Just a note

Just a quick up date. We don't deliver until Monday so no use sitting around wasting time.

We decided to drop the trailer in Atlanta and go on over to Look out Mountain TN. Today we went to Ruby Falls and walked around downtown Chattanooga. Tomorrow we will go to Rock City and Look Out Mountain where you can see seven states from the top.

I will post pictures later.

Realization:

Yesterday and Today have been a couple of difficult days. I think the realization and the magnitude of what we are doing is starting to set in.
We are for all purposes homeless. That's not to say we are sleeping on the streets or anything, but we live in our truck. We don't have a place to call home. (A House) I never realized what a comfort it was to have a home. A place that remains the same day after day. An anchor.

I lost wifi service for several hours and was unable to communicate with friends and it was a shocker, not knowing what was happening somewhere other than my little world. It makes me feel more grounded to know what others are up to.

Enough whining, nothing too much happening on the road just traveling. Going from Texas to Georgia, then Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. We will deliver in Atlanta on Monday so we are weighing our options for the weekend.

SUNSET TEXAS STYLE

A delivery in Texas

While loading in Terrell, TX, Kaitlynn decided she wanted to be a truck driver.

This is Kaitlynn "tending" (pretending) to drive the truck! The concentration is so intense!

We arrived at our receiver early in the morning, this delivery was unusual as we were at a private residence. The family is building a Gym for gymnastic instructions and general use for aerobics and such.

While there we were treated to Texas hospitality, it was 109 degrees out and they kept us supplied with plenty of cold water and a shady place to wait while they unloaded the truck.

Kaitlynn even managed to find a couple of friends to jump on the trampoline with.

I mentioned a headache rack and was asked, "What in the world is a headache rack?"

So I will try to explain.

It is an aluminium structure fitted to the back of the cab of the truck, used to hold chains and binders for flatbed load securment. It is also a safety feature to prevent freight from penetrating the cab in the event of an accident. (The bunk is against the back wall of the cab)

This is a not so good photo of a headache rack.

Texas

Today has been a tour of Texas. We delivered in Austin this morning, then went to Dallas to pick up a load going to San Antonio.

I helped to roll straps and get everything put away after our delivery today and in Dallas I strapped down the load of steel we are hauling, while Herb dropped the trailer we had. I guess that makes me a flatbed rookie.

I have had to fight Kaitlynn for the computer most of the day as she has a bit of a summer cold and just wanted to watch movies all day.

Texas may be a big state but, they don't mess around with the law. In the last hour we have passed at least 15 State Troopers most of which had someone pulled over.

Out of Missouri into Oklahoma and onward towards Texas.

The day started out rainy and drab, after going thur a thunderstorm or two we finally have clear skys. The sunset over Eufaula Lake in Oklahoma was spectacular.

Kaitlynn is so wore out from waiting to get truckin' she slept for several hours today, and even went to bed without a fuss tonight.

We stop and take showers in the truck stops. They have private shower rooms and Herb gets his own shower while Kaitlynn and I share. Kaitlynn is not a great fan of taking a shower but we are getting there. Whenever possible we will find a place for her to take a bath or play in a pool.

We will continue to drive tonight until Herb runs out of hours about 1am then he will be required to take a 10 hour break and we will continue on to the receiver where we will be unloaded and wait for another dispatch.

As I type this we are entering Texas.

On The Road At Last!!!

On the road at last!!

This is our Trucking family photo.


Rita, Kaitlynn, Harb and Our new Peterbilt.

We think it's pretty cool.

This is looking into the drivers area from the bunk area.

This is the bunk area from the drivers seat. Kaitlynn' got the top bunk, all to herself. All her clothes and toys are within easy reach.

After sitting for 2 days waiting on a dispatch we are on our way to Joplin MO. to pick up a load of shingles and taking them to Austin TX. This is about 850 paid miles, not bad for a first trip.

Waitng/Paperwork

Today has been a day of waiting and paperwork.

We have signed the lease of our new truck.

We are now the proud owners of a 2010 Peterbuilt 387. It is Smokey blue in color and looks like a Space Shuttle.

