on Facebook. I finally realized I had to use the restroom, but I did not want to go in the house where the kids were. I knew they were going to ask about Schnitzel. I went and got Paul, and we went in to tell them the sad news.<br />
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Sam and Emma cried. Ben took it hard, but didn't cry. Jack listened, but I'm sure he didn't understand. It was sad to tell them and see their reactions. Sharon had been so kind to them. They were having a Christmas in September party, watching the Grinch and eating snacks. I am so grateful to Sharon for trying to make sure the kids were ok.<br />
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It wasn't long after this that the firemen asked us if we wanted to go into the house. Paul didn't want me too, but I wanted to see. We went in the back door, into the laundry room and my first impression was that it was gray. The ceilings and the walls were now gray, and the fan blades were now hanging straight down. It was unreal. We walked further in and I realized that I wouldn't be able to go any further because I was wearing flip flops. The fireman told me I needed better shoes. I told him all my shoes were in the house. It was funny, yet, it wasn't.<br />
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The kitchen was destroyed. It was black and unrecognizable. The dining room was only a bit better. I couldn't get a good look at the living room, but I was sure it was destroyed also. I didn't stay in too long- it was still very warm and the smell of smoke was strong.<br />
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I took the kids and we went to my inlaws. They had quickly prepared beds for everyone, and the kids were exhausted. It was now almost 11. I took Ben, Emma and Jack upstairs and got them situated in their beds and they were out, almost immediately. I was too wound up to sleep yet, so I went downstairs where Sam was. We watched tv for a while.<br />
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Meanwhile, Paul, Ellie, Paul Jr. and a couple men from our church were getting as many valuables as they could from the house. With so much damage, there was no way to secure the house. They brought some stuff over to Paul's parents house and went back for more.<br />
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I decided I needed to run to Walmart. We had nothing. Sam didn't even have shoes. No hairbrush, no toothbrush, no clothes, etc. Sam and I went out and got in the van and Paul pulled in behind us, unloading more stuff. Ellie decided to come to Walmart with us. When we got there, we got a message from Paul. Another fire had broken out in the attic, a pretty large fire. He, along with Paul jr. and Dale had been in the basement, and Paul Jr. had noticed it. One firetruck was still on the scene in case another fire broke out. They loaded the attic with water to be sure the fire was out. This in turn caused all the ceilings to collapse and all the stuff in the attic to fall out.<br />
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The second fire was just as devastating as the first.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-38036481484799446832017-09-30T22:17:00.000-05:002017-09-30T22:17:22.867-05:00September 13, 2017 Part 1For the majority of Maconites, Hurricane Irma was no more than an annoyance. For most of us, the biggest problem she caused was the loss of power. We lost power around 9am on Monday, September 11. I was a little surprised we had lost power so early in the day, but we packed up and headed to the church, which still had power. We arrived, and within 30 minutes, power was lost here too. We spent most of the day here, with several others, and rode out the "storm", such as it was. Lots of trees and branches down and the annoying loss of power were really our only problems caused by Irma.<div>
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We had hoped to have power by Tuesday, but no. The church had power restored Tuesday afternoon, so we spent most of Tuesday at the church, and hoped to have our power back on by Wednesday. There was a huge downed tree on our road, so we watched that tree. We knew there would be no power on our road until that tree was moved. On the way to church Wednesday night, we drove by and were so happy to see the tree was moved off the wire and the linemen were working on the downed lines. After church, I checked the Internet and saw that power had been restored to our road! We quickly left to get home. Sam, Jack and I left the church and headed home. When we turned on our road, we cheered as we saw lights on in every home. I could not wait to lay in my bed with the fan right on me!</div>
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As we rounded the large curve heading up to our house, I noticed the porch light on! We cheered again, but even as I was cheering, I noticed the house looked "strange". I didn't know why, but I knew it didn't look right. I also knew I left living room lights on, and I could see the lamp in front of the window wasn't on. I didn't give it too much thought as I pulled in the driveway, but as I pulled up, I saw smoke around the porch light. Again, I didn't give it too much thought, thinking maybe it was fog, or condensation in the air. I jumped out, grabbed the keys and my purse and headed toward the door. I put the keys in the lock, turned the knob and swung open the door.</div>
