Constant Little Blessings

When we made the decision to have everyone come out to Grandma BerDella’s funeral we knew it had the potential to be a disaster traveling that far that fast. Originally we thought Brian should just go alone. When we started checking ticket prices we found some with a price that rivaled that we would hope for when buying six months in advance so we felt the whole family should make the journey to be there to say goodbye. Then Brian found a rental car cheaper than we have ever paid in our lives. What a blessing to have things fall into place for us so well with only three days notice. The next hurdle was making the actual voyage across the country. The night before we left was New Year’s Eve. We cancelled plans for parties and stayed home to pack and visit with Kristie and Anthony who had been visiting us from Buffalo. We had to cut their visit a day short so we could leave for the funeral, but they understood. We had really good intentions of packing and going to bed. The two little people in our lives didn’t have the same vision. I thought we would be in bed well before we rang in the New Year. Jacob and Maddie Mae both gave us a rough time. Maddie must not have been feeling amazing and demanded to be held and rocked for hours and hours. Jacob just wouldn’t settle down and sleep. We took turns holding, rocking and feeding the two of them while we attempted to pack. Finally, everyone was tucked into their beds, the bags were ready to go and we wearily slipped into our bed a few minutes before 2 am, long after we had rung in the New Year with Dick Clark again this year. Happy 2009. We awoke to the blaring of the alarm a very short two hours later at 4 am. We showered and Brian loaded the luggage in the truck bed while I fed Jacob. Then we woke the kids, Brian changed them into clothes and we departed on our adventure. Unfortunately, we woke up their cousin Parker. Actually, I woke him up on accident. He was sleeping on the ground next to Maddie and I accidentally stepped on his finger. I heard a little voice say, “Ouch.” Then a much louder “Ouch!” as I looked backward to see his face wincing in pain and I quickly moved when I realized what happened. Sorry Kristie and Anthony. I can’t guarantee he would have slept through the commotion anyway, but it was probably all my fault he was up at 5:30 in the morning. I’ve travelled enough to know that no matter how early we put the kids in the car, no time is early enough that they will transfer and go back to sleep until “morning” comes. So Ben was wide awake and waiting to see the airplanes. Maddie did doze a little. During the drive it was mostly quiet. I took the time to say a quiet prayer to ask for the Lord to help us through this long day and bless the kids to have the stamina to be happy and willing helpers. My prayers were answered beyond what I had imagined and I am so grateful for the blessings that came right when we needed them. The affordable plane tickets were flying out of Baltimore going to Las Vegas, so it was a one hour drive to get to the Baltimore-Washington airport. It was not bad considering what it could have been though. It can be a three hour drive on a normal day, but it was a holiday so everyone was home in bed still. I brought a can of peaches, bowls and utensils in case they kids were hungry on the drive so everyone but Maddie had a mini-breakfast. We found the airport parking lot, loaded five people, six bags and three car seats onto the bus and went to the airport. Both kids were super excited to be on the trip so we had an easy time of it. They walked themselves and were very accommodating at the security check, which is very unusual for them. Thank heavens. Getting through security with our clan is a bit of an adventure on its own, it went slowly but we did it again. Since Maddie had slept through our peach breakfast in the truck we stopped and got her bananas and apple juice which she promptly and happily devoured. Then the kids cheerfully watched the airplanes until it was time to board. Again, I prayed that the kids would do well on the flight. Maddie has crossed that magical age of two since her last flight, so she got her very own chair and loved it. We can officially no longer fit in one half row. Brian sat with Ben and Maddie on one side and I was across the aisle with Jacob. I realize Brian took the brunt of dealing with the big kids since I had to nurse and burp Jacob on and off for four hours to keep him settled, but they really behaved well. They watched movies, ate cracker snacks, looked out the window at the clouds, played travel size connect four and other games. They had a few upsets but nothing major. Again I was so grateful for the blessing of happy children. Upon our arrival in Denver we had loads of fun finding moving sidewalks, escalators and elevators to take from one end of the airport to the other to catch our connecting flight. Maddie made us laugh at her insistence that she have both hands in her pant pockets. It made her walk really, really slow and silly, but it was important and we had nothing else to do so we let her be silly and creative while we smiled in amusement. We found a McDonalds and got some kid friendly chicken nuggets and French fries making the kids quite happy. It amused me how many people are starting to notice us and