Road Trip 2009

Sadly, my Road Trip 2009 got kind of obliterated due to the Recession. I had great plans to go in a loop to see all the old friends of the girls, but finances got in the way. As time grew closer and closer for my trip, I got more and more nervous about the fact that we were spending so much money for this trip (gas mainly), while things were so tight.

Then last week, while I was figuring about how to do the Road Trip as cheaply as possible, and how to pull the loop tighter, my good friend, Corrie, sent me an email suggesting we go to West Edmonton Mall that weekend. We are talking about her sending me an email on Tuesday or Wednesday! And she wanted me to pick up and go on Friday or Saturday!! *laugh* Okay, so I am spontaneous. But this was *very* spontaneous. I still had my mil visiting, and she would leave on Friday, leaving me one day to pull the packing together and prepare for a week long trip with seven kids.

I wrapped my mind around this idea and talked to Ray and decided that I could take this Road Trip and break it into two manageable pieces, and do it that way.

Once convinced, I called Sharla, another good adoptive friend on my loop, and we quickly arranged that we would all camp in Sharla's basement. Crazy girl, huh!! *laugh* The next day Corrie sadly informed me that she couldn't go.

So, by this time, there was no backing out for me. I had my mind out the door on another adventure. There was no way I could stay home now! *grin* But these days I can only handle one thing at a time, so I did not even begin thinking of packing until my mil had left. She left Friday, we cleaned on Saturday, and I packed the bags on Sunday.

We left at 6:30 am on Monday morning and headed out. The drive was great because my children are great *smile*. I had packed some new Adventures in Odyssey audio tapes and they were very exciting and made the miles fly by.

Our first stop was to see my friend, Erin. Erin and I met about 18 months ago and found we were both interested in adoption. That became a connector to our friendship and we quickly became good friends. Sadly, last November she and her husband made the decision to move to Alberta and that put many hours between our houses. But, me being the traveller that I am, said that that would not stop our visits.

The children had a wonderful time playing and reconnecting, and Erin and I got three hours of talk, talk, talk done. It was fantastic. The little ones enjoyed running around the farm and seeing the horses.


Cassidy and Dane were fortunate to be invited to go gopher shooting on the range, as Erin's family owns a cattle ranch and there are always gophers to dispose of.

After this, we had a wonderful barbeque dinner that was kindly put on by her parents. We couldn't stay much longer as we had to get to Sharla's house before too late, and it was already after 7:00 pm. So off we went again.


When we got to Sharla's the little ones were all in bed and ours quickly followed. The four little ones were marvellous. I put Briton in my bed, Cooper on the floor, and the girls on the other side of the bed on the floor (all on airmattresses) and not a peep was heard, and those wonderful little people quietly and obediently went to sleep. What a joy for a mother!

But the big boys weren't heading to bed til later. They picked up where they had left off a year ago. They were fast friends and began figuring their plans for the next day. An airsoft game was quickly organized with a wonderful empty forest across the road.

The following day, Sharla and I spent gabbing all day and the five older boys were noticeably absent as they spent the day in the forest having a grand old time! They dug trenches and built bunkers and had some real guy time together.

Later that night, we took the boys and girls all to see Jonah in his homeschool play. It was a remarkable performance. It was written by a boy with special needs. Instead of language arts, his mother lets him write a play. He dictates it to her and she writes it down.


I spent the whole play marvelling over the intricate, enjoyable, and lively script that this child had written. It was unbelieveable. That is truly the best example of a mother following her child's interests and teaching to *his* abilities! And Jonah made a wonderful Friar Tuck. Unfortunately my picture of him did not come out.

It was quite funny because between my family and Sharla's family and extended family, we made up about one third of the audience!

After the play the children all spent an enjoyable hour in the vast playground.


The next day, (today) we had plans to take the children to West Edmonton Mall's water park. That was a blast for the older boys.



We are missing three children from this picture. Last year we took the same picture and had two less children. Next year, we will have Sharla's new boy and girl in the picture. Hard to believe all these children (plus three more) belong to just two mums!! HAHA! Remember God says children are a blessing. So I hope you are counting *your* blessings!! *smile*


We took the younger children to meet Erin at the kids playground and spent a few hours there, continuing our conversations of the days previous, plus having Erin and Sharla get to know each other. They are fortunate in that they live one hour from each other! I am a tad jealous!


You should have seen the looks and the counting eyes as we three mums traipsed by with our fifteen children! *grin*

Tomorrow, we are having dinner with a few adoptive mum's, including a family that has girls and a boy that our girls know from Ethiopia. When I told Raine about this, she was pleased and then she burst out, "I want to see FIKRU. He's my GOOD friend!"

Isn't it amazing how God works. Her very best friend was placed in the home of *my* very good friend! How cool is that! (Of course, I reassured her that she would be seeing him later this summer on Road Trip part 2 *smile*)

This Road Trip part 1 will only be very short. We will be gone only til Friday and then we will be heading home. But we have more adventures planned for our summer after that. I couldn't *bear* to sit home.

I had no idea that I was getting 'known' for my ways *grin*, but about a month ago, a homeschool mum asked one of my boys, "Has your mum gone on her road trip yet?" (I had not told anyone I was going) When Colt told her that I hadn't, but was going on one soon, she responded, "I know she usually gets restless around this time of year." *laugh* I had no clue I was creating a track record, but there you go!!