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Black smoke hit me full force in the face. I couldn't figure out what was going on, I looked in the house but could see nothing. Finally I realized the house was on fire. I yelled for Schnitzel several times, then threw the phone to Sam and said call dad, the generator is on fire! I then went back, and called for the dog again. I heard noises in the house, and all I could think of was that the dog was in one of the bedrooms and was scratching at the door to get out. I never really thought of going in because the smoke scared me. All of this took place in about 30 seconds. I quickly ran next door and pounded on their door and yelled my house is on fire. They both came running out and I think they both called 911. I yelled to Nick that Schnitzel was still in the house and he ran to the open door. I was afraid he was going to try and go in and I yelled for him not to.</div>
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All the while Jack was standing in the driveway, watching everything play out. At this point, Sharon got him and Sam and put them in her house. Paul, Ben and Emma drove up. Sharon got Ben and Emma in her house and Paul ran around the house to the backyard to make sure Sam wasn't in the backyard, even though I told him Sam was in the neighbor's house. Paul and Nick quickly moved the cars so the fire trucks could get close. Paul really considered going in the house and I yelled at him not to go in. Thankfully he didn't.</div>
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3 big firetrucks arrived and the firemen took over. Many neighbors had come out at this point to see what was going on. Paul Jr. and Courtney arrived and Ellie also. It was unreal to be standing there watching your house in flames. The firemen quickly put the fire out. I kept hoping Schnitzel was going to be ok, that he had been hiding in a back bedroom under a blanket. I saw the firemen come out of the house, winding up the hose and I asked the fireman standing next to me if they were done. He said yes. I told him about Schnitzel. He went up to one the firemen, who then put his mask back on and went back in the house. Soon after, this fireman came back out and I watched as he went to Paul and put his hand on Paul's shoulder and shake his head. Schnitzel didn't make it. I knew he had probably died, but until that point, I had hoped for a different outcome.</div>
Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-54112865284295508902017-09-05T20:51:00.002-05:002017-09-05T20:51:55.773-05:00Epic Road Trip Day 11Wednesday was the day we had set aside to tour Boston, although, we were in the city for several hours the night before. And, Wednesday also happened to be my 51st birthday! We slept in a bit (even though we really didn't want to, but didn't get to sleep until after 1:30 am the night before), got up, cleaned up the apartment in the church, packed the van and left. We drove to the train station, parked the van, bought tickets, got on the train, rode to the first stop, got off and got right back on going back toward the van. Why? Because Paul couldn't remember if he had locked the van. Since we were so close, we decided that he would go check, and then buy another ticket and we would get back on the train. Otherwise, it would have bothered him all day. Turns out, he didn't lock it and was so glad we went back.<br />
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We had purchased a trolley tour. We could ride the trolley from place to place, get off and get back on. With the trolley also came a boat ride in the Boston Harbor. We boarded the boat, and decided to sit down on the bottom floor, where it was air conditioned and had nice chairs. Ellie and some of the kids went up to the upper decks, but Paul and I enjoyed the bottom the entire boat ride.</div>
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Ben and Emma enjoyed the snack bar.<br />
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The weather was perfect! While it was hot, it was not that humid (at least to these Southerners), and the sky was amazing. <br />
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The round building is where Paul worked security while we were in college in Boston. Over 30 years ago!<br />
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Jack came down from the upper deck to join us. He also really enjoyed the snack bar!<br />
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We got off the boat and walked a short distance to catch the trolley. Boston is so full of history; it seemed everywhere you looked was a sign telling what had happened in that spot so long ago.</div>
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The Bunker Hill Monument<br />
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Nap time for Jack.<br />
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We got off the trolley in Chinatown for a late lunch.<br />
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Someone got squid.<br />
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After lunch, we got back on the subway and rode it to a store that Ellie wanted to go to. It was a strange Japanese store, but she found what she was looking for. We rode the train back to where the van was parked and headed to Connecticut.<br />
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We were staying at Sun Valley the next few days at Paul's brother Ron's trailer. The kids were so excited because of the lake, and the fishing, and the golf carts. Paul and I were happy to have a few down days after being on the go the last few. We arrived, and then Paul, Jack and I went to the grocery.<br />
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When we got back, he grilled me this beautiful steak for my birthday. It was delicious!</div>
Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-46161148896016267732017-08-29T23:56:00.001-05:002017-08-29T23:56:34.902-05:00Epic Road Trip 2017 Day 10 part 2After the Old North Bridge, we headed to the train station, parked the van and rode the train into the city for the Independence Day festivities. We were going to hear the Boston Pops from the shore of the Charles River, and then watch the fireworks. We were excited!<br />
