Home Sweet Home... Sort of

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"In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony."   Eva Burrows


It has been a while since I have updated you on what has been going on in my little world. The reason for that is something quite wonderful - a trip! Joshua and I went on a very, very quick trip to Louisiana to visit Mom and Joe. We left last Thursday and spent the night in Birmingham with my birth mother, Becky. It was a fun night. Becky, Brad (my brother) and Ashley (my sister) and Joshua and I all had dinner at a historic Birmingham restaurant called the Bright Star, the purpose of which was to meet Ashley's new boyfriend, Matt. Although he is a Catholic and, worse, an Alabama fan, he seems like a very nice young man and he passed the first round of inspections with flying colors.

On Friday Joshua and I left Bentley behind for some spoiling with Becky while we went on to Louisiana. It was a 9-hour drive! We took our time and enjoyed talking with each other and listening to C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce on CD as we drove. We arrived in DeRidder, Louisiana, around 7:00 p.m. local time to find Mom and Joe and my sister Jodi waiting for us with some fresh Louisiana style fried fish, hush puppies and barbecue baked beans! It was wonderful!! It was a lively dinner as Joe and I immediately launched into a discussion of the day's politics. But, as tired as everyone was it was soon off to bed as we had a long, busy day on Saturday.

Saturday dawned all too soon. I got up and walked outside to find Mom in the backyard. We sat on the deck swing and talked for a while, enjoying the outdoors and each other. It was a special time. In the constant business of life I find that I so rarely have time to just sit down face-to-face and really talk to people in a leisurely fashion anymore - especially the people that mean the most to me like my mother or my siblings. So, I have to say that was my favorite moment of the entire weekend and worth the 30 hours in the car. Absolutely. But, it was over all too quickly and soon we were all rushing off to shower and primp and get ready for the day ahead.

Our first order of business, at least for the girls, was to attend a shower which some of the kind ladies at New Life Baptist Church (Mom and Joe's church) threw for me. It was so much fun! The food was really delicious. They had sausage balls, mini-quiche, fruit salad, fresh fruit, muffins with orange butter, and cake. There was also a wonderful frozen mocha punch which was incredible! I was so excited that Aunt Pam and Ashley, Aunt Becky and Mrs. Jeannette got to come. That just made my day to get to see them and spend some time with them. We got some really sweet and special gifts. It was really so special. Now I need to get busy with my thank you notes!

When we got home poor Joshua got a taste of what football season means in the south. He probably thought we were all a bunch of lunatics yelling at the TV - but LSU DID come pretty close to giving the game away at the end. Still, it was loads of fun and it was the first LSU game I have gotten to watch this season. Yea!

That night Joshua and I got a real treat! Mom was the main speaker at a large women's event, appropriately named The Big Event, at a nearby town. He got to experience a women's event for the first time! The southern cookin', the southern music, and even a Southern Baptist-style fashion show! It was also neat that he got to hear Mom's testimony and learn more about her life and our family's life from a perspective different from mine. She and Joe also sang a duet together before Mom closed out the night with a really nice Medley. She really did a great job!

We had another long 15-hour drive back. But it was a great time spent with family, friends and loved ones. We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives.