The End

Family Heritage and it's parent company, Torchmark, selected Travis and four of his peers to be on a Growth Council.  The council and all of their spouses were invited to a couple of days of meetings, dinners, and sunshine in Scottsdale February 16-18.  We enjoyed the 85-degree, unseasonably warm weather and daily checked The Weather Channel app to see the weather in Grove, Oklahoma, and Prior Lake, Minnesota (and Newport Beach, California and San Jose, Costa Rica...just in case).  We noticed incoming snowstorms and thunderstorms in Minnesota's and Oklahoma's forecasts for Thursday, February 20 - the day we planned to drive home.

Weatherman Perry Baker informed Jim that 'a big one' was coming.  Jim and Linda gave us our warning.  We all agreed we'd need to leave Wednesday (the 19th) if we wanted to make it home before March.  Jim went to work washing the outside of the RV.  Taite and Linda went to work loading the RV with all of our stuff.  Talk about an amazing family!!!  We had completely moved into Jim and Linda's cute, perfect, three bedroom, two bathroom, 2,200 square foot home.  Food, dishes, clothes, winter gear, toiletries, and an entire shelf full of school and library books found cozy spots all throughout the house.

Thanks to a ride from Jim, Travis and I returned to Grove from Arizona around 11pm Tuesday night.  And thanks to a group effort, we were able to have everything packed and were on the road toward Prior Lake by 11am Wednesday - home by 10pm.  Exhausted, we could only unpacked the cooler of food Wednesday night.

A gorgeous, cold day after the snowstorm

My mom offered to help us unpack.  (More great family!)  She arrived 9am Thursday.  By 10:30 everything was out of the RV!  I could feel the wet drops land on my head as I brought in the last two loads.  Over the course of the day we saw the precipitation change from rain to ice to snow to huge snowflakes.  It fell, and fell, and fell!  Prior Lake got almost 10 inches.

The kids played in the snow during the snow storm and multiple times since then.  They love it!  I interviewed each child, wondering about their favorite and least favorite parts of being home. Playing in the snow is a favorite for all four kids.

A Viking and Peasant Headed to School

Of course, even before they said they enjoyed playing in the snow, each child claimed their favorite part of being home as seeing KC, Mimi, Grammy, and friends.  Church, homeschool groups and events, Bible studies, and prearranged time with friends has filled our tanks.  In fact, we've prioritized seeing friends over doing school since we returned.  I found us to be on pace to finish all of our school work by the end of March so I figured I'd be flexible for a week or so.  We recognized God's blessing so often along our travels, but His blessings were brilliantly illuminated upon our return.

The one thing that didn't make the "Best Things About Being Home" list is the weather.  I guess that's why I want to snowbird anyway, right?  We've only gotten a taste of what Minnesotans have dealt with all winter.  Wind chills in negative double digits.  If ever I were homeless, I'd walk all the way to Texas before I'd spend a winter here!  For example, Wednesday we went to the store.  It's typical here to offer a friendly 'hello' the someone walking by in a parking lot.  It was so cold outside I couldn't even put my head up to look at someone.  I wanted to say hello and offer a smile!  I could tell people were walking by us - I saw their feet!  But had I opened my mouth my lips would have gotten stuck on my teeth.  I couldn't breathe so it would have been impossible to say anything anyway.  The wind was whipping, piercing all exposed body parts.  My eyes were watering.  My fingers froze in a sort of not-straight but not-clenched position.  Once in the heated grocery store my hands painfully thawed.  At that moment I vowed not to return to Minnesota until March next winter.

Notice the Eyecicles

The next morning I took KC for his walk.  I'm just walking him across the street to the park and back.  The walk there was fine.  Then we turned around.  Again - the wind.  My eyes began to water when I looked up to cross the street.  By the time we got to our driveway icicles had formed on my eye lashes.  The same thing happened to Taite when he went cross-country skiing at the Frank's home.  Eyecicles. 

Like everyone else in Minnesota, we've spent a lot of time inside lately.  When it 'feels like' -11, -20, -29 outside, my kids dig in to their creativity.  While the kids did dishes the other night, I walked in on Calla judging the skate dancing and offering 'bogus points,' as she called them, to U.S.A.'s skate dancing pair, Rose William Star (Parker) and Lincoln William Wilson (Lincoln - not quite as creative).  They won the gold after their solo competitor, Taite James Wilson, spun a few too many times and fell on the rink.

We've had lots of fun times, but we've had our share of fighting, too.  Mostly over toys.  Like last year, I'm reminded that we have too many toys.  It makes me sad to see our kids fight over or not share toys.  There are lots of kids who get along just fine without toys - or with just one or two toys.  We have plastic tub after plastic tub of toys.  But when one child brings some out - those toys are the favored toys.  Sometimes they all play nicely together.  Sometimes it's a yelling match.  Jesus tells us, "And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."  Anyone want some toys?

