What happened in Memphis…

…apparently isn’t staying in Memphis since I’m publishing it here for anyone to read. But some of our memories were just too memorable to keep to ourselves. I know most of you reading this not only didn’t go on this trip but also have no clue who most of these people are, so just bear with me.

We had a great weekend at Beth Moore’s Living Proof Live in Memphis this past weekend. We took 13 ladies plus baby Rylee (Samuel’s future wife), and we truly had a great weekend, in spite of some crazy circumstances. A few of the more memorable moments…

* arriving at the Fed Ex Forum later than we intended (of course), walking as fast as we could the block or so from the van to the doors, then having to continue walking all the way around the building…in the rain…with a baby…and a lady in a wheelchair…and a blind girl…because all of the doors were exit only and we could not find an entrance. We finally found the entrance to the parking garage, and an event worker helped us pull the wheelchair up and around the ramp to get into the building.

* having to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud at Courtney’s whispered comments during the first session. Courtney, you crack me up.

* being struck by the awesome creativity of our Almighty God, when, as we stood waiting for our group to come down from the nosebleeds and thousands of ladies were crowding past, we immediately were able to pick out from the crowd of thousands those few faces that we knew. How creative our God is to make each face distinctly different.

* Pushing Courtney’s wheelchair back to the van, banging her into the signposts, then running her through the puddles in the parking lot.

* Getting to our hotel in Memphis, where 13,000+ women from 32 states are staying in hotels, only to see a woman from Salem as soon as we got into the lobby.

* Finding out that not only did the hotel give us rooms with only one bed and a sofabed when I had reserved two double beds, but the sofabeds did not have pillows and the hotel was out of extra pillows. Nice.

* Finally going to sleep about ??:00 only to have the alarm beep at 5:30 am.

* Being excited to actually arrive at the conference just in time for the doors to open, thinking we would have better seats, but then getting held up by the t-shirts, the camera confiscators, the difficulty of maneuvering a group of thirteen women–including one in a wheelchair and one blind–and a baby through a crowd of thousands, and the lack of accessible elevators for our “special needs” crew, and finally ending up in the exact same section we were in the night before, up so high we almost had altitude sickness.

* Thrilling to my very core as she described the scenes in Revelation 4 and 5 when the Lamb is found worthy to open the scroll and the Plan finally comes to fruition.

* Rejoicing in the faithfulness of God as He describes Himself in Exodus 34:6-7.

* Realizing that we had to go back to the hotel–a good 30 minutes away–because Scharlene’s Bible not only got taken in the hotel accidentally and without her knowledge, but it also got left in the hotel accidentally and without her knowledge.

* Taking a good half hour to make it out of the center due to the same slow-ness inducing issues described above, heading back to the van, deciding to do lunch at the mall right across the street, deciding just to drive a block or two over to park closer, and finally getting parked at our destination about another half hour later. Driving around downtown Memphis can be confusing.

* Having more issues finding our way into buildings. In the parking garage we went up two levels looking for the walkway into the mall, then decided maybe it was on the bottom level, went back down to the bottom, and found the elevator group inside the garage, the stairs group out in the alley with the dumpsters behind the garage, and realized we were separated by a locked gate.

* Finally getting reunited around the other side of the garage, finally making it into the mall, reading the restaurants off the directory, making our choices, and heading into the mall to discover that all of those restaurants were actually not in existence. The only choices were Maggie Moo’s, a chocolate factory, and Jillian’s, where we almost decided to go until we realized that one of our group won’t be 21 until next month.

* Deciding to try TGI Friday’s down the street, being told they had an hour wait, sending Tricia to plead our case, and finally getting seated to eat lunch about an hour and a half after the conference ended.

* Hearing the phones ring as husbands started calling to find out how close their wives were to being home and hearing the wives tell them, “Um, we’re still in downtown Memphis and we still have to go back to the hotel before we head home.”

* Finally getting out, getting the Bible, and stopping to gas up the van and potty up, and learning that the women’s bathroom was out of order.

* Getting on the road, starting to make good progress, and then sitting in construction traffic for about an hour.

* Arriving home a little after 9:00, only 2 1/2 hours after the time I had estimated we would be back.

* Spending two days with twelve awesome ladies (and Rylee) with whom I loved getting better acquainted, sharing experiences that only we will think are funny a few months from now, and triumphing over irritating circumstance after irritating circumstance by having a blast in spite of them. Even though it seemed for awhile that our way was being blocked at everything we attempted, we didn’t let it ruin our party, and I feel truly blessed to have been in the presence of those twelve ladies for those two days. Thanks, girls!!

