Crazy Life

While prudence would dictate that we clean up our house and relax a while after hosting my whole family for Thanksgiving, real life didn't work that way.

We had heard that my brother-in-law and his family were going to move to California, but I thought it wouldn't really happen. After all, my sister-in-law has always been picking up travel and real-estate brochures wherever we go and talking about how much she'd like to live here or there, but they hadn't moved yet.

Anyway, we found out that this time they were serious, so we figured out when would be best to visit them and gave them a call... only to find that they're moving this coming Monday! We really wanted to go see them and the kids before they moved (we hadn't gotten to see their newborn little guy yet!) and to help them with the move. We know about how hard moving is - and we only have 2 kids (they've got 4, and the little guy is newborn - not exactly the easiest situation to pack, clean, and move!).

So Sunday night we headed for Chicago. Tara drove the whole way there (thanks, Mountain Dew), the boys slept, and I tried to nap.

While we were there, we helped around the house, moved boxes from the basement to the garage, played with the kids, hung out and talked with family, cleared out the (older two) kids' room, ate too much, brought the kids their Christmas presents (I know, four more things to move, but we don't see them enough to "forget" their Christmas gifts), and had a good time.

I even got to have lunch with an old friend. Doug was the junior high youth leader in Evanston under whom Tara and I started volunteering with "NUBS" (that was the name of the junior high group). It was awesome to catch up with Doug and especially to hear some success stories about how some of those squirrely junior high kids grew up (it's hard to believe...) and how several of them are in full-time ministry these days.

After a couple of full days (including the one in which I learned the tragic news: all of the Naperville area Krispie Kreme stores have closed: what made this news even worse was the fact that my sister-in-law had a coupon for a free dozen!), we made our way back to Millersport. This time Tara pretty much slept the whole way home. I didn't have to worry about nodding off (thanks, Mountain Dew), especially because Jonathan kept me occupied the whole drive.

Would you please keep my brother-in-law and his family in your prayers as they prepare for the move and as they drive across the country to their new home in California?