Amelia Bedelia Gets Lost

I wrote a long boring post telling all the reasons why I should have a cell phone. Luckily for you, I deleted it and now I offer a brief summary of my April. There are many details left out, so if you have any questions about any of the events or crises, feel free to ask.

Trip number one: Spring Break

Spring break began with me visiting the ER. Baby was fine (and oh so cute) on ultrasound so I went home happy in spite of the cramping. Later that day, I ran out of gas on the way to my daughter's appointment at the clinic. The lady who's driveway I blocked with my truck gave me a ride to the clinic (I should take her some cookies). This is the second time I have run out of gas since I got pregnant. I'm telling you, I can't think.

When the pediatrician came into the office and asked how we were doing, my three-year-old answered before I could: "We runned out of gas. Daddy's gonna be mad." After that, my patient husband rescued me from gaslessness while blushing as friends and neighbors drove by on the busy road. Somehow we got the car loaded with everything and everyone and began our more than six hour journey to be with family. We enjoyed every moment with our loved ones and the time disappeared too quickly.

Trip number two: My Sister's Wedding

The day before this trip, I tripped while helping my husband unload railroad ties from the truck. I fell while the tie fell on my thigh, badly bruising it on both sides. I knelt on the ground trying to decide if it was okay to cry like a little girl (because that was really what I wanted to do). As I limped around that evening, I wondered if I was going to have to ask the airport people for a wheelchair. By Monday, I could walk well enough to get where I needed to go, not that it was graceful or anything. I stood barefoot in the sand on a beach in Florida and watched my beautiful sister marry a wonderful man.

If only the trip home could have been so nice. The best way I can think to describe it is baseball. Picture me running the bases (pregnant and limping, no less), doing okay until third base where I head off in the wrong direction. Then I run around the perimeter of the outfield, slowing to walk through a snowstorm. Next, picture me stopping to call home four times from payphones around the outfield, never getting an answer. In between the payphone stops, I had to lay down for three naps before finally finding my way to home plate...it may sound bizarre, but that's about how it went. There wasn't any cheering when I finally made it home either, but there were some tears of relief.

Trip number three: Easter

This trip was supposed to be with my husband, but he forgot he had a job that weekend. I almost decided not to go, but I hated to change our plans for time with my foster family. Thankfully, my sister-in-law had washed all of the clothes I sent for my kids that she tended while I was in Florida (Who does that? Talk about nice!), which meant half of us were already packed.

Don't laugh, but I got lost again on the way there. Then I got stuck in rush hour construction traffic and finally gave up on finding my (foster) sister's house. She was going to watch my son while I took the girls to see the play "Beauty and the Beast." We headed to the play and made it there fifteen minutes late. You know how the beast turns into a prince at the end? That's how it went for my son only just the opposite: he was a prince through most of it, but turned into a beast at the end. At that point, I had to hold him standing in the back of the theater, and as I wrestled him I worried my pregnant hungry (the traffic jam we ate for dinner gave no sustenance) body might pass out. The play was great, though. My talented nieces and nephew were perfect.

We made it to my brother and sister's after the play, I munched on fresh vegetables and felt like my life had been saved. Sometime after midnight, the kids were finally asleep (those car naps really mess up a 7:30 bed time). The next day we had fun coloring and hunting eggs. My foster dad bought me a tracphone and I went home that night and got lost one more time, but only for a moment.

Easter Sunday was a peaceful ending to a long month of fun and folly. I sang with my husband and daughter in the church choir. The song reminded me of the great love my Savior has for me, even when I spend more time than I should being a lost sheep.