In order to get everything done we had to wait on the lease, wait for dispatch to sign and approve additions to the truck. (refrigerator, chain rack, tool boxes, etc.) Waiting to get into the shop to have these things installed. Waiting to get my family/guest pass, I think you get the idea.

We were able to take a little time and run down to Branson, MO. It was late so most of the shops were closed but we had fun window shopping.

Tomorrow is move in day!

It's going to be a long day but a much anticipated one. Hoping to be on the road mid Saturday.

Journey to Springfield

Monday morning started out at 7am with the drive to St. Louis MO.

We arrived at the St. Louis Zoo around Noon local time and spent the next several hours enjoying All the animal exhibits around the Zoo. We walked miles.

About 5pm we made our way over to the Gateway Arch, and spent the next hour or so touring the Arch Museum while waiting for the tram to the top. Kaitlynn, Grandpa and I went to the top, Colin is not a fan of high places and choose to stay with Grandma. The view from the top is incredible. When we got back down we spent some time out on the grounds of the Arch. This is where it hit me that I was going to be leaving Colin. I have no idea how long it will be in between visits but, I will do my best to make sure that it is not extensive.

Our goodbyes at the car were very hard and a lot of tears were shed.

I then continued on to Springfield, arriving approx. 11:15pm. After getting settled and having a bit of down time I finally got to sleep around 2am.

It was a very Exhausting day, but in a good way.

Today I was awakened by a little girl fanatically stating that she was hungry. So my day began at 7:30am. We spent the day attending orientation for new lease drivers and picking out our truck. Over the next couple of days we will continue with refresher classes and waiting for our truck to be fitted with the equipment needed for flatbed operations.

We should have our first dispatch on Friday or Saturday at the latest.

This is it. My journey has began. I turned my keys in on our house on Saturday, said my good- byes at church and in 7 and 1\2 hours we will be leaving for Springfield MO.

Colin is going as far as St. Louis with me while Kaitlynn will ride with Grandpa and Grandma. In St. Louis we will enjoy a day at the Zoo and explore the Arch, after which Colin will return to Indiana with Grandpa and Grandma, Kaitlynn will continue to Springfield with me to meet up with Herb where we will pick up our truck and begin our like on the road.

I have had several people ask questions on how things are done on the road, like where do you sleep?, How do you bathe?, What/where do you eat?

I love these questions and will do my best to answer any you may have as we trek across this wonderful United States.

I will start by telling you that we sleep in the truck. Herb and I sleep on the bottom bunk and Kaitlynn gets the top. The bunks are about the size of a twin bed and it can get quite......shall we say cozy.

Sisters

I have always been the person in the background, the one in the kitchen cleaning up, picking up dishes, and wiping down the tables, while everyone else talked and enjoyed each others company. I have always felt like I am on the outside looking in.

I know now that this is not true.

Right now I feel like for the first time in my life I am Truly Loved. I am loved for the person I am, not for the person someone wants, or expects me to be.

Don't get me wrong I know my husband and children and one maybe two very close friends have always felt this way, but outside of that small circle I felt invisible.

Last night I found that there is a group of women out there who care about and love me very much.
I though that I could leave and start this journey/adventure, stop in now and then to say hi and when the time came just slip back into my place and no one would even notice I had been gone. This is not true I know now that leaving is going to be much harder than anticipated.

I have so many wonderful sisters who showed me so much love that I know I will NOT be able to slip away un-noticed, and that fills my heart to overflowing.

I Love each and everyone of you, I will keep you close in my heart and my prayers through out this journey. This is a journey in faith as well as across the U.S. I am excited to see how God will use me in this new setting.

I look forward to hearing from each of you often until we are reunite once again.

Thank you all for the love you have shown.

Our Journey Begins

Today was moving day! In order to start this new chapter in our lives we are packing our house up and putting it in storage. For the first time ever we had friends offer and actually show up to help move. I am so grateful. We could not have done it alone.

For the next few days I will be cleaning the house and finishing up the packing.

Our adventure is due to start on the 3rd of August.

Retreat

I have just returned from our Woman's retreat.