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We were looking for a place to eat. We actually ended up eating at the odd shaped building in the middle of the picture.<br />
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We wanted to eat dinner in Quincy Market, but it was packed and very hard to find a place to sit.<br />
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So we ate at the odd shaped building and it was very good. Now, onto the concert!<br />
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These are some of my favorite pictures of the trip. The lighting was perfect over the city.<br />
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The area for watching the actual concert was very small, so we ended up sitting in an overflow area. This screen was huge and the sound was great. There were food trucks all around. Our one regret was that we had no chairs and had to sit on the ground. We got there about 30 minutes before the concert started, and before the night was over it was packed, with no room left on the grass to sit on.<br />
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It was such a patriotic concert. In the beginning, when the Star Spangled Banner was played, everyone got up and sang along. I looked around and saw the police officers (there were many) standing at attention with their hands on their heart, saluting the flag. It was so moving, in this day and age, to see that many people singing the national anthem, and no one (that we could see) protesting. Later on, they played the songs of the military, one by one, and the men and women that had served in that particular branch stood up and everyone cheered and clapped for them. It was an excellent concert. Right after the concert ended, the fireworks began and what a fireworks show it was! It was set to music, and was so colorful. We had a great view of the show! Jackson loved it, until he crawled up in Ben's lap and dozed off, even though it was very loud!<br />
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After the concert and show was over, we tried to leave quickly. The train/subway closed at Midnight (or so we thought), so we started walking that way, as did everybody else. When we reached the subway stop, the line was up the stairs and well out into the street. We knew if we waited in that line, we would probably miss the last train. Ellie found a map on her phone and led us to another subway station. Several miles away. By this time we were exhausted, but we had to keep walking. Poor Jack gave out and Ellie carried him on her shoulders. Sam, Ben and Emma were amazing and never complained. We finally got the to station and got on the last train out. By the time we reached where the van was, it was after 1am and we had walked over 8 miles. Wow. What a day! And we were getting back up the next morning and heading into Boston again. We all literally fell into our beds that night.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-34536645510385945982017-08-29T23:33:00.001-05:002017-08-29T23:33:31.207-05:00Epic Road Trip 2017 Day 10 part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Tuesday was July 4th and we were so blessed to be in the Boston area. We stayed in a missionary apartment in a church about 20 minutes from the city. It was kind of strange staying in a church building, but the apartment was so nice and someone had stocked it with food and everything we could have needed. What a blessing that was to us!</div>
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But, even though it was a holiday, the laundry needed to be done. So Paul, Sam, Ben and I got up and took the laundry to the laundromat. It didn't take that long to finish up and we headed back to the church to get Ellie, Emma and Jackson.</div>
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We headed to the old North Bridge where the shot heard around the world was fired. After much discussion, I think we convinced the kids that the shot wasn't really heard around the world! It was a beautiful day and when we arrived, we didn't realize that the Declaration of Independence was being read outloud down by the bridge, so we hurried and walked down the path.<br />
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After the reading, these soldiers fired their guns.<br />
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As these soldiers were walking off the bridge, someone in the crowd began singing God Bless America. Most everybody joined in. It was quite a patriotic experience.<br />
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After the demonstration, we walked around some more. There was so much to see. We had been here once before, many years ago when the older kids were young. Ellie was just a bit over a year old when we came before.<br />
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They wanted their picture taken together because they all were wearing 4th of July shirts.<br />
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<br />Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-57946246911155260642017-08-25T20:26:00.000-05:002017-08-25T20:26:49.778-05:00Epic Road Trip 2017 Day 9<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Vermont is so beautiful. We thoroughly enjoyed our time here. Monday morning we got up, cleaned up and packed the van and took off to explore just a bit of Vermont. First stop, a sugar house where maple syrup is made. <br />
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This sugar house had such beautiful views of the mountains. <br />
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In the actual sugar house where they make the syrup.<br />
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They also had some animals. Ben is investigating the rabbits.<br />
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Sheep<br />
