Sadly, it’s been way too long since I’ve posted. But, life here has been slightly crazy–in a good way.
Last week, we headed down to Bluffton, IN for Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations from Saturday evening (17th) to Tuesday evening (20th). That Tuesday night we drove through the night to get to PA for the other Thanksgiving/Christmas celebrations with Stevan’s family. Stevan’s sis, Sher, came to Bluffton from Chicago so she could go with us and surprise her Mom. We (Ella, Aunt Sher, Stev and I) left PA on Friday evening and drove through the night back to Bluffton where we crashed for about four or five hours–well, Ella had slept some in the car so she probably napped for three and played with Grandma the other two. Then we ate lunch with Mom, said ‘good-bye’ to Aunt Sher and headed back home.
We decided that we really needed a bathroom stop in Warsaw, so we “happened” to stop at Mama and Papa Sweeny’s for a potty break and left with tons of goodies from our adopted Mom. Then, we decided that we should stop and say hi to whoever else we could drive by and happen to see–we even looked at our old house. I was hoping our neighbors would be out so I could see how much their son has grown–he and Ella were buds at MOPS and also played together whenever his mom and I needed some chat time. But, they weren’t out–but Shawn and Becky French were home so Stevan was able to surprise them like they surprised us in WI! We ended our ‘supposed to be short bathroom stop in Warsaw” at the church because we saw Bethany and Thomas Hall’s cars there. Ella got to run around the church and be played with by Thomas and Bethany for a few minutes. One more diaper change and then we were officially back on the road.
It was a good trip, though Ella started getting a cold on Friday and was coughing pretty bad by the time we got home. She and I stayed home from church Sunday morning since she couldn’t go infecting every other kid in the nursery. Now, I have her cold, too, but that’s not that big of deal. She’s still smiling so that keeps me going, as well!
It was a great whirlwind of a holiday vacation. Though it was fast, we are all so glad we were able to make it happen. I thought I would have a bunch of family pics but I now realize that we got my family’s picture, but never got around to Stevan’s! Sorry, guys! I’m sure we can scrounge around for some kind of pics soon.
Ella now has so many new things to play with and some much needed winter clothing. We are so blessed. She loves the Christmas tree, too. It should be an interesting Christmas morning just the three of us this year. At least she won’t know there are supposed to be gifts under the tree. She’s already had her Christmas celebrations. (We leave for the youth convention SET APART in Orlando, FLA two days after Christmas so that is why we had to visit family early.)
