Busy!

Well, it took us about 14 hours to get to Tennessee. The drive was OK for most of the day, however, once Jonah’s bedtime hit, things went down hill very quickly. Throughout the entire drive he slept for 10 minutes, then 15 minutes, then maybe 30 minutes. Normally, during that time frame he would have slept for a full five hours, rather than one. So, let’s just say there was some crying involved.

In the afternoon, by some sort of miracle, as I75 and I71 were merging in Kentucky we looked over and there was the downhere van, merging with us! Crazy! There’s no way we could have planned it. (They were driving home from Pennsylvania.) We soon made a joint gas stop to say hello – Jonah was pretty excited. Fortunately for us, the band got quite a bit ahead of us when we stopped for supper. They were able to warn us that I65 was at a stand still because of an accident involving a transport truck. So, we managed to take a detour, while the band’s van sat motionless on I65 for HOURS and HOURS. I almost cried with relief, realizing how difficult our night would have been, sitting in our car with our sleep-deprived and uncomfortable child, had the band not been an hour ahead of us. Praise God!

Once we arrived at Jeremy and Erin’s (We had a key! Good thinking Glenn and Jerin!), Jonah just kept running around the house from room to room, saying “But where are bumf?” (Translation: “But where are drums?”) I guess he was expecting to find a drum kit here that he could play. Jeremy IS the band's drummer, after all. Finally this morning, I took him to the beginning of a downhere rehearsal and he got to play Jeremy’s kit.

I thought Jonah’s sleep schedule was recovered yesterday, but he didn’t sleep well last night (surprise party in the house) and was up early. And tomorrow we head for Seattle – another 2-hour time change, plus travel during usual sleep times. Not fun.

So, last night Glenn arranged for Jeremy & Erin to take care of Jonah during the supper hour so he could finally take me out for my 30th birthday. When we got back, I opened the door and there where balloons everywhere. I did a bit of a “Hunh laugh” not really sure what was going on. Then the entire downhere family jumped up to say surprise and happy birthday. I was surprised! And correct me if I’m wrong, but this was my first surprise party ever! It was a fun party and it was so nice to see everyone again – it has been a LONG time since we’ve ALL been together. Thanks to all of you who contributed messages to the book compiled for me. Glenn also created a photo album using his Mac. Thanks, babe! Thanks to all of you who helped make this happen – there were many. And I got another surprise too! I get to see my sister and
meet my niece this month when they come visit me in Tennessee! WOO HOO!

I have felt pretty busy so far - unpacking, running errands, having parties and now packing. Tomorrow we head to Seattle, Washington for the weekend. I’m hoping to see my brother, brother-in-law, and two cousins there. Then on Monday we head to Winthrop for the record label retreat. I just heard some strange news though – the scenery there will be a little odd this year because of forest fires. That is, in the day we will constantly be able to see smoke in various areas, and in the evenings, we’ll even be able to see the fires burning. Ummmmm… sounds a little unsafe, but they assure us we’re going to be OK! So, I guess Jonah will be learning about forest fires this month.