Sabbatical Journey...restful?

We had a rocky start.  We left our house finally about 1:30 Thursday afternoon and drove 3/4 mile to the Subway at the front of our neighborhood.  I had not eaten all day and our two-year old had not eaten since breakfast.  One hour and a Cheetos stained shirt later we headed out for Atlanta.  We had to stop in Madison for gas, no problem except I went to the wrong gas station and we had to go across the Interstate to get a car adapter for our two DVD players (one for Nad and one for Lyd), our electric cooler, and the GPS!  Back on the road only to stop half an hour later to feed Lydia!  When we finally got to Atlanta it was (drum roll please...) RUSH HOUR!  Luckily, we were going the opposite direction and had very little slow down.  We went to a Mexican restaurant Thursday night close to the hotel and when we returned we almost couldn't find the hotel because the power was out for the whole building as well as the traffic lights and sign leading toward the hotel!  We drove around the block and the lights were on when we returned, thank goodness.  We had two girls who were about to melt down if we didn't get them in bed.

I had my first interview Friday morning at a local retaurant.  It went great.  As soon as I got back to the room we loaded up to go to lunch (notice the closeness of my two meals).  We headed off to Dreamland Barbecue on the way to Becca's afternoon appointment.  We show up at John's Creek and Becca goes in to interview the Children's Minister and I play with the girls on the playground outside.  Eventually, I and they get tired and we head back to the van for movies and nap time.  During which Nadia throws up albeit only a little this time we were worried about her tummy which in her words had been "dizzy" for days.  By Friday night Becca is feeling awful and had the trashcan by her bed while Nad and I went to the food court for supper.  My little princess minded so well and ate the best she had in days!  It was great.  I had planned to take her around and do a little Valentine shopping but instead I got a text that said, "hurry back I don't think i can lift Lyd up."  so pitiful i know so back we went to sick mommy and still sleeping Lyd.  Now, I was not feeling great, but I was not feeling anywhere near as bad as Becca.  So, Nad and i slept in one double bed while Becca slept in the other.  B had slept with her the night before.

Becca felt much better Saturday morning and continued to improve while I declined on our longest drive day of the trip.  With the added event in Athens we were driving from Atlanta to Athens to Birmingham on Saturday.  Not the straightest shot.  When we get to my home church and the ladies are ooing and ahhing over Lydia she proceeds to projectile spit-up (perhaps vomit) on several of them and all over the floor.  Nice to meet you too, kid!  After brunch (quiche, fruit, asparagus) Becca took the girls to the nursery in the unheated part of the buillding to freeze for two hours while the speakers went on.  All the while I am not in the mood to be there nor feeling well.

For leg three: the journey to Birmingham I thought we would be traveling in the rain.  The first real good thing to happen on the trip was that it didn't rain on us until just outside of Birmingham.  We had arranged to stay at my best friend's old house that they had just moved out of.  By the time we hit Birmingham I was feeling terrible, annoying stomach pain, headache, some chills.  Anyway, we met them for dinner at a Chinese Buffet.   After which we booked a hotel on our smart phone so I could have good heat and we could have the Internet.  We went to their church Sunday morning for an awesome worship service, out to eat with them for lunch, visited Becca's Great-Aunt in a nursing home across the street from our hotel, and drove to my friend's new house on the farm where he was preparing a Boston Butt on the Big Green Egg.  Nadia got to gather eggs from the chickens and feed the fish and ducks in the pond.  She had a blast.  Becca was feeling good but, I was not much better so I didn't get to fully enjoy the feast.

Our interviews that were set up for Monday were cancelled due to a death in my interviewees family so I scrambeled to interview the Mission Pastor at Shades Mountain in Birmingham where we had attended on Sunday.  After that we were on the road to Huntsville.  It's a good thing we had one more diaper to change before we left our Zaxby's lunch, or maybe it's good that I'm a slow driver, or maybe that I don't tailgate, or maybe it's all a coincidence... As we were leaving Birmingham via I-65 north we were about 5 car lengths behind a pretty bad accident involving at least 4 cars if not more as someone tried to exit from three lanes over.  Amazingly, there was an ambulance just a few cars behind us so it was on the scene in no time!  If i was tired before the adreneline was certinly pumping now! 

The rest of the drive to Hunstville was thankfully event free.  We had a great time there and got to swim with the girls in the heated pool a couple of times during our stay.  I was feeling better until right before bed as I was putting Nadia down for the night.  I bent over to pick something up of the floor and got a serious pain in my gut (right on my belly button through my groin).  I have pulled several muscles in my life and this is not what that felt like.  It was kind of scary but, I decided to sleep on it and see what would happen.  I told Becca that night as we laid down that I felt like we were writing and living National Lampoon's Sabbatical Vacation!  I woke up pain free the next morning and we visited the Space Museum and Early Works children's museum although both looked like ghost towns.  We have decided if you don't like crowds this is definitely the time to travel.  We both did our interviews in Hunstville on Wednesday then, we headed to NashVegas!

The Ghost Town feel continues as we have not seen much crowd here either.  Becca was at a Children's minister conference today and has an interview tomorrow.  I will interview the mission paster at Brentwood Baptist on Sunday morning.  We have a washer and dryer here and it's nice to be in one place for more than two days.  I feel like I have turned a corner health-wise but am still being cautious of what I eat.  Nadia has impressed us as she has only been in her pack-n-play the two nights in Hunstville.  Everywhere else she has been in a big bed and stayed in it almost all night if not the whole night.  She has ended up with us a few times, but that's okay we got a king bed expecting that might be the case.  Even though she flops around A LOT we are able to make it work.


Maybe not restful...yet? But, we are certainly grateful for the opportunity and the things we are gleaning.