Time for myself

In 10 days, I will be boarding an Amtrak bus at 8am and enduring the super long trip to San Fransisco. It usually takes about 4 hours if you just hop in the car and go, but on a bus, with multiple stops to pick people up and stop for greasy, nasty, make you sick fast food dinner breaks, well, it'll take me about 8 hours.

After that, I'll catch an actual train and then a shuttle to the airport. I'm flying into Cincinnati, OH. I'm taking a red eye flight so hopefully, I'll just sleep the whole way until I have to change planes in PA. When I flew into Cincy in August, I was very glad to have those little white bags that I'm sure everyone prays they won't ever have to use. Too little sleep mixed with too much turbulence leads to not a good outcome. Why I'm flying over Cincy to PA to change planes and then fly into to Cincy, I have no idea but I'll arrive about 9 am on Sat.

I have a lot of family things to take care of while I'm in town. First off my cousin is having a Bridal Shower on Sunday. My brother and his wife just had a new baby. He was born on March 11. His name is Alex and I can't wait to meet him and do a little baby squeezing. I so miss those days. Those are the days where they haven't learned to talk back yet. I never minded the up a million times a night, or the diapers, or even the spit up. As a matter of fact that's the way my first born let us know he was happy to see us.

When Cay was little, Mike was driving for a large machinery radiator manufacturer. He would be covered in lead dust when he got home. Immediately after coming in the front door, he would strip down to his skivvies and wash his face and hands. Then he would come in a say hi to me and Cay. Then he would shower. We found that this was the only way to avoid 2 or three consecutive showers. Between 6 and 9 months Cay compulsively spit up when he was excited. As soon as he knew Mike was home..blehh... Mike says hi to him....blehh.... Mike picked him up...blehh... well you get the picture. I think the record number of times Mike got hit was 8!!

My grandpa is in the hospital under hospice care. I really need to visit with him also. I also hope, but probably can't due to hospital regulations, to visit my aunt who is dealing with cancer. She's receiving intense treatment right now. Please pray for her healing. Her name is Rosie.

It's a weird feeling having been a stay at home mom for the past 8 years, to think about leaving your family for a full 10 days. The kids have stayed the night with grandparents a few times here and there. I think even 2 nights one time because Mike and I were celebrating our anniversary. But 10 days without my family will be really strange. Mike is awesome. He and the kids had an opportunity to possibly go along, but he thought that it would be easier on me to be able to visit with friends and family.

I'm taking along a knitting project. I think it will be the sweater Caleb asked my to make for him. I was thinking about taking the one Noah picked out, but being that it's full of cables, I think I'll save that for when I'm not going to be toting it around everywhere I go. With Cays sweater, it'll pretty much be a no brainer.

Gosh, with homeschooling, cooking. doing laundry for 4, cleaning, and running the House of Peace, I may not know how to be by myself.