The Trip

We got back from our trip back home around 11:30 p.m. on Good Friday. It was a long, tough trip and we were happy to be back. Lawrence was especially happy. The poor guy, everytime we got in the car he asked if we were going back to Sylva, and would get upset everytime we said no.

The week before we left was crazy. Lance's mom was in the hospital and we weren't sure what was going on or if we should change our plans. We went ahead and drove to Alabama to spend the night with Nathan and his family. Lawrence loved playing with their little girl, Emma Kate, and it was good to see Nathan and Heidi. They have a huge house outside of Auburn and Heidi has done a great job with it. Poor Nathan is still living in Eupora and driving in on the weekends. That's got to be hard. We got up early the next morning. Nathan filled the kids full of sugar and we headed out on a 6 hour scream fest to Thibadoux, LA to see Joe and Tricia. We stopped in Mobile for lunch at Chick-fil-a. The parking lot was full of seagulls. Lawrence had never seen them before so that was fun. By this time, the news about Lance's mom was not good, so we knew we would have to leave a day early from Thibadoux and go straight to Tupelo. We had fun while we were there, though. Lawrence loves being with his Parrain and it was nice to see our extended family. The drive to Tupelo was probably the worst of the entire trip. We had to stop a lot for the kids and Annabelle expressed her dislike of the carseat very loudly. Of course, things got worse when we got there.

Seeing his mom in the hospital made everything so real for Lance. He knew this would be the last time he would see her. We got his dad to go home for a couple of days where he did get a little sleep and we were able to take care of a few things for them. The rest of the time we stayed in Oxford with our friends Shawn and Lena while Lance drove to Tupelo everyday. I want to take a minute to express my gratitude for the Snows. They took such great care of us during that very sad and stressful time. Their boys, who are 10, 11 and 12, were very sweet and patient with Lawrence and played with him a lot. Lawrence loved being around the big boys and it was so good seeing them playing together. This time in our lives would have been a lot worse without them. We even got to go out by ourselves to watch a baseball game. It was wonderful cuddling up with my man while watching Ole Miss baseball. It felt like old times.

While we were there his mom's situation got worse. Lance's heart is breaking, but it helped him to be able to be of use to his dad. The day we left his sister and uncles were there. He had to say goodbye to his mom and leave knowing it would be the last time he would ever see or talk to her. Since we left, she has stopped eating and talking all together. On Thursday the dr. said she wouldn't make it through the night. She did, but it is still just a matter of time. So now we just carry on with our lives and wait.

The week we got back was tough, but we knew it would be. The kids were re-adjusting to our normal routine. Annabelle had slept in the bed with me for two weeks and she hated going back to her crib. The worst is over, I think. Easter was nice. Lawrence went to our neighbors to hunt eggs. He found a lot, but gave most of them to a little girl who was also there! Annabelle couldn't have cared less about hunting eggs, but she looked pretty in her dress. I was able to take the kids to my mom's for a day and she and my sister made their Easter baskets for me and provided an abunance of candy and plastic eggs. I was grateful for that; there was no way I could have gotten everything together for Easter morning.

The 15th marked 10 years since the first time Lance and I went for coffee. We celebrated with dinner at Huddle House, which was where we went 10 years ago. Today is the anniversary of the first time saying the "L" word. Taking the kids out for dinner is a horrible experience these days, so we are celebrating with take out bbq! We might use the fancy plates, though. Kids change everything!

So, that's what's going on with us. Good times are definately being parralled with bad, but that's life. Please keep us in your prayers.