Weekend Done, Big Week to Come!

This weekend is what I like to call a "necessary" weekend. In other words, we did nothing exciting, but got lots of necessary things done. I won't bore you by going into detail. We did spend yesterday...7 1/2 hours of it...up at LifeChange working on a project that is, I'm happy to say, finished. While most of the weekend was nothing to talk about, we did have a few high points, and one low point. The biggest high point was having dinner with our friends Adam and Laura last night. They're leaving LifeChange to join staff with a ministry to military couples. They're going to take the things they have learned in their time atLifeChange, and build into the marriages of military couples. They don't know yet which base they'll be on, but they are excited to get going. We're excited for them, and are looking forward to being part of this new venture in their lives. The other high point in the weekend was that Pepper put himself down for his nap today! I told him it was naptime, and sent him upstairs. He always resists, and I always come upstairs to find him sitting on his bedroom floor crying. Today I went upstairs about 2 minutes after I had sent him up and he was all cuddled up on his bed, with the cd turned on and his mimi spread out over him. He said, "I sleepy now, Mama. Night night!" And that was that! Hooray for Little Buddy!

The low point of the weekend was that Jimmie Johnson finished 15th in the NASCAR race today. I'm sure it's because I didn't wear my Lowe's #48 pants today during the race! I'm unashamedly a NASCAR nut. I've even added a picture to show you how nuts I am. Hee hee! I know most of you don't care. So 'nuf said, and I will leave it at that.



Now that the weekend is safely behind me, I'm looking forward to this coming new week. Lots to do, for sure! I'm having coffee with my friend Karon in the morning. Snapper and I will be doubling up on her schoolwork for the next 2 days so she doesn't have to worry about it while I'm gone. In the midst of schoolwork, I need to get the basic housework stuff done (bathrooms, mopping, kitchen, a couple of loads of laundry, etc.) I have to pack...everything I need for my trip, and 3 different bags for the kids for the 3 different houses they'll be sleeping over at. There are instructions to write for everyone who is helping with my kids, medical releases to update, and a housekeeping list for Debbie to compile. Somewhere in this house of mine Snapper has a stash of socks and jeans. All the kid laundry is done, but I'm missing 6 pairs of her socks and 2 pairs of jeans. Boggles my mind! I understand about missing socks, but where could those jeans be? Argh! So I have to dig and find those jeans. Ah yes, and then there's the LifeChange Childcare stuff to do. I'm missing a staff meeting while I'm gone, and I have to make sure I have everything in place for the crew who will be filling in for me. That will involve making several phone calls, some time on the computer, and a trip up to the office. And all this has to be done by Tuesday night, because we're pulling out at 5:00 Wednesday morning.

Oooh, I'm so excited for Wednesday! I've got the iPod loaded up with fresh playlists. And I'll be driving for 14 hours alone with my man through the mountains of eastern Tennessee and North Carolina at the peak of fall colors!!! It doesn't get much better than that! One of my favorite activities (road trip), with my very favorite person (Matt), during my favorite season (fall)! You better believe I've got the memory card emptied and formatted, the lenses cleaned, and the battery charged on my camera! I'm going to be in heaven! Wednesday night we'll touch down in North Carolina. We'll have Wednesday night and most of the day Thursday with Beverly before Matt has to go back to Tennessee for his event. It should be very interesting...Matt hasn't seen Beverly since they broke up 12 years ago. Should be very interesting! He'll leave me with Bev until his conference is over on Sunday afternoon. He'll drive back up and we'll have Sunday evening together with Bev and Joe.

Early on Monday morning, we'll head west again. We're taking the scenic route back through northwestern NC, down through Kingsport, and on to Nashville where we'll stop for the night. At some point on Tuesday morning we'll head for home. We anticipate rolling into our driveway somewhere around dinnertime. This has the promise of being a great time for Matt and me. We definitely need it!

Before I sign off for the night, I want to thank everyone who helped with the verses for Beverly. I would have been thrilled to get 100, but 65 is a great number, too. They are all mounted on the colorful paper and ready to go. Bev's really excited to get them. They will make all the difference when she's getting her transplant. Alrighty then, it's off to bed for me. It's 9:00, but I'm still on Central Daylight Time. G'night!