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Horse<br />
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They also made some tasty homemade maple ice cream. I loved the way it looked in front of the mountains.<br />
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Pretty Emma.<br />
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They had such a cute gift shop. Emma fell in love with all the stuffed animals.<br />
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Brothers watching how syrup is made.<br />
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Next stop was the Green Mountain Coffee Company. The coffee drinkers among us loved this tour.<br />
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Meanwhile, the rest of us enjoyed the little park right outside.<br />
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Jack and Ben enjoyed the swings.<br />
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I enjoyed the views.<br />
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Emma enjoyed the black dirt that was soft. She was amazed by it.<br />
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Meanwhile, back at the coffee tour...<br />
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Jack was also fascinated by the dirt.<br />
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After the coffee tour, we drove a few minutes down the road to the Ben and Jerry's ice cream place. We were all excited for this tour. But first, a stop at the "ice cream graveyard". A graveyard for all the flavors that didn't make it.<br />
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We were sad to see this flavor in the graveyard.<br />
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The massive tanks of ingredients.<br />
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Sadly, this place was packed! We would have had to wait over 2 hours for a tour, so we left. Onto the Cabot cheese factory.<br />
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The cheese store had the best samples! There were samples of every cheese they made, along with dips and other things.<br />
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We all enjoyed the cheese.<br />
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The cheese table. Everyone stood in line and walked slowly around the table, taking a piece of each cheese. So good!<br />
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Next was the apple cider Mill. But it was a whole lot more than that.<br />
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This was their favorite part!<br />
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Dad got us apple cider slushies and cider donuts. So, so good!<br />
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We had a great, yet tiring day and enjoyed every minute of our time in Vermont. <br />
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On to Boston!!<br />
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<br />Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-9312996176780751122017-08-24T20:10:00.000-05:002017-08-24T20:10:52.879-05:00Epic Road Trip 2017 Days 7 and 8Saturday morning we were got up but we were all still so tired from the day before in New York City. I was relieved that all we were going to do on this day was sit in the van on our way to Vermont. But before we left, our kind host, Micah, bought us some very fresh and very large bagels. These bagels were so good they didn't even need to be toasted!<br />
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I guess Jackson needed some alone time in the van. This is how he traveled, and eventually fell asleep. Too funny.<br />
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Lunch!<br />
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It was rainy in Vermont, but even through the raindrops, it was still beautiful.<br />
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This picture does not do this rainbow justice. It was so vibrant and big!<br />
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We arrived in time for supper with our friends Brian and Dianna. I have known Dianna as far back as I can remember. Our families were friends when our dads both pastored in upstate New York, and we saw each other fairly often. We stayed in touch through the years even after both our families moved away. Dianna and I attended the same college, where she met Brian and I met Paul, and we all became friends. She and Brian have 10 kids and we have always wanted to get our families together, and it finally happened. We enjoyed having supper with their family and some friends from their church. We looked forward to attending church with them the next day and spending Sunday at their house.<br />
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Paul did a great job speaking.<br />
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Dianna and I in front of a stream in back of their house. <br />
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It was a special treat to see Dianna's mom, Mrs. Worsham. I had not seen her in so many years!<br />
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Our kids got along great. These boys played video games and rode bikes and played all day long. Jackson fell in love with their foster daughter whom he called "Leesie". It was so cute. He didn't leave her side all day long.<br />
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Later in the afternoon, Dianna, Brian, Paul and I were able to go out to dinner together. First, they drove us to this beautiful view.<br />
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After dinner, they drove us by this graveyard and this amazing tombstone.<br />
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More beautiful views of Vermont and the Green Mountains.<br />
