Trip to Missouri

Our trip to Missouri was a busy but purposeful trip. We left here three days before Christmas and headed to Kingsville, Mo. which is nearly 13 hours away. The kids always do well on road trips and this trip was as pleasant as our others full of the "ABC" game and even counting Hawks on the way down to Spfld. (counted 400 by the way) Poor Joseph didn't really get what we were doing and after 3 hours said, "I am tired of talking about birds". ha ha The Martins have a farm in the rolling countryside which enabled us to have some down time. The kids rode horses and occassionally played in the snow which quickly melted within an hour of coming down. Granny and Grandpa Martin always have delicious food and we stuffed ourselves way to often. Christmas Eve the Kenny's siblings and nieces and nephews came over for dinner and a lively game of Bingo. This game was a creative way to disperse the gifts. Christmas day was spent at Vicki's house and it didn't seem long after we were packing to head to Spfld. Sunday morning after Josh returned with Grandpa Martin so he could sing and play his guitar at their church. We had many good encouraging conversations and Kenny and I were both filled with gratitude at the heritage our kids have of those who truly love the Lord.
We spent Sunday evening at Mark and Susan's. We felt so welcomed and had such a great meal and relaxing time.Conversation was lively and the enjoyment of eachothers company was evident. Afterward we headed to my brother's house who had just recently in the last few months moved to Spfld. Benny and Angie have a spacious place and with the immediate excitement and encouragement of "little Ben" the kids were cheering and running in circles. Little Ben loves people and his hugs for everyone almost got me teary eyed. We immediately got ready Monday morning to go out and visit George and Edith Baird since it is so important to keep our ties strong since we will one day be taking full responsibility for their special needs daughter. April is a 17 year old girl with fetal alcohol syndrome which has caused physical (she is the size of a 7 year old) and mental disabilites. We ended up spending the morning with this family and even more of their extended family whom Kenny has known since childhood. The afternoon we met Melanie and Jeremy Cumulotti along with another niece Michelle, and nephew Jesse. We met at a bounce house for the kids and were able to meat our grand nephew and niece, Arianna and Israel.
The evening was spent with Ben and Angie and their two boys at their very comfortable home in Springfield. The next morning Kenny took Josh and Paul to meet some friends who own a small 4 seater plane. This would be their second time flying but their first memory of being in the air. The rest of the family said their goodbyes to Ben and Angie, loaded up and drove a mile down the road to the home of Brian and Tina Shaw's. These are great friends we have known since we were very young. With their five children and our six the house was bursting with fun and actiivty. In the evening we had a short visit with Mark and Julie (Kenny's sister and her husband) and then later we were able to spend a few hours with Deborah and Glen. Six of their kids came along so that made the kid count 17- all running around at the Shaw's home.Tina and Brian showed no signs of stress which was unbelievable. Of course, their big toy room in their finished basement kept the noise level under control which enabled all of us adults to have some much needed time to catch up. Deb, Ethan, Michael, and even Josh gave us some musical entertainment.
The last day Brian, his son Isaac, Kenny, and our two oldest boys headed over to the shooting range. And from what I understand had an exciting time shooting a variety of Brian's guns. On their return, Kenny and I soon left with our six kids
to meet the Calhouns, a family of 9, for the first time. Only Kenny and I knew the husband of the family from our old school days. We immediately enjoyed the fellowship and were again entertained by guitar playing and singing from their oldest and ours. The kids played football and ate lunch together. The biggest surprise was the fact that we just happen to know their best friends who live north of us here in Tennessee whom the Calhouns knew when both families lived in California. How odd is that? When we heard them mention Paul and Gina Suarez, Josh was a bit taken back since he had spent a week at the Suarez's house last year.
I think we have met new lifelong friends.
Thursday morning we again were able to see some extended family of the Shaw's. Yvonne, her two daughters, and Naomi stopped in for a short hello and goodbye. Headed home and didn't pull up our driveway until 1:00 am (this was partly due to a downtown Nashville run around time so we could hear the "roar" of the stadium as a football game was going on and also due to a sweet plea from Joe-"I want to see the towers")We came home to a very sick German Shepherd who possibly was struggling with the Parvo virus. She had destroyed our beds and a few pieces of furniture. You can imagine how happy we were to have to change bedding and find alternate sleeping arrangements for half of the family. We thought Lacy was on her death bed as she didn't eat or hardly move for a few days. Slowly she has recovered and even though she is skinny, she is now playing and all in all behaving much more normal. So after the washing, washing, scrubbing, and more washing things are finally caught up around here.
I am so thankful for the many awesome people who we have built relationships with over the years. There were many people we wanted to see but we just couldn't possibly make the time for. Maybe our next trip we can meet more people all at once at a park for somewhat of a reunion if the weather permits.