Road Trip to Indiana

We have had a very busy month so far! We were in Indiana/Ohio for a week for Jason's brother's wedding. We left on Wednesday August 5th at 5:45am and started our drive to Tipton, IN. The kids actually did very well considering the length of time they had to spend in car seats. Elaina had two crying bouts that lasted for about 10-15 minutes each because she was tired, and there wasn't anything I could do to comfort her except sing "Jesus Loves Me". Ethan was a big help. He actually joined me in singing to Elaina, which did calm her down. He is a very good traveler. We arrived at Jason's parents' house around 4:00pm or so. Our visit with Jason's family was filled with busyness and joy. We tried to help Jason's mom and dad prepare for the Rehearsal Dinner, while being pulled between our two children. At the rehearsal, Ethan thought it was playtime, so he goofed off and threw the little pillow in the air. He was a mess! I was pretty concerned about how he would do at the wedding. The dinner afterwards went well, and everyone had a good time.

Saturday, August 8th, we spent almost the entire day at the bride's house because Jason was a groomsman and Ethan was a ring bearer. We all had to be there at 1:00pm for pictures. I was SO PROUD of Ethan for putting up with wearing a tux in 90 degree weather for hours! The wedding started at 4:30pm. Both the wedding and reception were outside, and everything was beautiful. Daniel and Courtney are so happy, and we could feel God's presence there! Right before the reception started, Jason's dad got Ethan changed out of his tux and into his shorts/polo shirt while I was busy nursing Elaina. The timing of everything seemed to work out really well. Praise God! Ethan had to go the entire day with only a 20 minute nap on the way to the wedding, and yet he did exactly what he was supposed to as the ring bearer. I was more than proud of him! He made it through the reception and did well until the end. He became pretty tired, so we left and headed back to Jason's parents' house to put Ethan and Elaina to bed.

Jason preached at his home church on Sunday morning, and the wonderful thing was that some of his family from Illinois were there. It was a sweet time to see family that we hadn't seen in years! After church and a yummy lasagna dinner, we drove 3 hours to my parents' house in Cincinnati, OH. This was a really tough drive. It must have been the timing of it, but Elaina probably cried for 2 of the 3 hours! It was miserable! At one point, everyone in the car was crying except Jason. I didn't know whether we should stop or just keep driving. Eventually, we did stop so I could try to feed Elaina. I thought she would be happier after she had been fed, but as soon as I put her back into her carseat, she continued to cry. How miserable!

We had a nice little visit with my family. My parents invited all of my relatives who could make it to their house on Monday evening. It was so great to see family that I hadn't seen since Christmas! They all loved meeting Elaina and seeing Ethan again. We got up at 5:00am the next morning (Tuesday) to drive back home. I was a little fearful that Elaina would cry in the car, but she slept almost the entire car ride home! It was a blessing. In fact, we only stopped once, so what is normally about an 8 1/2 hour drive only took us 7 1/2 hours. It was so nice to get home!

So, after a couple of days of catching up on sleep, bills, chores, etc. I think we are settling down again into our normal routine. I have pictures to post, but that will come another day. Let me just say that I am not looking forward to another long car trip anytime soon. It is exhausting, not only for the children, but also for their parents! Whew!