Sweet Time! Family Time!

My oh my! What a vacation I have had! My sweet loving boss (aka My Husband) gave me 10 1/2 weeks off. Wow...I knew I was home a long time but until just now I  didn't realize it was that long.  Well Mama.. guess that explains why I seemed to be a little short and snappy at times. I must admit that there were times when I probably should have read one of my previous blogs on attitudes. Carl did get to take a week off at Thanksgiving and 2 weeks for Christmas but the rest of the time he was working. So 7 1/2 of those weeks were spent away from my hubby...no wonder I needed an attitude adjustment at times! My heart, thoughts and prayers really go out to all the men and women of our military who are separated from their love ones for LONG periods at a time. I know 7 1/2 weeks is nothing compared to the months and years they go through. I so appreciate the sacrifice they make for us each and every day. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Even though I was home for so long, there wasn't much rest and relaxation going on. My family kept me hopping! Mama thinks if she keeps me busy I won't miss Carl as much. :) I do love being home during the Christmas Holidays and taking part in all the activities that go on during this time of year. After Thanksgiving my calendar fills up in a hurry! Well, it's really the only time of year my calendar fills up or even has anything written on it. This year one of my nieces started the season off by having an Ornament Door Hanging making party after our local Christmas Parade. The children had so much fun decorating the hangers, eating cookies and then delivering the door hangers to the residents of our local Retirement Home. What a blessing that was...for all of us! That will certainly be a new Christmas tradition for us. I also went to a luncheon that Mama had for the women of our family. We don't get to see some of our aunts and cousins very often so this is something we all look forward to each year. Then comes my nieces and nephews  Christmas Program at Church, their school programs, and this year my 2 year old niece danced at her hometown's Victorian Christmas. How precious that was! I also helped my parents with a luncheon they had for the widows of our church. Our favorite Christmas tradition is Cookie Day. My mama, sisters and I and all the children get together and bake cookies and fix tins filled with goodies for family and friends. Even Timothy comes over and samples some of the treats and this year he got in on a little bit  of the cooking. He helped my sister fix her delicious divinity...which is always a 2 person ordeal. We had our traditional Christmas Eve Brunch at my sister's....had Carl's family over for our traditional Christmas Eve Oyster Stew Supper and then supper at my parent's Christmas Night. Carl and I did some babysitting for my sisters and had a Get-to-Gather at my house for some of my high school friends. In my "spare" time I worked on a few DIY projects. The best part about being home was being with Timothy! Even as busy as I was, it was so nice to see his handsome face, his glowing smile and to hear his contagious laugh everyday. So morning, noon or night I had something going on but I loved every single minute of it.



Well, my vacation time is over and Carl and I are back on the road. We loaded up Jan. 2 and are headed to San Diego, CA.  We are traveling with 2 other drivers and last night one of them asked Carl how much we weighed (the truck and trailer not us personally) Carl said 90,000 lbs which is about 3,000 more than the other driver. They started laughing and said his extra 3 was from me.  At first I was like "Wait just a minute!" I thought they were talking about my weight. Then I realized they were talking about ALL the stuff I put in the truck. Carl told them it took me 4 hours to load everything up. He was exaggerating just a little bit. Three hours and six pairs of shoes later I was ready to go! This time of year a girl just doesn't know how to dress, especially when traveling all over the country....so I need to be prepared!

P7 (Personnel Carrier)

I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving and Christmas. I pray that the LORD blesses each and every one of you in 2013.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17





Til We Meet Again!
Only By Grace!

  Lynne

Homeward Bound

South GA here we come!!!!

We loaded last Friday in Seattle, WA for Illinois. This load was one of those "Oh my gosh, you have got to be kidding me" loads. TARPS...not just one tarp but 3 tarps!!! I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. Just wish it had been MUCH MUCH later! But this is the load the LORD had planned for us so I really couldn't complain. He and I are just going to have a long talk about these tarping loads.

We had to load at the Port of Seattle which requires you to have a twik card (government clearance/background check). This wasn't a problem for us but it was for another driver. After we got loaded Carl had to drive the man's truck in and load it. Well, in the mean time I am in LC turning it upside down looking for my phone. I finally decided that Carl must have taken it with him by mistake. While all this was going on, Timothy got a phone call but when he said "Heelllooo!" in his silly little voice it wasn't his mama saying "Hey, what are you doing?"  It was "I just found this phone." It was a strange voice from a nice man who spoke very little English.  I would have loved to have seen Timothy's face when he said hello and it wasn't me on the other end. Timothy said he was on the phone with him for about 15 minutes. Timothy kept saying, "It is my mama's phone. I will get my daddy to call you." "What? Who'll call?" "My daddy! He is at the same place." "What?"  "My daddy will call you." "Who?' Finally Timothy just hung up...called Carl and then Carl got to call and talk to him. Now I usually have to translate for Carl because if the person doesn't speak southern English then he doesn't understand them. But this time he was on his own. So he called,"I understand you have my wife's phone." "What? Who's phone?" "My wife's!" "What?" "DID YOU FIND A PHONE?" "Oh, yes I'm talking on it." Carl was like..I know you are talking on it. I just called you on it. So Carl left the building where he was and started walking and looking for a man in the parking lot talking on a phone. About the time he saw him sitting in his truck the man said "Oh is that you?" "Yes, it is!" There is no telling what the man thought about us because I have Timothy set as "Toot" so he called  Toot and "My love" called the nice man and the ring tone for when My love calls is I Don't Want to Miss A Thing. He was probably wondering "Who are these people?" Right now, I am a very thankful person....I am lost without my phone!

Finally, Carl is back with the man's loaded truck and with my phone. Now, let the fun begin! It took us all day to tarp that sucker but we got it done...cleaned everything up, jumped in the truck and took off. About 5 miles down the road Carl says "Where is my phone?" You have got to be kidding me! Yep, it's gone. It got left on the trailer and is probably laying in the middle of the interstate in 100 pieces. Since we had an oversize load we couldn't turn around and go look for it. I do believe it is time for us to go home. Our brains have started turning to mush.

We didn't stop at any view points or go hiking down to a river or up a mountain but we still saw some beautiful places on our way to Illinois. I just had to be very quick and Johnny on the spot when taking the pictures. It is not easy to take a picture while traveling down the highway in a semi on a road that has more craters than the moon.

Montana

Montana

North Dakota

North Dakota

I want to ride my bicycle....NOT!

Fields and fields of sunflowers..North Dakota

Missouri River...North Dakota

We unloaded Wednesday afternoon in Illinois and found a load in Kentucky going 24 miles from our house. Now is that a God thing or what!! So we are Georgia bound. This has been our longest trip...9 weeks out. I haven't had my hair done in months. I need a pedicure by someone other than myself. Carl has to get a new phone. I'm running out of make-up. He keeps forgetting what highway we are on and where we are but most importantly we miss our family something terrible.  Timothy, Mama, Daddy, Godwins, Collins and Connells we are coming home!!!

Our ticket HOME! (a tree trimmer) Thank you, LORD!!!!

I am extremely thankful for my time with My Love and our work. The time we have with one another is priceless. I thank the LORD everyday for blessing us with this opportunity. I am also very thankful that He knows just how long I can handle being away from home and that He knows exactly when it is time to point LC toward the house. I am thankful to have a God who knows when enough is enough before I do; otherwise, Carlos might have a very unhappy wife on his hands. We stayed out a little longer this trip but He knew I could handle it...we both could. He sees the bigger picture in every little detail of our lives. I am so thankful for that!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. James 1:17


Til we meet again! I'm going home so it'll be awhile!

Only by Grace!

Lynne