Best Buddies (most days)

Out of necessity, we've done our fair share of praying since we've gotten home.  ;-) We always do that anyway.  One day Lincoln prayed for us at lunch.  The conversation following the prayer sounded like this:
Taite - Lincoln, did you just pray that you could watch movies all night?
Lincoln - No?  I prayed that God would come down and watch movies with me all night.
Parker - Yeah!  Me too!
Lincoln - You did not, Parker.  You're just saying that because I'm your best buddy.
Parker - Yep!

It couldn't have been more than a day later.  The conversation was:
Lincoln - Can I go get my slippers?
Me - No.  Wait until we pray, please.  Maybe you should pray.
Lincoln - deargod,thankyouformyfood,thankyouformyfamily,thankyouformyfriends.  Amen.  (looking at me, paused in running position) Is that good?
Me - Well, do you think God would be ok with that?
Lincoln - oh.  Thank you God for God.  Amen.  I'll be right back!!!

There you have it.  We're home, we are glad to be here, and we're cold.  Next year I'm pulling for one stationary, warm location.  Travis has put the ixnay on Florida, but is open to a warm January and February somewhere else in the continental United States.  (He's not anti-Florida, he is looking for a place where he can work and Florida is taken. ;-))

Oh, and for those wondering, our house is off the market.  And we haven't bought a farm.  When we do, I'll have a great story to blog.  ;-)

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Here is a compilation of more great stories from our trip:


Jim came out early one morning to start the coffee.  Lincoln and I were awake and sitting in the kitchen.  Jim and Linda have an old percolating coffee maker that makes quite a lot of noise as it brews the coffee.  One moment it's quiet, the next it's making a loud, gargling, sickly noise.

Lincoln was sitting in the otherwise quiet kitchen, drawing.  "That sounds like Papa Jim!" he declares without looking up from his drawing.  Lincoln thinks the percolator is a great imitation of Papa's snoring.

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Me:  Lincoln, since you've already started eating, you can pray for us.
Lincoln:  Dear God, thank you for my family and my friends.  Thank you for Nana and Papa Jim.  Thank you for the sunshine and going for a walk.  Thank you for this food.  Please help it be good.  Thank you for our manners and listening to mom and being nice to each other.  Thank you for Parker being nice and getting water for herself and for Calla.  I wish that she would have gotten me some water.  Amen.

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I really like quiet.  Probably because I rarely experience it.  At this time in my life, quiet is paradise.  Extremely loud, chaotic noises get on my nerves.  My kids are loud, but the volume is usually manageable.  Jim and Linda recently remodeled their home by changing the flooring.  They took out carpeting and put wood laminate down.  It's gorgeous.  And it echoes.  Every loud voice is three times as loud in their house.  Like nails on a chalkboard.

Wednesday's noise levels were no exception.  Lincoln expressed his silliness through an abundance of loud stories.    "Lincoln, do you know what we are having for lunch?" I asked.  Lincoln was already eating his fruit, veggies, and sandwich.  I didn't give him a chance to answer.  "We are having shhh-kabobs and hush puppies!!!"

Of course, I can't fool him.  His immediate, boisterous response was, "No!!!  We are having LOUD-kabobs!" 

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Jim and Linda have a lively sense of humor.  Jim always has great one-liners.  He took a look at the beds one morning and said, "Boy it looks like there was a herd of buffalo in here!"

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Warning:  Cute but touching,
Linda belongs to a sorority and was hosting her sisters one night.  She needed us to leave.  Piled high with some old VHS home movies, Papa Jim, the kids and I drove the six miles to their lake house.  We played the first movie - "Travis, Zach, and Kyle - Mustang, freshman."  Travis and his two friends had recorded themselves impersonating many of the 1988 summer Olympians.  They even included commercials.  The video was great!

"Travis and Kate's Wedding" was the second tape we watched.  My dad recorded before, during, and after our wedding.  He took shots of the wedding preparation, the professional photo shoot, and the reception.  He had my Uncle Randy record the actual wedding, the receiving line, and my dad's toast.  It was fun to watch and Parker didn't want to turn off the tape.  We spent lots of time talking about the day, the people and the stories.

"How did Papa Bill get to your wedding?" Parker asked, very thoughtfully.  She was only 15 months old when my dad passed away.  She's seen pictures of him, but this was the first time she's recognized him 'alive.'  I explained to her that we were watching a moving from a long time ago, when Papa Bill was still alive.  I explained that he was at my wedding and many other events before he died.  "But, how did he get there?" she insisted I explain this to her.  That's tough to describe to a four-year-old.  Jim and I are convinced Parker got her fabulous, contagious laugh from my dad.  As we watched, it brought an avalanche of emotions.  I'm so glad Linda kicked us out for the night.