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It was a wonderful weekend which everyone of us enjoyed.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-43455035172708652422017-08-24T19:49:00.001-05:002017-08-24T19:49:10.393-05:00Epic Road Trip 2017 Day 6 part 3I found these pictures on Paul's cell phone after I posted about New York City, but I didn't want to leave them out.<br />
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This was in the parking garage right before we boarded the ferry.<br />
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These fun chairs were right in the middle of Times Square. The kids loved them.<br />
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What a day!Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-82513649228363602562017-08-23T21:46:00.000-05:002017-08-24T19:49:34.555-05:00Epic Road Trip 2017 Day 6 Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm not sure what Jack thought. He did enjoy the ferry ride, and he loved the bus. It was open air, so that was amazing to him. He was such a trooper and never complained.<br />
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Macy's<br />
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The Empire State Building<br />
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Madison Square Garden<br />
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Penn Station<br />
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Macy's again.<br />
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Broadway and 34th Street<br />
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Empire State Building<br />
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Jack's way of sightseeing.<br />
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At this point, we got off the bus. We had toured downtown Manhattan, but we hadn't really got to see the Statue of Liberty and Emma insisted she needed to see it. We were much too late to go to Liberty Island, so we took the Staten Island Ferry, which went right by the statue.<br />
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There she is! It was so hazy.<br />
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Ellis Island<br />
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Subway pics. We were hot and tired.<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0utsoLcXiNU/WZ45lXMnjJI/AAAAAAAAk4g/mj5Uu5evbZoXYrCEcsl8x2IRlV_ZydWjwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170630_192717205.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="360" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0utsoLcXiNU/WZ45lXMnjJI/AAAAAAAAk4g/mj5Uu5evbZoXYrCEcsl8x2IRlV_ZydWjwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20170630_192717205.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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After we got off the subway, we found this quaint little Italian place for supper. It was incredibly delicious. This calzone was the best one I've ever eater. We had calzones, pizza, cannollis and a nutella pizza. It was quite an Italian feast and a great ending to a wonderful day.<br />
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When we were done eating, we headed back to where the van was parked and turned the corner and saw this. The Empire State Building, all lit up in red white and blue for the 4th of July.<br />
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Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-23633335080922431252017-08-23T21:25:00.000-05:002017-08-23T21:25:05.116-05:00Epic Road Trip 2017 Days 5 and 6, part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Thursday was our last day on Long Island. I had lunch plans with another old friend who I was excited to see. I got up, took Paul to the church, and rushed back to where we were staying. We were moving to another home this afternoon, so we needed to have everything packed up and cleaned up. I also decided to do our laundry. So I got back, got the laundry going, had the kids clean up and started packing. Then I left Ellie to finish the laundry and packing and took off to meet with Heather.</div>
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Heather and I met way back in 1975, as far as I can tell. Their family began coming to our church around then and we became fast friends. Several years later, we also attended college together. I'm pretty sure the last time I had saw her was at my wedding, 29 years ago. We had lunch at a fun little place called "Diner By the Sea". It was a blast catching up and reliving old times. We talked for over two hours, and it wasn't enough time. But I had to get back, so I left, rushed back to the kids, packed the van and went to get Paul. We picked him up and went to the new house we were staying at. In a strange turn of events, we ended up at a birthday party for someone we didn't know. But this family was so hospitable, it didn't matter. They lived out on the Island in a mansion. I've never seen a house so big. They were so kind and generous to us. We got back, and got in bed. Tomorrow was a big day- New York City!!</div>
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We left the house fairly early. We had bought tickets to ride a double decker sight seeing bus but we were unsure of how we were going to get to Times Square where we would pick up the bus. We drove down towards the city, parked and took the Manhattan Ferry over to the city. It was so exciting.<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qcv0coIUOj4/WZ40ZDWNhsI/AAAAAAAAk0s/J9oWehwxsCEu6kle7WClyX1SRyiklx7xQCLcBGAs/s1600/DSC_7963.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="681" data-original-width="1024" height="422" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qcv0coIUOj4/WZ40ZDWNhsI/AAAAAAAAk0s/J9oWehwxsCEu6kle7WClyX1SRyiklx7xQCLcBGAs/s640/DSC_7963.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
