Travel Thoughts

We just returned from a driving trip to Idaho where we had a wonderful, memorable and blessed Christmas with my family. Here are a few things I noticed along the 18oo or so miles we traveled.

- The Red Box policy of returning your DVD's to ANY Redbox location is genius for the traveling family with a DVD player.
- A one-year-old in the van means you'll hear desperate screams every so often that one can only surmise mean "get me out of here!"
- Catheters every 4 hours rise to a whole new level of challenge when you are traveling through rural Nevada, Oregon and Idaho in the dead of winter.
- When over half of your family are children ages 12 and under, your time together is bound to be loud and lively.
- Family pictures with a one-year-old, two-year-old, three-year-old and four-year old will challenge even the best of photographers.
- Our Idaho friends may think we're crazy for living in Southern California, but we're not the ones sitting in over three feet of snow right now.
- A Ninetendo DS for Christmas and new games is a great gift for children about to be sequestered in a van for 18 hours.
- Children of all ages will watch Baby Einstein if contained in a moving vehicle for several hours.
- Parents' grand plans of making a "quick stop" for lunch or dinner were thwarted when they decided to have 5 children to feed, exercise and use the facilities.
- Snow is beautiful and lots of fun, but I can't say I'm sad to leave it behind.
- When your children who sleep on the floor at home complain about the beds in your overnight accommodations, you know your pickins were pretty slim.
- A community and church who provide meals for a family of 15 for a week leave you feeling amazed, humbled and abundantly blessed.
- Cancer may take your health, but it will never take your faith!

No matter how long the journey, it is always worth it to see your family!

Cutest Army Crawl

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I blogged last. A LOT has been going on, but I won't attempt to update everything today.

One of the most exciting things happening in our home is that Melody has learned to "combat crawl" forward. She has been doing it here and there when especially motivated to get to something. Her brother's Legos and my cell phone are two big motivators. However, until tonight I hadn't caught her on film. Tonight the motivator was Joel's dirty socks!

We are so proud of Melody and her newest milestone. Watch her go!