March started out with us on an airplane bound for Cincinnati to connect later to Norfolk. Sunday was a very, very long day but I don't think any of us would have traded the weekend for anything.
All four of our flights were good and each flight took off on time and we landed earlier than scheduled each time!! In fact, we were out of the airport and driving home in our car when the flight was originally scheduled to land. And it was a good thing too - I was a zombie driving home!! Over the weekend, I could relax a little and my wife kept a very close eye on the girls - now that I am back to the single parent again, my senses were on high alert the entire time and I couldn't relax or sleep the entire evening or flight keeping an eye on both girls. Before we originally left Thursday evening, I was very careful to note the parking location of our car on my cellphone - even though I didn't need it, I felt better knowing I had planned ahead. The expedition also has an electronic code to unlock the doors and I stashed the spare set of keys inside just in case a bag disappeared on the flight or I couldn't find my keys.
I did have time to call my mom on the way home from the airport - I don't know how good the conversation was on my part but no matter how old you are, you still have to call your mom when you get off an airplane!
We had skipped breakfast in the airport earlier and each of us just had a bottle of chocolate milk - no one was really hungry and it worked out well as we wanted to get back on an "east coast" schedule for things. By the time 11:30 rolled around here, we were starting to get hungry for lunch. On the way home we drove through Taco Bell (girls request) and went home.
When we arrive home from an extended trip, I'm always careful to go through the rooms first - no exception this time. I am careful to close all the doors to each room in the house as we are leaving and as I'm checking the house upon return I open each door and then look over the house. All was well. I had forgotten to call the newspaper and stop delivery for the weekend so we had a few papers out front that announced we weren't home but all looked okay. I do feel safe as our house is alarmed and the company does a wonderful job.
I do have a "Fred Factor" moment to report - Thursday as I was preparing to leave, I put the VW in the garage and was loading up our luggage in the car when the mailman went by. We always say hi and wave but not much more than that. When I came home Monday, our mailbox was empty - I thought it was a little odd because we always get some mail daily, even if it is just junk mail. About 15 minutes after we got home, the mailman pulled up and got out of his car - he walked up to me and told me he had left the mail Friday but on Saturday he noticed we hadn't picked it up, that he remembered seeing me put the VW in the garage and our Expedition was gone so he just held all of our mail over the weekend! I thought that was wonderful and so nice of him! If you've ever read the Fred Factor by Mark Sanborn you know more about the story - but that was customer service above and beyond the call of duty!
After lunch and unloading the car, the girls started taking showers to get the airport off of them - I went to the kennel to rescue the dog. She was very happy to see me, at least I think it was happy! The drive home from the kennel is about 2/10ths of a mile but she was in the front seat and had her two front paws on the console of the car and she "arrf'd" at me all the way home - I don't know if she was telling me she missed me, if she was pissed that I left her at the kennel or what she was telling me, but whatever it was she didn't want petted or touched until she got done having her say!
Even though we had a wonderful weekend, life still continues when you get home. I decided the best way to handle all I had to do was by taking a nap! The little one wasn't tired so we agreed she could play video games while I took a 90 minute nap. The teenager didn't have any problem - she climbed in her bed and was out before I came back upstairs!
90 minutes later I was refreshed and felt much better. The first of the month has a few things I take care of - changed out the shower curtains, changed the filters in the house, threw away and put new toothbrushes out for everyone, and gave the dog her monthly flea, tick and heartworm treatments. I also washed, dried, folded and put away four loads of laundry from the weekend, got the luggage put away, checked homework, prepared everyone for school Tuesday, went through the mail, read parts of four days worth of newspapers, balanced the checkbook and paid bills!
We called and talked with the in-laws for a little bit in the evening and gave them an update on their daughter.
The girls had to get caught up on their devotions - we had left the books they work in at home but they did two of them and will do two each of the next two nights as well. Same for me! The girls devotions were "Disappointment Part I" referencing Isaiah 46:9-11 and "Disappointment Part II" referencing Psalm 135:1-7. My devotions were "The destitution of service" referencing 2 Corinthians 12:15 and "Inferior misgivings about Jesus" referencing John 4:11. After devotions, we talked about a church group from Kansas that is in the area "protesting" different things - I just wanted to make sure the girls knew about them, what they were really about and how to deal with them if they showed up at their schools. While this group claims to be using the Bible, their hatred, anger, fear and downright mean attitudes are really fertile fields for evil instead of good. I think the girls have a better understanding of them and we agreed they need our prayers.
We all were pretty tired as day twenty nine comes to an end; here's looking forward to day thirty!
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