Moving day arrived at last....a day I dreaded for 8 weeks. Becky and Pete Kritner, and Dawn Wright came over to see us off and help with the last minute loading. Becky and Pete's son Josh gave Mike an Auburn sweatshirt and out of love for their family, Mike told Josh he would put it on before he left. SO........Can you believe he left Alabama in an Auburn sweatshirt???!! It didn't seem to bother him but me and the boys had a problem with it every time we looked at him! As you can see in the picture below, we are trying to cover it up as much as possible!
Pulling out of the driveway was extremely difficult but I can say that it was not as hard as the day before had been with all the goodbyes. I cried all the way to Grace and past it but I will say that it was a relief to have all the goodbyes behind us. I was reminded of the verse in the Bible on my drive into Cullman leaving Holly Pond about forgetting the things that are behind and pressing on to the prize of the high calling of God which is in Christ Jesus. Now Grace family, please don't take that the wrong way.... I will never forget you but to cope with the reality of leaving my home of 9 years, God placed that scripture on my heart as a reminder that we are called out to be obedient and press forward. A sense of excitement sparked and Mason, Haven, and I sang with the VBS CD "Strong and Couragous" which became my theme song for this journey. It says "Have I not commanded you to be strong and couragous. Do not be satisfied, Do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you where ever you go." AHHH, scripture is like water to a thirsty soul.
So, our Tuesday destination was to Little Rock, Arkansas. The drive there was fine. We went through Mississippi, Memphis, TN, then to Arkansas. Nothing exciting to report on that drive. The kids were awesome. We met up with Randy Pate and his son Wesley for supper and a tour of his new church. Do you all remember Randy?? He moved there in April and is the Minister of Evangelism and Outreach at Geyer Springs Baptist in Little Rock. They only have 19 ministers on staff and it took us an hour to tour the church!! Penny did not get to join us due to a stomach virus.
On Wednesday, we left Little Rock to head to Oklahoma City. We went to the Oklahoma City Memorial which was very sad and touching. Oklahoma was extremely windy and cold. Oh, and we got gas there for $2.29 a gallon.
The chairs represent the 168 people that died in the bombing. The small chairs represent the children who died. (Notice the boys are having to cover up that Auburn sweatshirt again)!
The water you see is a very thin layer of water and there are monuments at each end there with "9:01" and "9:03" on them. Landon asked the park ranger what that meant and Landon told us that the 9:01 was the last peaceful time before the bombing which took place at 9:02. The "9:03" represented the fact that the world would never be the same after that happened. The fences around the area are still loaded with pictures of the victims and things people brought as a memorial gift.
Across the street from the memorial is this touching statue of Jesus, ensribed at the post "Jesus Wept."
We then loaded back up and decided to drive until we couldn't drive any more. We made it to Elk City, Oklahoma, just 30 miles from the Texas line. The boys and I were amazed at the huge windmills that lined the fields in Oklahoma......
Ok, I have to stop here and get in the bed. I'll finish the trip info tomorrow......sorry!
The water you see is a very thin layer of water and there are monuments at each end there with "9:01" and "9:03" on them. Landon asked the park ranger what that meant and Landon told us that the 9:01 was the last peaceful time before the bombing which took place at 9:02. The "9:03" represented the fact that the world would never be the same after that happened. The fences around the area are still loaded with pictures of the victims and things people brought as a memorial gift.
Across the street from the memorial is this touching statue of Jesus, ensribed at the post "Jesus Wept."
1 comment:
I'm sitting on the edge of my seat waiting on the next entry. You really should become a journalist.
This is great stuff. Love ya!
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