Christmas 2011

This Christmas was jam packed full with family, friends and miles and miles of road! We traveled to PA to visit my family a few weeks ago. We were there about a week. I'll tell you a week just goes by too quickly! We enjoyed a nice time though even though we only saw the snow flurr

y a little bit and my Dad was sick with a nasty cold....that he later shared with all of us! We celebrated Christmas with them a week early. Paul surprised me by giving me my Christmas gift then...a new camera! I absolutely was surprised and shocked and I LOVE it. I know I shouldn't love a material possession so much, but I

do. I have been saving for a while now to get a camera myself, but it's kinda hard to save money when you don't have a job that pays. =) So, you can imagine my excitement...all 768 pictures worth of excitement taken in 2 weeks time!

Paul's folks are from New Jersey originally and some of his extended family still live there, including his Nana. We decided that we should take the opportunity to visit her while we were north. She moved from sunny FL back to NJ 1 1/2 years ago. I am SO glad we made the trek to NJ. I will say I am glad I do NOT live in NJ, but I am sure glad we visited Nana, Aunt Cher and Uncle Don. The kids and I met two of Paul's cousins for the first time ever and got acquainted with Aunt Cher and Uncle Don. I must say these two spoiled our children immeasurably and I dare say they will never forget the night they stayed with Uncle Don and Aunt Cher and Nana! We got up the next morning at 5:30 and left for Baltimore at 6:30am. We were on our way now to meet up with Paul's younger brother, James and his wife, Hilary, and son, Peter at the National Baltimore Aquarium. Again, it was wonderful seeing James, Hilary and Peter...and Peter is growing up so quickly. Kids, they do that, yah know. Our children enjoyed the aquarium even though they managed to get left behind somehow (a slight mis-communication between their parents is the culprit, no doubt!). We also enjoyed Baltimore for the couple hours we were there. I had never been there before and for Paul it brought back many good memories of his outings there as a young boy. So, by this time it's now December 22nd around 1 pm and we're on our way back to the Sunshine State...but we are quite exhausted. The traffic in DC doesn't help but we plow forward at an agonizingly slow pace but finally we pick up some speed. At about midnight, we've managed to make it into SC but Paul's feeling quite drowsy...and I am not much better. So, we pull off at the first exit that has hotels...but as is fitting for Christmas time, there were no rooms in the Inns! I look up on the GPS for other nearby "Inns" and we found one...the Sunset Inn...so we call and they have a vacancy. However, before Paul hangs up the guy informs Paul that the police will be showing up because there has been a domestic dispute. So, we scratch that place, get back on the interstate...and get off at the next exit with a hotel and there we found a room. I was praying the Lord's protection over us against bed bugs...yes, it was that bad!

The next day we made it to Paul's parents in North Florida and spent the remainder of our days there (there will be another post on that segment of our travels!). I continue to be amazed at our Lord's goodness to us as we travel. He is so good. He has protected us from ourselves and others while we travel on the highways. Not only that, he has given us four children who, despite being locked up in a car for 18+ hours, travel well. I do not thank Him lightly for these graces...for they are truly things for which to be thankful.