A thousand thanks to my selfless hubby who without hesitation encouraged me to take this weekend away months before he even knew that Grandmama and Poppaw would be able to come help him out, and thanks to Grandmama and Poppaw for helping my crew fill the hours without Mommy. Looking forward to the next Salem Baptist Church Women’s Outing, whenever and wherever it may be!!

Halls in the Hills, 2009

Labor Day weekend found almost 60 Hall’s, descendants of the first Samuel Hall himself, gathered at Tuckaleechee Retreat Center in Townsend, TN for the ??th annual Halls in the Hills.  Our surroundings were breathtaking, the food was plentiful and nicely filled with calories, and the company full of laughter.  These reunions are like no other, with people being absolutely cutthroat at game time, and then tearful and reverent an hour later during the worship time that highlights the weekend.  We missed last year’s, since the newest Samuel Hall was born the very day of the reunion, so we were especially glad to see everyone this time.  Every year brings changes in the group–deaths, births, and marriages, but these Hall’s are an embracing group, gathering in anyone who will claim them.  I officially claimed them just over nine years ago, and I’m honored to be a member of this amazing family.

This year made new memories just like every year.  How fun it was to watch our three oldest playing with Clay’s cousin Michelle’s two kiddos, Kyle and Ava.  The four oldest of the group–Kyle, Abigail, Ava, and Catherine–are just stairsteps in age, and they played so well together all weekend, even allowing two little tagalongs when Elisabeth and little Eliza wanted to play.  It was also fun to watch Bennett and Samuel, the two newest Hall’s (although not for long, since the next one is due at the end of September) explore the cabin, the front porch, and each other.  We rejoiced with Derek and Melissa, Bennett’s parents, at the announcement that their family would be expanding soon, and we marveled at the grace and strength of Becky and Glenda, who are both still freshly navigating life without their husbands.  We tried a dip in the pool, found it a little chilly, and wound up in the hot tub instead–Michelle and me, plus about 7 or 8 children!  There was singing, game-playing, game-watching, and smore’s made with Reese’s cups.

Our family was one of the first to say good-bye, since we needed to be home Sunday evening, but we still had a great time.  Plans are already being made for next year, and Lord willing, we’ll be there with bells on.  Thanks, Halls, for a great weekend!!

Vacation memories

We began our vacation by sending the girls to Somerset with Nanny and Papa, and hanging out with the students and their parents (and Eric and Kelly and Austin) at Camp Loucon in Leitchfield for our Purity Retreat. We had an excellent weekend there, then headed to Somerset Sunday night. Our time in and around Somerset included a trip to Cumberland Falls; a massive family photo shoot; birthday parties for Samuel; visiting the farm, visiting with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins; hiking and swimming at Laurel Lake’s Holly Bay. We headed out on Thursday, stopping first in Lexington for an afternoon at the Explorium. On to Louisville for dinner at Chuck E. Cheese, and staying with Mrs. Linda, a friend from Beechmont. Friday saw us at the zoo, then meeting other Beechmont friends for a picnic at Iroquois Park. Saturday sent us to Six Flags, where we had an absolutely wonderful day courtesy of Linda. Met Nanny and Papa in Bowling Green to get Elliot and headed home that night. We crammed lots of things into our week, but we had such a great time. It was exactly what we needed!

Some memories that stand out:

* Watching ‘fraidy cats triumph over their fears on the zipline at the purity retreat

* Seeing Chelsey’s face when she realized what the topic was for the weekend

* Seeing parents who cared enough about their kids to spend a weekend talking with them

* Playing spoons until 1:00 am.

* Abigail at Cumberland Falls: “I thought you said it would be big.”

* Abigail at Cumberland Falls: “The waterfall looks like caramel.”

* Getting 31 people from four generations all together in one place at one time for family pictures.

* Watching Samuel enjoy his first birthday cake

* Getting to eat the fish Clay caught and filleted at Grandma and Grandpa’s.

* Riding the Gator to see the animals

* Watching Samuel enjoy his second first birthday cake with Grandmama, Poppaw, Ken, and Stephanie

* Watching Clay drive off to park the van (which had the diapers and wipes in it) at the end of the hiking trail, then hearing Elisabeth say, “I messied in my diaper.” Then hearing the lady in the office say they didn’t have a bathroom.

