This week was hard, fun, emotionally draining, and great.
We didn't go to training camp, like F, G, and H squads did. We thought we were going, up until the Wednesday before. It was really emotionally draining, being in that limbo time of not knowing if we were still leaving in July with F Squad, or if we were postponing until September. When we finally made the decision on Wednesday, we were at peace, but it was SO hard to listen to the excitement of my F Squad family as they were preparing to leave for camp. I was a big mix of emotions.
When Saturday came, I knew I would need to distract myself from moping around, so we went with Josh's parents to West Plains to watch Josh's brother Zach run in the Sectional track meet. We stopped at Subway for lunch, before we got to the meet. Josh had gone to the bathroom, and was taking a while. We were ready to go, so I meant to text him to let him know. I don't have a smartphone with internet, but I do get text message updates when I get notifications from Facebook. A friend had sent me a message, and I forgot that her message was still open when I was trying to text Josh. Josh and I have been married almost 3 years (next month!), so we are not shy about talking about things that happen in the bathroom, haha. The message I meant to send him, which said, "Are you pooping? We're ready to go." accidentally went to my friend Mary! Luckily she and I used to live together, so she thought it was pretty funny.
We were excited to get to the meet, and we waited a long time for Zach's event, the 300 meter hurdles. He did a good job, but there was a lot of pressure, and a lot of talent. Sectionals are only one step down from State, and there were some really fast kids there. He didn't make it to State, but we were really proud of him anyway.
On Sunday, we went to church in the morning. We go to a church called Emmaus, and we've gone there for about 3 years. We love it. The church is a little different than lots of churches, because we don't have a building (and as far as I know aren't really looking to buy or build one), which allows the church to have more resources. They financially supported us for our short term mission trip to Thailand a few years ago, and they have made a commitment to support us monthly while on the World Race. We also have 5 pastors, who are all great, loving, humble men of God. They all share responsibilites, and rely on each other for accountability and support. We also have several people that really have a heart for downtown Springfield and the homeless population. Once a month, we have a meal after church which usually people from the square are invited to. It has been great for developing relationships not only within our church body, but for others as well. There was one time, when there was a guy named Joe that was eating at the table with us. We got into a conversation, and Josh and I ended up staying past when most everyone else had gone, and a few people were cleaning up. It was pouring down rain that day, and as our conversation wrapped up, it came up that Joe had walked across town to get there. Do you ever have a moment when you feel like God is asking you to do something, but the idea hasn't even fully formed in your mind until it is leaving your lips? That's kind of what it felt like to me when I asked if Joe wanted a ride home. He was surprised and grateful, and I was so glad that we could make a little bit of difference in his life, even if it was just for that day. We will really miss our church when we are gone, but we know that they will be praying and supporting us! If you live in the Springfield area, and you are interested in checking them out, you can go to http://www.emmausspringfield.com/
Later we headed out to stay with my family for the week. They live about 3 1/2 hours away, and we decided that since we had this time off of work, we would go ahead and use the time to spend with some friends and family. We were planning on taking some time off in June anyway, so it worked out better this way.
The week was filled with lots of time hanging out with my family (minus my older sister and brother in law), watching movies, making Dairy Queen runs, celebrating my Mom's birthday, we got to see my Aunt, who brought over her amazing macaroni salad, my sister Shelby, Josh and I went to the river and hung out, and Shelby and I practiced hooping (hula hooping tricks. She is really good!). I got to use my animal shelter experience to deworm their 4 cats (who weren't too happy with me, haha). It was a great, relaxing week, and I am really glad that I got to spend it with my family.
We left my parents' house on Friday morning, and headed up to St. Louis to see some friends. We headed to Brad and Mary's (the same Mary that I sent the pooping message to, haha) house, who just had their second baby on Tuesday! It was so great to see them, and to see Gabe, their almost 3 year old, and their new baby Eli. They gave us a coupon for a free small drink at this drive thru coffee place called Scooters, and the lady was the NICEST drive thru lady I have ever "met". They even upsized my free small hot chocolate to a medium!
After we got our drinks, we headed over to the REI store. We have some outdoor stores in Springfield, and have ordered some things from REI online, but this was our first in-store experience. If you are involved somehow with the World Race, you understand why this is exciting. If you aren't, you need to understand that REI is like the mecca for World Racers. They have pretty much all of the gear and equipment that you could dream of, and they have an unbelievable return policy if you are a member. We have most of the gear that we need, but we still needed a few more things. We got two airporters (big duffel bags that are made to go over our packs for protection while being tossed about from airport to airport), two camp towels (these are important because a) regular towels take up too much room, and b) regular towels take too long to dry. From what I hear, finding a dryer in the places we are going is not the easiest thing to do, and the last thing we need is a wet towel on travel day that has to be stuffed in the pack, and becomes a mildewy towel), we got a bigger packing cube for some of Josh's clothes, and two pairs of Exoficio underwear for Josh. He hasn't tried them yet, but they are supposed to be the way to go with underwear. They are quick drying, kind of feel like basketball shorts material, and are specially treated to kill odor causing bacteria. Lots of WR's have suggested these because you can get away with 3 pairs for the whole Race, rather than 5 or 6 pairs of regular underwear which are bulkier.
After we were done peeing our pants with excitement at REI, we headed over to another friends' house. We were visiting Derek and Elysia, who we met about 2 years ago. They both went to high school with my brother in law, and Derek and Tyler were best friends. We met at my sister and Tyler's church's Disciple Now (a youth weekend where they are divided up by age groups, and spend the weekend doing Bible studies and fun activities). Elysia and I were co-leaders for our group, and we clicked immediately. Derek and Josh get along really well, too, so it was great to see them. We had an amazing dinner that Elysia made, watched Inception, and stayed up until 2 AM talking. We crashed on their couches, Elysia made more awesome food for breakfast, and we headed out to go back to Springfield.
We got back to Josh's parents' house in time to enjoy the family's Memorial Day gathering. There are several people in the extended family that have birthdays within a few days of each other around Memorial Day (I think like 5 now? Including Isaac who was just born a few days ago!). It was funny because Josh and I were standing on the front step, and we opened the door to chaos. There were 22 people there, I think, if I counted right. From Grandparents to Josh's parents, aunt and uncle, and other aunt, to Josh's generation (which has 11, including the two wives), and younger cousins, (which are age 10 down to newborn Isaac), and a second cousin (soon to be two second cousins). All of Josh's extended family still lives in the Springfield area, so the family get togethers get more and more crazy as more babies are born. And I love it. I love holidays, and I've always wanted those crazy, chaotic family get togethers like on the movies (i.e. Home Alone, Christmas Vacation, etc).
Everyone has gone home now, and it is like the calm after a storm. It reminded me of the end of Father of the Bride Part I (one of my favorite movies) when everyone has gone home after the wedding. George and Nina are sitting in the middle of the mess, completely exhausted, but happy. They are happy because they knew that their daughter (and their family) was happy, and all of the crazy chaos was well worth it.
Honestly I was kind of dreading this week, because I felt like I was missing out on this great experience that my F Squad family got to have. It was hard, but worth it. Worth it because I got to spend time with my family and friends that I otherwise would not have been able to.
And I am so thankful for that.