Our first view of the city. The United Nations.<br />
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The Freedom Tower.<br />
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It was a bit windy.<br />
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We got off the ferry at Wall Street. We were so excited to be in the city, but a bit apprehensive. We split up the kids- Paul had Jack, Ellie had Emma and I had Ben. Sam stayed with Paul. We still didn't know how we were going to get to Times Square, but we headed in that direction.<br />
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Statue of George Washington where he was inaugurated president in 1789. This was one of our history sentences we learned, so it was cool to see this actual place. (Well, I thought it was cool. Not too sure the boys shared my sentiment).<br />
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We headed down into the subway station, realized we were in the wrong one, headed back up to the street, crossed the street and headed back down the other station. The subway station was like a sauna. With the help of a few friendly people, we figured out how to get to Times Square. We stopped for a bite to eat at an Irish Pub and then found the sight seeing bus. Finally! We made it on the bus.<br />
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Times Square!<br />
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Where the ball drops on New Years Eve.<br />
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Good Morning America studio.<br />
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So much more to come in part 2!Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-5515755342039276702017-08-17T21:53:00.001-05:002017-08-17T21:53:30.167-05:00Epic Road Trip 2017 Day 4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XKQaWKY8a1s/WZZRT511JRI/AAAAAAAAkyA/XRWxFeV6l9ImGD8H84RFUypPFTgqlMurwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170628_080317347.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="676" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XKQaWKY8a1s/WZZRT511JRI/AAAAAAAAkyA/XRWxFeV6l9ImGD8H84RFUypPFTgqlMurwCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_20170628_080317347.jpg" width="180" /></a>Wednesday was another beautiful day. The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect. I again got up to take Paul to the church he was speaking at, but on the way, we stopped at a deli for a Long Island bagel. It was so, so good. There is nothing like a freshly made bagel. After dropping Paul off, I stopped at another deli and bought some to take back to the kids. They scarfed them down. I was excited this morning. I had planned a lunch with an old friend of mine from junior and senior high. I had not seen her since the day we graduated- in 1984- over 33 years earlier. So we got ready and jumped in the van and drove to Huntington where the Christian school I went to was located. Sadly, the building had been torn down many years ago, but it was fun driving down old familiar roads. I dropped the kids off at a gorgeous park and headed to downtown Huntington to a Mexican restaurant that I had eaten at for a field trip for Spanish class back in high school. (This picture below is from 8th grade. Kim and I are on the top row. She is wearing glasses and I am wearing the multi colored striped shirt.)</div>
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It was almost surreal sitting down and chatting for almost 2 hours with Kim. She is an amazing woman. Her parents started and ran a rescue mission in Huntington for over 50 years and several years ago, after her dad passed on, she moved back and helped her mom run the mission. Sadly and very suddenly, her mom passed away earlier this year, and Kim now runs the mission. She is a true servant of Christ and I was just so thrilled to hear her story of God's faithfulness in her life. I wish we lived closer to each other. But the time we did have was so enjoyable. The waiter snapped this picture of us below.<br />
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We sat right in front of this open door with these gorgeous flowers. It was a perfect day.<br />
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After lunch I picked up the kids and we headed to Sagamore Hill, Teddy Roosevelt's home. Long Island is beautiful! His home was right by the ocean, in this beautiful setting.<br />
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The kids signed up to do a scavenger hunt throughout the museum. Ellie was a great big sister and helped them find everything.<br />
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Jack wanted me to take his picture under these guns. For dad. :)<br />
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One of our history sentences we learn in school is about Teddy Roosevelt and his rough riders, so this exhibit was especially meaningful to us.<br />
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They each received a badge for completing the scavenger hunt.<br />
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Beautiful, beautiful day.<br />
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After we went through the museum, we left to go pick Paul up at the church, and then headed to Jones Beach. Sadly, I do not have any pictures of the beach. One of the only things I forgot when we left GA was the battery and charger to my real camera, so I did not have my read camera for the the first few days of the trip. It was too bright for my cell phone at the beach, so no pictures. But we did have a grand time! The water was so cold. I only put my feet in and only for a minute. The cold didn't stop the kids though. They swam and swam and swam and played in the sand and swam some more. Even Paul got all the way in as he tried to show them how to ride the waves. Ellie got in to her waist. Jack was fascinated with it all. Except the shower afterwards. He did NOT like that and anyone in the vicinity heard his blood curdling screams.<br />