* Bringing up the rear of the hike with Elisabeth, who took her sweet time eating her raisins while she was walking. Hearing her say at one point, “Where my sissuhs go?” because we were so far behind.

* Watching their excitement at something small like climbing the rocks to the picnic area instead of taking the steps.

* Getting from the parking lot to the beach with two grownups, four children, four floats, three pairs of arm floats, six towels, one quilt, and one beach bag.

* Watching Samuel “walk” around in the shallow water

* Listening to Abigail acting out and singing “She waded in the water and she got her ankles wet.”

* Hearing Elisabeth yell, “Mom, watch this!” and then running full speed into the water.

* The excitement when they realized there were fish and ducks swimming with us, and the slight awkwardness when they wanted to know why the fish always followed close behind the ducks.

* Watching Abigail swim straight out to the rope with no hesitation.

* The sweet quiet in the van on the way home from the beach.

* Dinner at Bob Evans with Nanny and Papa, Aunt Gertie and Savannah, and Eric and Kelly, and Catherine saying on the way out, “Mom, who paid the money for that food ’cause I need to say thank you?”

* Actually leaving at our desired time to head to Lexington

* Lunch at Culvers. Reese’s Cup Sundae. Need I say more?

* Elisabeth loving the water tables at the Explorium.

* Samuel loving the trains at the Explorium.

* Abigail loving the map at the Explorium.

* Catherine loving everything at the Explorium.

* Mommy not loving chaperoning about eight trips to the potty at the Explorium.

* Leaving at our desired time to head to Louisville, and enjoying the sleepy van on the way.

* Elisabeth finally arriving at Chuck E. Cheese–her mind couldn’t grasp the abstract-ness of “not until vacation” and then “not until we get to Louisville”, and she had been saying “But you thought you was going to Chuck E. Cheese!” every time we pulled up to a restaurant for about two months. She was very happy to finally get there.

* Dividing up their tokens, seeing their pride at putting them in their pockets, then watching them share with each other when they ran out.

* Helping the poor kid pick up the fifty billion tokens he poured down the slide, then getting rewarded by his mom with their pick of some of said tokens.

* Having enough left on the gift card to buy the girls each a Chuck E. Cheese lunch box and Samuel a Chuck E. Cheese ball.

* Their enormous pride in aforementioned lunch boxes.

* Finding Samuel an incredibly stylin’ birthday outfit at Babies R Us, which rates right up there with Target in my book

* The wonderful kindness of Linda, our Louisville hostess, in making our stay and our zoo/Six Flags trips absolutely awesome.

* Clay’s bird that he just loved in the Islands exhibit at the zoo.

* The horrible geese (awful, nasty creatures) that tormented us while we were eating lunch. I was extremely proud of my hubby for kicking one over, even if the other diners were appalled.

* Hitting four geese in the head as I threw food to the ones who stayed in the pond where they were supposed to be.

* Seeing the sheer delight our girls had at getting soaked in their clothes at the splash park in the zoo.

* Taking a break for a snack, asking them their favorite so far, and hearing Elisabeth say the elephants when we hadn’t even seen the elephants yet.

* The fun of walking through the mist-ers.

* Going back to Linda’s, changing into dry clothes, and going to Iroquois Park to get soaked again in the splash park there.

* Hanging out with Louisville friends, just like old times.

* Being attacked by bees the whole time we were eating.

* Seeing Catherine’s face, just giddy at the fun of running through the water fully dressed for the second time that day.

* Hearing Samuel crack up laughing as soon as I started pushing him on the swing.

* Watching Elisabeth’s wet denim shorts get heavier and heavier until they finally fell off, watching her run around trying to hold them up while she played, then watching her run around in a shirt and diaper when I finally relieved her of her shorts.

* Heading to Six Flags, the part of the trip I had been talking up for weeks.

* Riding the water coaster, just me and Abigail. She was nervous, but liked it enough to volunteer to take Daddy for a turn on it with her.

* Floating down the lazy river with Catherine

* Playing in the wave pool with Catherine and Elisabeth while Daddy and Abigail rode the water coaster–they loved it until the waves came and then I’ve never seen a little kid run through water so fast to get out of those waves!

* Meeting up with TN cousins for lunch; they just happened to be there the same day

* Understanding from the map that we could all ride Blizzard River, and waiting in line close to an hour, only to have Elisabeth turned away at the front of the line, then seeing her crying as Clay carried her away. I was close to begging them to let her ride, and almost cried myself.

* Hearing Abigail laughing and laughing as she got soaked on the ride.