comment on our family. I guess when you cross the barrier of three kids your family is starting to become “large” in the eyes of most people in the country. We heard many, many stories from women who had “been there and done that” in their past and gave us sweet words of encouragement. Flight number two to Las Vegas was also pretty great. I had expected with the lack of sleep from the night before and waking up so early they would both sleep but that just wasn’t in the cards for either one of them, though Brian and I could literally not keep our eyes open. Both the kids played games again the whole flight and did great at staying happy most the time. At one point the flight attendants were passing out drinks. Jacob spit up just before she arrived to ask what I wanted. I wiped him down and looked up to answer her. Then I heard a big spit up from Jacob on my lap. The flight attendant’s eyes about popped out of her head and I looked down. Jacob had spit up so much that my pants were soaked, his outfit was so wet I could have rung it out, both front and back from head to waist. His face was covered and there was so much spit up that his eye sockets were just pools filled with white liquid. It was awful. It took several hours to dry both of us out. We both needed a bath by the end of the day. At one point, Ben snuggled up to Jacob and then sat up, saying, “Jacob doesn’t smell very wonderful right now.” When we arrived in Vegas, I was quickly reminded what it is like to be in the West. I could see for miles and miles on the flat, barren land. It was all flat until you hit the mountains on the far side of either side of the valley. The whole world is a dull brown and the ground is dry and cracked. Within 24 hours I had a bloody nose from the lack of moisture in the air. Ben and I both needed tons of chap stick. Maddie and I both drank untold amounts of water to hydrate our bodies again. Everyone needed lotion and the dry air made Maddie’s hair have endless static so it would stick up in the air all the time. Getting our luggage, riding the bus to get the rental car and all the rest was uneventful and the kids, once again were phenomenal. They both wanted to help carry the wheeled luggage and enjoyed the bus ride. They played nicely around the car while I fed Jacob and Brian got three car seats strapped in place. Then it was off on our three hour drive. Brian and I had fun pointing out all the fun and unique buildings on the Vegas strip as we passed by on the freeway. Soon we were out of the valley and into the mountains. Ben picked out endless numbers of radio towers. Maddie slept on the ride and we made it two hours, to St. George before Jacob started to fuss. We decided to take a rest at the St. George Temple Visitor Center since the Christmas lights were still on and the nativity display was up. I fed Jacob while Brian and the kids toured, looked at the sights and got some of those nasty wiggles out. When we came back to the car, I stepped off the curb and fell. I twisted my ankle pretty good and skinned my knee really bad. The worst part was that I was holding Jacob swaddled in my arms when I went down. I caught myself with my hand on the front seat of the car, but not before I heard the most terrible sound. Jacob’s head whacked square onto the door frame of the car. I screamed and Brian ran to help. I have him Jacob to check out because I couldn’t move. Jacob, understandably, was screaming at the top of his lungs. Poor boy. I felt so guilty, but what could I have done? It was an accident. Brian got poor Jacob settled down but I couldn’t bear to put him into his car seat right away for an hour until we had more time to check him out. I nursed him again to help calm him, I checked his eyes and looked for bruises or goose eggs. He seemed okay, so we strapped him down and finished our drive to Brian’s parents house. He did great on the last part of the ride and has had no other effects from his bump. I’m so grateful for that. I was so worried about him. When we arrived in Cedar, we couldn’t wake Ben up no matter how hard we tried or shook him. Poor kid was exhausted. Brian carried him in to the couch and covered him with a blanket in his clothes and coat. He didn’t stir for an hour while we ate dinner and got ready for bed. Brian changed him into his pajamas and he finally woke enough to want dinner. Nothing sounded good to him, so he had a glass of chocolate milk and went to bed. Maddie was happy as can be that we were at Grandpa’s house but sad that they weren’t home. We all went to bed by 10 pm and were completely exhausted. Morning came earlier than it should have once again. Brian woke at 4 am and woke me to tell me that he was going to shower and get ready. I told him we didn’t have to wake up until 6 am, but he was welcome to do whatever he wanted. He came right back to bed. Finally, we got up and moving at 6 am, loaded the car and headed to Richfield for the funeral, another two hour drive. We were so grateful to finally have made it to our destination a full 30 hours after leaving our home in Virginia. What wonderful children and what wonderful blessing from the Lord that we were given so many small and simple blessings along the way of our journey. I know the Lord heard each and every one of my simple earnest prayers and I am thankful for each and every one.