New Building

Our church has been renovating a new rental space for our worship meeting on Sundays.  We will be able to call the space our own and it really has been a long time coming.  We were finally able to get into the space.  Woop!!!

Home sweet home

I gotta say that even though we are apartment living here in NJ, one just likes to be where you have made your house a home. As uncomfortable and annoying we find this place, it is our place of residence now and it was great to get back!!

We had smooth sailing until the very end - two accidents within 30 miles from home caused us to be delayed by 45 minutes but my wonderful husband had chicken fajitas ready and waiting for us. It was wonderful.

Now the apartment has our things all scattered throughout. It will take the next few days to get it all organized and find "homes" for our "junk" (what Joshua called it). I completely forgot to take pictures of what the van looked like. We were all packed in that I had to put the rear seat down and have Abigail and Joshua sit in the captain's chairs and Stephen had to move towards the front. The fortunate thing was that we were not packed all the way to the ceiling.

We did things a little different this time around. DeeDee gave us a book on CD to listen to. It was bizarre, crazy, and funny. We began the book very hesitantly and then couldn't wait to put it on again after our stops. It really did make the time go quick. We were cracking up with this crazy book.

The Kimballs

It has been quite some time since we have seen our good friends. We love this family so very much that our children call them aunt and uncle. Our Stephen especially enjoys his time with them as they have 4 boys all around his age. I think it has been over 5 months since we last visited with them. (Where does the time go?) We have gone on many a Disney vacation with this family and have had some really wonderful moments together.

We arrived shortly after lunch time and did not leave until 11:15 pm. And I know had it not been that late we would've stayed even longer. They have a wonderful home and I don't even think I spoke more than 10 words to all my children the entire time we were there. It is such a blessing to have such a family to fellowship with.

Here are some photos:

David and Abigail

Ping Pong

Matthew

Joshua Kimball

dessert

Stephen Kimball and Joshua Shea

Look at the smile on his face!

Our Abigail is the only girl but they are all so good and accommodating that she really doesn't miss it. She has problems with her brother (Stephen) as he really doesn't want her around the stuff he does with the boys (I really should be calling them guys, um, young men). All in all a great and wonderful time.

The Dreaded Drive

Driving, driving, and more driving. Our drive home felt longer than usual thanks to all the rain. We drove the entire time in rain. All different types. Thankfully it wasn't the hard type for very much of the journey.  As usual kids watch movies.  Yes, they usually take turns but someone always says they are not going to watch and end up with headphones on laughing and enjoying themselves.   

This shot happened later in the drive.  I just couldn't resist this photo.  She was very cold and thought this was a good way to keep herself warm.  (Can someone say turn on the heat!)

This is what my view was entire way! Yucky!

  Departed  a little later than expected, 10:30 am - instead of 10 am.   Arrived at 7:30 pm.   There was much to do around the house as we need to leave it in such pristine shape.  I still have that nagging feeling that I forgot something?!  Oh well!  Can't sweat the small stuff.  More importantly - aint nothing I can do about it now! ;)   

One of the things I am not crazy about when we travel is the type of food available to us.  I like the stops to be very quick and painless, so that leaves fast food.  Fast food is not my thing.   We stopped at Wendy's and I ordered a cheeseburger.  I knew it would affect me and sure enough a little while later in the car Momma felt the repercussions.   Ordered way too much food.  Josh and Ab could've shared and I will make a mental note of that for the future.
 

Don't know if it had anything to due with the leaving part but the kids were a little bit off.  Perhaps it was the late night before.  Quite possibly a combination of all the above.  What all this boils down to is that Momma was not too thrilled with the little darlings for a stint.  

 

Bill, my sweetheart, called to check and see if he needed to have dinner for us or if we were going to stop.  I told him that I did not want to stop and that we would be coming home for dinner.  Off to the store he goes and upon our arrival he had not made it back yet.   Which is good as it did allow me to get the kids focused on unloading van.    When Stephen got into his bedroom he found a surprise!   Bongos!!!!   He has been asking for drums, so Bill and I decided that this would be a quick fix until we are no longer in apartment.   I think he was pleased! 

The beginning of the end here

Today marked the beginning of the end of our time here in Ohio. We are finishing up some last minute details with the house and plan to leave on Thursday. As stated in an earlier post it is bittersweet. While I am thankful that we got to extend our time here, I am also longing to be with my hubby. The kids too miss him. There really are a lot of distractions (good ones) during the day, it hits us at night around dinner time and bed time because that is when he usually is around. The next few days here are painting days. Another thing to be thankful for is that it is not me. I don't like to paint therefore I don't do it well. I make loads of mistakes and a whole lot of mess on me. I often wear more paint than the wall does. Not kidding. I should have kept my old shirts that I ruined because I got so much paint on them. (Notice the them - it is because in my mind I think I can do this with noooo problem. Not so much.)
The lunch hour was a delight as I had the opportunity to be with two wonderful sisters in Christ. Who know me well and love me in spite of my craziness. Love you back, Natalie and Jaye. It was a blessing to see you both. Thanks again for meeting with me! We met at Panera where I had the Fuji Apple Chicken Salad. My all-time favorite salad there. So happy to see they brought it back!!!
With schools being on break this week, Heather and Suzanne have decided we need to partake of some fun beverages during the afternoon these next few days. I did not say no to that. So today at around 5 pm I hosted some munchies and wine. (I really do miss it here - and it aint the wine it really is the fun and fellowship I get. I do hope I can absorb a lot so that I can wring it out back in NJ!)
Heather needed to go home to be with her family so Suzanne and I hung out for a bit and then she decided we should go out to eat and leave kids home. I made sure Stephen was okay with that scenario - he was - so off to dinner. We headed over to Baja Fresh as Suzanne has never eaten there. I happen to love their salads and tacos. She enjoyed the food and will be going back soon. Afterwards we went to Kohl's as Abigail is in need of new earrings. 1 1/2 years ago she got her ears pierced and has had problems on and off. She is currently have some crusty, bloody issues. They were having a sale buy one pair get second for only 1 dollar. It is not easy finding earrings for an 8 year old. Most are way to big and bulky. Definitely would not look good. After about 20 minutes finally decided on a pair, well two and off we went.
Once again Suzanne came to the rescue and helped me doctor her ear, as we have very little to no medical stuff left in house. I know crazy idea with children. (aside - I need to get first aid kit in car!) Also Abigail was invited to sleep over again. This is a good thing as there will be someone coming to paint her room early early early.

Driving

    Kids watching movie.
Finally made it to Ohio!

Spent the day driving through 4 different states!   Started in New Jersey and ended up in Ohio.  Yes, we are here spreading our wings a bit and also tidying up some more things in the house.   We made excellent time.  Not much traffic on road and decent weather.  I call my kids "professional passengers!"   We have always travelled by car and they just shine and rise to the occasion whenever we do it.  They each have different responsibilities for packing up, stopping, eating, and video watching.  It really runs very smoothly.   I still need to work on them with the unloading part.  Well, the putting away part.  They help with unloading but not so much the "unpacking."