* Having a bucket of water dumped on my head as part of the audience for the Warner Brothers Kids’ Club show.

* Abigail and Catherine getting chosen to go on stage and participate. Abigail coming back wailing because she was wet and cold, and Catherine coming back laughing for the same reasons.

* Standing in line for the Ferris Wheel, and hearing Elisabeth say tiredly, “Mommy, please don’t let it leave without me.” Seeing her smile when she got to get on.

* The rest that the Ferris Wheel ride gave us

* Riding the Tin Lizzies with Abigail, who refused to steer because she thought it was fun to let it bang into the track.

* Finally getting their treats: cotton candy and Dippin’ Dots.

* Elisabeth saying her favorite part of the day was the cotton candy.

* Taking the long way home to get Elliot in Bowling Green, and no one falling asleep for the first 2 1/2 hours.

* Coming home to a clean, cool house, thanks to my frenzied cleaning before we left and Mark’s kindness in turning our air conditioner on.

* Being greeted by Lucy, who was going crazy at having people in the house again. She didn’t stop meowing and snuggling us until the wee hours of the morning, which was very annoying for us tired people, but sweet in her own way.

We had the best time. It was everything we ever wanted it to be, and that is in large part thanks to our parents, and Linda. Thank you all for helping us to have such a great vacation!!

Catching up

Okay, these pictures are old, but better late than never, right? Enjoy the memories of our last few weeks.

Indiana Beach-July 20

Trip to Somerset-July 24-29

We played on the playground with Savannah, Aidan, and Austin. The other picture is our family tribute to Elisabeth Elliot. The picture below is me with three of my best friends from high school at our 10 year reunion.

Our version of a “stay”cation

Apparently the hot buzzword of summer 2008 is “staycation.”  Since gas prices are so high and the economy is so low, I’m hearing everywhere about people who changed their vacation plans in order to stay closer to home and take advantage of whatever attractions home has to offer.  Well, we had our own spur-of-the-moment staycation this weekend.  Clay had to work, of course, on Saturday.  He had mentioned to me that his whole day would be key accounts, meaning he had his own keys to the buildings and no one else would be there.  I was so weary at the thought of being home all day by myself with the girls again, that I impulsively said on Saturday morning, “Since you’re not actually going to be dealing with customer’s today, maybe we’ll just ride with you like we did that one day.”  I was not really serious.  (See my earlier post “Being a helpmate may involve…”)  However, when I said this, his eyes lit up.  He hates the days where he drives around all day and never sees another human being; those are the days that make his job so weary.  So when I suggested that his hopes flew up.  Then he reminded me that he was servicing schools all day, which meant lots of playgrounds!  From that point on, really, the decision was made.  We were going to have a playground day.  I could now give you a review of all of the Boone County Elementary playgrounds.  We loaded up and drove from school to school, getting 20-30 minutes at each one.  My kids played hard and were hot and filthy, but they loved it.  We had a couple of movies in the van to entertain us through the high schools and middle schools that didn’t have playgrounds, and the girls had a great, if exhausting, day.  Clay called it the progressive dinner of playgrounds.

So, after a long tiring day out in the heat, we decided to head home from church the next day and rest up, right?  Absolutely not.  No one has ever accused us of being sane, and we didn’t want to start now.  We packed up our bathing suits and sunscreen yesterday morning before church, and headed out immediately after lunch to Indiana Beach, an amusement park and beach on the lake about 30-45 minutes north of us.  For $43, all five of us got to enjoy the afternoon in the splash park and beach, as well as plenty of kiddie rides.  The girls got all the fun of playing in sand and water without traveling very far from home.  They absolutely loved it.  Being in the water made the heat bearable for this pregnant lady.  After a couple of hours playing at the beach, we headed out onto the boardwalk to ride some rides.  The girls didn’t even notice that every ride did almost the exact same thing (go round and round in a circle); they had a blast.  We had a couple of hairy moments where discipline was required, but all in all we had a great two days.

We were worn out, a tiny bit sunkissed (just Clay and I, the girls were fine), and have a little bit smaller cushion of summer commission stored up for the fall, but we had a great weekend.  The good parts continued until the morning, too, when my first wake up call was not until 7:45, and Catherine slept until 9:30 and even Abigail, who usually is up early no matter what, slept until 8:30.  Too bad Clay had to get up at the normal time and go to work.  Hang in there, babe, you have a three day weekend coming up in Somerset!

(Yes, we took pictures.  No, they’re not developed yet.  I’ll post them when I get them.  Stay tuned.)