Upper peninsula Michigan

This will be a short one due to a late night and poor connectivity, but we've gotten as far as the upper peninsula of Michigan after a day's visit with my uncle in Ohio while the Volvo was in the shop. It was great to spend time with he and my aunt. Wish I had time to write more about that, but I guess I'll have to save my thoughts. It was sweet time together. Hoping to be on the road fairly early for a long day. We drove through a lot of heavy rain today and got turned around a couple of times (Mapquest and the GPS conflicted, should have just read a real map) so things took longer than expected. Hope to write again tomorrow, but I'll just say that I'll write when I can because nothing so far has gone as planned!

Tomorrow it is!

Today was long and painful (tossing more) but it really does look like we're ready to go. Rodney test drove the new lighter load with a friend driving behind him. All looks good! Tires are inflated to the proper pressure. Looks like we'll be on the road in the morning! We won't have internet tomorrow night, but should have it Fri night so I'll try to update again then. I feel a lot more prepared this time!

Thursday?

We might possibly be ready to leave by today, but I'm pretty sure we don't care to try it. One thing we learned the other day is NOT to rush and make stupid mistakes, esp when we're so tired to begin with that driving isn't safe. I almost fell asleep a couple times on the road in just an hour the other day! We're shooting to start off Thurs morning as long as everything else goes smoothly. I LOVE Rod VanDaam's attitude when we wrote of the delay, "There is no reason to hurry. We will hold your spot." I was the one who set the travelling time table based on where I wanted us to be and when. I'm learning that my timing isn't necessarily best. Go figure! ;)

We had SO much help over the last few days! We are so fortunate to have so many great friends willing to help out! What a blessing! The outpouring of love and support at church Sunday has continued all week. A friend came and checked and repacked all the wheel bearings in addition to some juggling of tires. I spent all day yesterday re-sorting, tossing, etc. It is actually a rather liberating process. Another friend dropped by WITH BOXES and offered to pack books to ship by media mail. With sorting I think we dropped about 400 lbs! Other friends juggled meals, kids, and other little errands (packing tape). I'm sure I'm missing things from the list. My mind is so shot trying to keep up with it all.

We're definitely sore and tired. I have more bruises on my legs per square inch than would seem humanly possible and I'm pretty sure I sprained my pinky yesterday. Every time I stop moving for a bit my legs cramp up. I can't wait to drive and rest and that says a lot because I don't do well driving! I don 't sit still well! Fortunately we still have phone and internet (I tried to turn it off, but needed to turn in the box to do it, so we still have it!) so I can keep in touch a bit. We're not near the phone much though... Hey, maybe it will reach to the barn. I'll try that.

I can't begin to express how much I appreciate all the prayers and support. There's no way we'd be as far along as we are without it! Andrei is doing fairly well with the stress (a miracle) and my health is holding up surprisingly well (another miracle). We're honestly doing fairly well and keeping pretty good attitudes. Not always every minute, but overall. ;) Well, I'd better get off my behind and get back to work! The computer chair is packed anyway and the cooler I'm sitting on is getting a bit hard! ;)

Definite delay again

Well, we're home again! We were on the road for about an hour. Blew a tire so we came home to lighten our load. I was wearing a t-shirt that says "Not of this world." Guess we need to walk what we say and throw off everything that hinders. I also have a book by Max Lucado called "Traveling Light" that keeps popping up and making us laugh. I doubt we'll be back on the road again today. Hopefully tomorrow. Too much junk on board! Our early ancestors did the same thing as they went west. Despite modern technology we still have the same problems.

Ohio

Appointment with Volvo dealer in Ohio tomorrow 7:30 am.

More delay?

The check engine light came on in the Volvo yesterday so Rodney went first thing this morning to get it checked. Something that controls the fuel mix so it needs to be repaired. Our mechanic doesn't open until 10 am. Working on finding an alternate.

Delay

It's official. We're going to be delayed. Hopefully we'll be on the road on Monday instead of tomorrow, but there's just no way we can be ready with everything by tomorrow. Well, maybe we could do it, but not with our sanity or health intact. ;) Not much else other than the delay and more packing. That trailer is going to be heavy. Yikes!

Oh, and a friend who also has a blog just posted something that really hit home - I commented after her post - uhhhhh, coincidence??

http://sumanafaith.blogspot.com/2009/08/gods-blog-gods-kid-gods-van.html