The theme was "The Red Line" referring to the red words in the Bible that is the word of Jesus. I enjoyed getting away for the weekend and having some time to connect with some of the women of our church and to reconnect with God. Although during the worship portions of our retreat I felt drawn to the porch. It is a huge balcony overlooking a small pond and wooded area. I felt more at peace with God listening to nature. In the pond there was a wood duck hen and drake taking their morning bath, an Egret looking for breakfast, and many fish jumping. In the woods two squirrels were playing in a tree nearby while a pair of Cardinals called back and forth to each other. It was all very peaceful until the family of Canadian Geese flew over, circled the pond and moved on, honking furiously all the while.

It reminded me that life is a lot like that. You can be going along well and peaceful, all is right and "Bam" in the middle of everything along comes a loud confusing distraction. What we fail to remember all too often is that if you just let the distraction pass the calm will return.

I need to remember that. I let life and other distractions get in my way. I need to turn to God when the distractions come, and I still haven't quite figured out how to do that.

Weekend update

The days seem to fly by. I never realize it would be so hard to keep up on a blog. Then again I was never much good at keeping a diary.

I had a very eventful weekend.
The ladies from our family group had our annual Brunch, where we get together to just be.
We are all mothers, daughters and/or wives, and there are times we forget to just be women and friends. This is our time. We support one another, we laugh together, we cry together, we rejoice in our triumphs and are saddened by our defeats.
Above all we are friends to each other, Sisters in Christ if you will. Through these women I am learning and growing in my search for spiritual guidance.
I have strong belief in God, I just have that want to be in control and that causes me to struggle constantly. Why am I so afraid to just let go.

The other part of my weekend is that I am not the most organized or schedule laden mom type person there is, so my son who has ADHD has difficulty being organized himself. So my friend C. stopped by and helped to create a daily schedule for us both. He now knows what needs to be done and has a time that it needs to be done in, and although we started it on the weekend I can see that he is more confident and relaxed about what is excepted of him.

We ran into his teacher while out running errands and he happily told her about it and was excited to let her know that he had already finished his homework and had a plan for getting it done in the future. I have never seen him excited about homework before.

I am now motivated to get myself organized. If I can get C. to come over and help me get organized.

Just catching up

It has been nearly to weeks since my last post. Not that the world will come to an end if I don't post, I am not even sure anyone reads this anyway. These are just my thoughts out loud.

First I am a failure at Weight Watchers, I have tried so hard to do it on my own but, it is not working there fore I go..........Back to the meetings. My friend M and I are attending a meeting on Wed. at Noon in the Payless Plaza near the Mall. Please join us if you are interested. I am committed to reaching my goal of a size 16 by New Years Eve......My Hubby and I will have big plans when that goal is reached. I have a killer blue velvet dress that I am dying to wear again.

Second, I am nearly through my EMS classes, I am holding my own with the test scores, and we are working on our practical skills. My fear is the Practical exam. 4 April, 2009 7am. I need your prayers, help me to remember my skills. I know what to do it's just doing it for pretend and having to verbalize all the things that you do naturally.
Think of it this way....You need to walk someone thru the process of making a PBJ sandwich but you are in the living room and doing it all by memory and the person who is making the sandwich is in the kitchen and is blind. That is how the Practical skills test feels.

Next is our FPU. I am really psyched to get this show on the road, I am more than a little overwhelmed at making it work. Obviously what we have been doing is not working, but old habits are hard to break. That and I haven't seen the hubster since Christmas so I am doing most of the paper work either alone or over the phone. That makes for interesting conversation.

Lastly I am starting to come out of my funk (see last posting). I think the Spring weather has helped. Although I do wish for one last snow ha-rah as I am going on a church trip with my son and his "other" church. We are going skiing in Michigan. It will be JC's first time on skis and I am so excited for him.

Well back to the duties of being MOM.
More soon.

Feeling Blah........

I guess it has been a while since I have posted. No excuse, just life getting in the way.
I have been feeling Blah for a couple of weeks now and can't seem to shake the feeling. I want to get my house cleaned up and to get my fiances organized, it just seems like every time I think about it I want to take a nap.

