A week in a post - Tuesday -Monday
/I'm not sure how I let a week slip by without posting. We've been much busier here than we were other places we stayed, so I suppose I just haven't thought of it.
We left Gothenburg, NE last Tuesday around noon, hit up the McDonald's drive through and were on our way to make the 3 1/2+ hour drive to Omaha. Shane told me that morning that it occurred to her the night before that it made way more sense for her to pull the trailer with her F150 then it did for me to pull it with the van. So that is exactly what we did, and it was a NICE break from pulling it! She was able to comfortably drive the speed limit with it, where as I have to go pretty slow to keep it from jerking the van around.
We made it in to Omaha and drove to the little side town of Bellevue to hunt down Rob and Lyn's new home. It felt really weird to be driving somewhere I'd never been to find their home.
Lyn had gone grocery shopping to fill the fridge that had just been delivered early that afternoon, but had left the front door cracked. We came in and scoped the place out. It was surreal to see their furniture in the house, and then once she got home to help her put groceries away in all the different places. I vaguely remember their houses in Cheyenne when Josh was in high school, but all I've ever known of them has been in Grand Junction and the house there. I could feel the lump in my throat growing throughout the afternoon and caught her eye in the kitchen at one point, and remarked with a pained face, "This is weird." She responded with a sad, "I know. But it's going to be okay."
The evening was filled with conversation with Shane, who was staying the night before heading the next day to have lunch with a couple friends before heading home, exploring the house and back yard and getting worked in to the bedrooms upstairs.
The past week has been busy with decorating (Lyn had sent me a text saying she was going to wait for me to arrive to start hanging things on the walls), running errands, playing in the huge back yard and trying to reset some schedule and boundaries for the boys. I've all but lost control of my household. They are not not quick to respond or to obey as we have trained them, so there's been some rehashing of rules and fixing the weak spots over the past several days.
It's been so therapeutic to decorate with Lyn. I finished decorating our down stairs bathroom in Late Feb or early March before heading to the States for that vacation, but haven't been able to decorating anything since. That's a long stretch for this brain to go without decorating! It's been fun to see the house come together and feel that satisfaction of it becoming more like "home" as things go on the wall and look more and more familiar.
Friday was spent hanging things on walls and recovering from another bad vertigo attack that had hit the night before. Rob and Lyn got the boys to bed and the house picked up and I was so thankful they were here. It hit hard and fast and all I had time to do was beeline for my bed upstairs. Those things - they just aggravate me if I'm not careful to keep my attitude reined in. With the couple of days of off balance feeling and difficulty focusing that leads up to them (just the bad ones), the intense nausea during and inability to function, and then the minimum of 24 hours of recovery after they complete, they hog a lot of time out of a week. Especially when there is more than one. My fear of them, by grace alone, has pretty much ceased. Now it's just working on my attitude about the affliction and it's constant pestering.
Saturday, after receiving their second shipment that was over a week late Lyn and I drove to World Market (I forgot how much I LOVE that place!) while Rob stayed behind to play with the boys. He headed to the "Boy's Town" area of Omaha with them and we were to meet him there for a "healthy carnival" that they'd found advertised. By the time Lyn and I got there, found a place to park and got to him the boys were about pooped, so we turned right back around and loaded back up in the cars.
We hit Chic fil A for lunch on the way home and between the kids meals there and the carnival that morning and then pizza and a movie that night the boys felt like they were on vacation. They loved it! I've longed for this trip to feel like a vacation for them but have been sick enough that I haven't been able to do many fun outings like that with them. I was so thankful for Rob and Lyn's help in making things happen. I layed down to recover for a bit during naps and then headed down to get a few groceries at the "Walmart neighborhood Market" - the most unstressful Walmart I've ever stepped foot into! That store is brilliant! Conveniently, in the shopping complex there is a large Goodwill and I was able to get a fix out of the way. I was delighted to find that their prices were much more reasonable than the ones in Grand Junction and the selection of home goods were all color coded. Fun for the eyes!
Sunday we went to a joint baptism in the park service that was put on by 3 of the larger C&MA churches in the area. There were thousands there and 47 being baptized. A neat site, indeed; worship, food, public proclamation of faith, and some teaching.
Today we ventured out to Michael's to find some green stems to go in pots around the house and spent more time and more money than we intended walking in. I think that's usual for those stores - it's honest to goodness still so crazy to me that you can walk in to one of those places and pick craft items off the shelf to look at and hold and decide on instead of scouring the internet for hours just to decide the shipping cost and lack of picture and color accuracy isn't worth placing the order - perhaps someone donated something to the thrift store on base that would suffice. Part of me misses that simplicity. But only a small part.
I can feel another attack coming on but the timeline is so hard to predict. They've gotten a bit erratic and just kind of go when they want to go - not when I think they will go.
Rob and Lyn head out tomorrow for to meet some pastors and their wives in Iowa. This is the part of this job they've said they are most excited about - being able to travel together.
This week holds great anticipation of Josh getting out of Turkey and coming home to us. Our household goods were nailed in to crates early today and are on their way to Minot. We still don't have an estimated arrival date, but anticipate going between 2 and 4 months without them. We have a house waiting for us when we get to Minot that we'll be able to move in to at the end of the month, if we choose to accept the one they've chosen for us. Which we probably will considering the PCS season is over and this is probably our only chance for a base house. We aren't thinking the 20 minute commute would be much fun after spending these months apart, and my heart longs to be back on a small base with a community that is within shouting distance. We aren't sure which day he'll get to us, but we hope and pray that the weeks of this day go smoothly and that the Lord brings him to us quickly!