Travels

My husband, our five children and myself went on a little trip to visit my husband's mom. We live in NC and she lives in GA. It took around 14 hours driving to get there. We left Friday morning and got to the hotel late Friday night. It was a long trip. I'm not much of a traveler. I am more a home body. I enjoy being home, which is a good thing since I am a stay-at-home mom. The children did fairly well.

Since we don't live in a big city, driving with alot of traffic makes me nervous. Driving through Atlanta made me pray alot. My husband did well, it was everyone else I was concerned about.

On the trip we also went to church in TN. We went to the church my husband went to at a younger age. The Pastor and his wife were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.  It's a rare thing to see a marriage lasting that long. It's a beautiful testimony of God's grace and love. And a wonderful example of how God designed marriage.

 So the was like three hours or so from our hotel.  We were very tired because the people staying in the room next to us woke us up in the middle of the night. They were extremely loud and it lasted for hours. The police were finally called around 3 A.m and we only got around two hours of sleep. We were staying in a nice hotel. Like a four star hotel and you would not expect something like that to happen. People seem to lack common decency nowadays.

We also drove around the town my husband grew up in, in TN.  The children were able to see the school their dad went to, the house he lived at, and places like that.

I did experience a lot of looks and even a few comments from people about my family size. To me, five children is not alot, but to others it's an enormous amount. My children and I were at Walmart, my husband was picking up his mom somewhere.

 The children and I were walking around. One lady was very rude, which I should be used to. She counted all of my children starting from one and going to five. And I can't remember her exact words but it went something like this.

She walked up to us, "You have five kids. Do you want any more? She said this in a very rude manner.

I told her that I could use a few more. And that every one of my children are gifts from God. She looked surprised, and said that I must be a good mother and she walked off.

I'm so thankful that God has blessed us with the children we have. It is not ideal for others, but for me they are gifts. The world looks at us like we are crazy. People tell me ALL the time, that my hands are full. But my heart is way fuller. My children are not inconveniences. My children are all answers to prayer. I prayed for each one of them.  On a side note, I had a doctor, not to long ago, tell me that he wants to make sure I want every child that I have. In reference to birth control. And I want him and every one else to know, (I did tell him by the way.) That I want every child that I have and they are loved. If you have more than a couple of children, I'm sure you can relate.

I get side-tracked easily. But back to our travels. What was probably a highlight for my children was the fact that there were ladybugs everywhere. In the hotel, at the church, where ever. And they played with them alot. They kept picking them up, letting the bugs crawl on them, and trying to bring them in the van.

We are currently still on our journey. The fall colors are everywhere as we drive through the mountains of TN. We will be driving through the mountains of NC soon. God's creation is beautiful. We probably have more than nine hours left. We still have a very long journey ahead to get back home. Instead of going through GA, SC, and then NC we are going through TN and all the way through NC until we get to Eastern Carolina.

I'm thankful for God's protection this far. Safety is definitely of the Lord. Every mile we safely travel is because of God's protection. I enjoy time spent with my precious family God has given me. I'm blessed.