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Afterward, we went to Roosevelt Field Mall. This mall used to be an airstrip where Charles Lindbergh took off for his flight around the world. It is also where I used to come with my family when I was a kid. It is a very large mall! We only walked around a small portion of it. You can see a partial list of the stores on the display in front of Paul.<br />
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Wednesday was a great day!Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-37151232920814955952017-08-16T21:30:00.001-05:002017-08-16T21:30:30.731-05:00Epic Road Trip 2017 Day 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On Tuesday, Paul and I got up early and I drove him to where he was speaking and then I returned to get the kids. After we ate and cleaned up a bit, we set out to visit some of the places from my childhood. I was much more excited than the kids, but I didn't care! I was thrilled to have these three days to do whatever I wanted to, to drive where I wanted to and to see what I wanted to! First place, of course, was our house in Levittown. (Above in yellow). We lived in this house from about 1977 to about 1986 and it is the house that I grew up in. Right before we lived in that house, we lived in the house below with the big willow tree in the front yard. We lived here from about 1975 to 1977 when we moved across the street into the yellow house.<br />
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This tree was here when we lived here, and we loved to climb it. It is massive!<br />
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Front view of the house with the tree in Levittown. <br />
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This Carvel was here when we lived here also, and we walked to it numerous times. There is nothing like Carvel ice cream.<br />
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The old post office below was also there when we lived in Levittown. It is exactly the same as it was so long ago.<br />
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The library was one of our favorite places to go as a kid. We could walk there, and we took advantage of it and spent many hours here.<br />
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This was our church while we lived in Long Island. It is so different today, although this part is pretty much the same. Being pastor's kids, the church was our second home, but other than the front part, I almost didn't recognize it.<br />
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After my trip down memory lane, I decided to take the kids to an authentic Long Island diner. It was a fun meal, yet very pricey! I had forgotten how expensive it is to do anything on Long Island. We ate very frugally but it was still alot. After lunch we headed to Eisenhower Park, a very large park near where I used to live. It had a very cool playground that the kids loved.<br />
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This was pure excitement. My children have never bought ice cream from an ice cream truck before. I had told them stories of when I was a kid and would hear the music. I would run to find some quarters and run out to the street to buy an ice cream. They were thrilled to have the chance to do that.<br />
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After the park, we picked Paul up and headed to Jones Beach, anticipating swimming in the ocean. Only Sam had memories of the ocean, and the other kids were really looking forward to it. <br />
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But it wasn't to be. As you can see in the picture above, the sign says swimming was prohibited. There was a lightning storm. It was so disappointing. <br />
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So we left the beach and drove around, had dinner, and headed back to the place we were staying. Even with the disappointment of the beach, it was a great day!Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-82776639303299290972017-08-15T23:30:00.001-05:002017-08-15T23:30:05.520-05:00Epic Road Trip 2017 Days 1 and 2 <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We left Macon on Sunday, June 25th at about 4:00 PM. There were, of course, many last minute things that had to be dealt with after church that morning. The kids were almost beside themselves with excitement! We had bought a new van a few days before, and they were armed with notebooks, pencils and movies. You can tell by Ben and Emma's faces that they had NO idea how long they would be in this van.<br />
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Jack had no idea either. He just knew everyone else was excited. As you can tell by the next picture, he was asleep before we even pulled out of our driveway.<br />
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And we were off! It was such a relief to finally get in the van and head out. The plan was to drive all night, or until Paul needed a rest and arrive on Long Island Monday morning. Paul was scheduled to set up at a church on Monday afternoon, and then speak at a CC practicum on Tuesday.<br />
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Paul drove for a few hours, and then I took over so he could get a nap before nightfall. I'm not usually a good night time driver because I get so sleepy. Actually, I'm not really a good morning driver either for the same reason. :) But I drove until 1 AM so he could get some rest, but I'm pretty sure he never slept. I listened to The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis, which I thoroughly enjoyed.<br />