It snowed this last week and even that did little to cheer me up, and I Love the snow. Even as I write this my heart is not really in it. I have been up for several hours and I have not done much of anything. Getting ready to pick JC. up from school seems like a huge chore and I have an Autism Lecture to attend tonight for my EMS Class.

Well tomorrow is Saturday and the Hubby wants me to take the kids sledding if it's not too cold. I want to take them, but my heart is just not in it.

Please lift me up in your Prayers to help me out of this funk.

Just Venting

Mean people suck................

Why can't people just be happy for you when something important happens?????

I have been taking EMT Classes and working my a-- off to keep up my grades and keep my house decent, my kids fed and make sure their homework is done and they get plenty of attention and Mommy time. In between I am looking for a job and I will have to take on that responsibility also.

So.............Why?, when I finally break down and spend the money to get my shoes and pants to do my clinicales, does my mother get all snotty and say "Well it must be nice to have money to buy new clothes."

My kids have always come first, and I feel like I am taking away from them to even spend money on this class, not to mention the additional expense of the required uniforms.

Hubby tells me that it's an investment and in the long run things will be better all around because I will have a better paying job with more opportunities.

I guess I just want a mother who is proud of me for who I am and what I have achieved. I don't think I am not alone in this desire.

I just pray that she will some day be proud of me.

Anticipations

I can't believe it's finally here...The kids go back to school.

JC. has been bumming around the house, if he is not fighting with his sister, he's whining, "I'm bored". Yet he has been quite resourceful at building some incredible Lego Monsters.
(Which he uses to chase his sister around the house).

Hubby is back on the road somewhere in Texas tonight, we all miss him. Kc. most of all, daily she asks, no demands, "Daddy come home NOW?!".

I think I am just missing him right now, because, I have committed to this David Ramsey FPU. Class and to a WW based Losers Club and I think I am slight panic mode.
Tuesday is D-Day for Weight Watchers. I will officially start the program and commit myself to it fully.

January 14th is the beginning of the FPU study and I think it's a bit like a shot, the anticipation is much worse than the actual injection. I'm up for the challenge, I just hate to wait.

January 13th is my return to EMT class. I am so looking forward to that. I feel like I have been away forever and I want to go over past lessons to be sure I still remember everything. Again its that waiting thing.

Enjoy your evening, my kiddos are asleep and I have a few moments of quiet before bed and the start of a new week, new year and a whole New Me.

Welcome 2009

Happy New Year Everyone!!!


Today has been a bit melodically, due to everyone being tired from last nights activities.

We spent a wonderful evening with friends from Church.

http://www.elstonfamily.org/

We had a kid friendly New Year's Eve Party, with games, food and fun for all. It was nice to get a chance to better know some of our friends that we usually only get a minute or so to say Hi, in passing, and for the kids to be able to play together was even better. Special Thanks goes out to Zack and Sarah for entertaining our children so the adults could have a few competitive games of Euker

Hubby is in Texas today and will be home or at least stopping through when he can. He is hoping to be home the weekend of January 19 for the special Sunday Service.

Please Pray this is possible.

So far today I feel I have so-so on my Weight Watchers. I will be posting progress as I go along to help with that accountability issue.

Not much else going on tonight. Good night and God Bless.

Good Bye 2008

Wow!

The end of the year is upon us. Where did this year go???

As I look back over this year I note it has not been an easy year, but we all have our health and Hubby has a job that is working out well for us.

I have been a stay at home Mom more than a working mom, for which I Thank God for. I feel like this is where I have needed to be and have not had to about finances.

After the new year I will be looking for a job, anything will do it will just be to help supplement daycare for KC. she needs the extra time around other children to improve her vocabulary and social skills before Kindergarten starts.

I feel like we have finally gotten JC.'s ADHD under control, he has calmed down quite a bit and the temper tantrums are fewer and farther between.

I am excited about getting back to my EMT classes and getting the kids back into some sort of routine.

Well, enjoy your evening and have a safe and Happy Celebration, I see you all in the New Year.