A couple of really cool things happened today, but there isn’t a ton to write about. We packed up this morning and we heard from a lot of family members who called to wish Levi a Happy Birthday. We even got to Skype with Me-Maw and Grandpa Nanny before we headed out for the day.
Long story, but I messed up the mileage somehow on my spreadsheet and thought that Raleigh, NC was farther than it actually was. I believe it was a divine error, because even though we were disappointed when we realized the mistake, it couldn’t have worked out any better.
We set off toward Raleigh and I worked while Trista did schoolwork and Levi watched a DVD.
It just so happens that John was born in Raleigh and lived in NC until they moved to Louisiana before he turned 4. John’s dad (long deceased) was the pastor of a Baptist church very close to our route of travel and John remembers living in the parsonage. One of my favorite stories about young John took place in that very house. As I understand the story, John was being looked after by his dad, while his mother was out running errands. When she returned, she found John (who was probably around 2 at the time) sitting on top of the refrigerator! He had pushed his high chair over and then monkeyed his way up there! I love this story because it both illustrates John’s ingenuity and explains a lot about our kids!
We pulled into town and made our way to the church. It worked out that the youth pastor was there and happily gave us a tour and talked to John about the church. We then drove over to the house where John lived, but the folks weren’t home. We then went over to the new parsonage and John was able to chat for a bit with the new pastor of the church. I have now been to the two towns saw John through adolescence and neither one of them is more than a one horse town and when you are the preacher’s kid in the south? Let’s just say, it explains a lot about John!
The pew that John sat in as a little boy. 
Somewhere in here, we pulled over at a gas station where I had just enough data strength on my phone to have a web conference with my boss – we have been trying to connect for weeks now and finally made it work out! My kids did a little swinging from the rafters while they waited, but they behaved well enough for us to discuss what we needed to.
Earlier today, John called our good friends from church. We know that John (not my John) travels to NC periodically for work, but we didn’t know where. We also learned (when we called him to wish him happy birthday – mentioned in a previous post) that this time he was bringing his family. We didn’t think much of it, but when we talked to them this morning, we asked, “Where are you??”
“Oh, we are in North Carolina.”
“Right. WHERE?”
“Oh, we are in Raleigh.”
So, we programmed our navigation to head straight to their hotel. Several days ago, when I bought the food that Levi wanted for his birthday, I inexplicably bought more than we needed for our family. I figured we would have leftovers or whatever, so when Stacey called and asked if we wanted to do dinner, I said, “Got it covered. I have plenty of food for all of us. Can you please bring a bucket of ice?”
Sure enough, we parked behind their hotel and I threw the Lasagnas (yes, I bought 2, even though 1 easily feeds our family, but for the record, they are not the big ones, think RV freezer) in the oven and a couple of minutes later our friends knocked on our door with a hotel bucket full of ice!
It was so great to see such good friends, 2000 miles from home! Their kids and our kids are besties and they loved seeing each other! We had lasagna, salad and fresh iced tea and then birthday brownies for dessert. I’m glad Levi got a special birthday dinner surrounded by loved ones!
We finally had to pull ourselves away and drive to our spot for the night. Once we got in and hooked up, Levi opened his present from us – meticulously peeling the tape off of the tissue paper, so he could save it – and we let him play for just a couple of minutes before putting the kids to bed! They crashed quickly.
I love the title!