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The next morning found us in New Jersey. Paul pulled over about 7 and the rest of us got out and had breakfast while he slept in the van for about an hour and a half. He came in, had breakfast and coffee and we were good to go.<br />
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The Verrazanno Narrows Bridge. What a familiar sight! I was so excited to see this because it meant we were growing close. We were all shocked that we had to pay $15 to get across this bridge. (And, in a serious oversight, we had no cash on us! We went through the toll anyway and were told the camera would take a picture of our license plate and mail us a bill. As of today, over six weeks later, we still haven't gotten the bill. )<br />
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We arrived on Long Island around 10. His meeting wasn't until 1, and we couldn't go where we were staying until 4, so we found a park so the kids could play. The weather was amazing. Breezy and comfortable! Coming from hot humid Georgia, it was a welcomed treat.<br />
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So after the park, we ran to Walmart. What a mad house! The people in Walmart drove their carts around the store just like the people on the road drove- CRAZY! We almost were run over by carts several times. It was insane. We drove Paul over to where the Practicum was so he could set up. The kids and I stayed in the van and I closed my eyes, ready to doze off, when I heard him loudly calling my name. Turns out the secretary of the church was a schoolmate of mine, years ago! We had in fact, ridden the same bus for a few years, so we knew each other very well. What a small world.<br />
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After he set up, we went out for real Long Island pizza. It didn't disappoint. So, so good! By this time, we were getting very tired, but we still had some time to kill, so we drove around and took in this very different culture.<br />
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We arrived at our friends house around 4. These were friends of ours from college, and I hadn't seen them in over 25 years, but it didn't take long to get reacquainted. They were very hospitable and served us a delicious meal. Another friend, Dennis, came over and ate dinner with us. I have known Dennis since I was about 15. We attended the same church and then the same Bible college, but I hadn't seen him in about 25 years also. It was fun to reconnect and talk about the old days. After supper, Doug treated us all to authentic New York Italian Ice. Oh I have forgotten how good that really is! It had been a long day and we were ready for bed. All of us slept soundly.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984357007358783841.post-31318971352213628282015-07-29T09:40:00.000-05:002015-07-29T09:40:27.102-05:00Jackson is ONE!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Dear Jackson,<br />
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It hardly seems possible, but today is your first birthday! You came into this world one year ago today, July 29, 2014. I have a hard time remembering our family when you weren't a part of it. I have to confess. I was not sure I wanted another baby when I found out you were coming. You were a huge surprise to your dad and I. <br />
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But it didn't take long to get used to the idea and then I was very happy! I'm so glad God knew we needed you, even when we didn't. <br />
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Your first 3 months were rough for both of us. You had digestive issues which caused stomach aches. I felt so bad for you. You didn't sleep well because you were in pain. I tried everything I could think of to help you, but in the end you just needed to grow out of it. Around 3 months, you did! And then, you found your thumb, and you began sleeping! And I began sleeping! And the whole house was happy!!<br />
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You walked before you were 10 months old and haven't slowed down yet. You wake up each morning with a sense of adventure that continues throughout the day. We love watching you discover new things, whether it be that you can pull the curtains down, or throw things in the toilet, or dump out the dogs water. Fun things like that.<br />
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You LOVE your siblings! They enjoy entertaining you and can get you laughing uncontrollably. Your siblings love you so much. When I found out you were coming, one of my first concerns was for your oldest siblings. I wanted them to enjoy you and love you as much as I did. I needn't have been concerned. They can't wait to get their hands on you overtime they see you. You love them as much as they love you.<br />
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You are showing signs of independence and sadly, of your sin nature. It is not uncommon for you to try and bite one of your youngest siblings when you don't get what you want. You also are trying out screaming. I promise you, that will stop. :) These next few years, you will learn how to obey and how to submit. It won't be easy on either of us.<br />
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You are a good eater, usually. You LOVE eggs and bananas and ice cream and want whatever anyone else is having. You do not like to be left out.<br />
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Thank you for completing our family. You are the best surprise anyone has ever received! I love you so much!<br />
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Love, MomElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08724937318685790187noreply@blogger.com0