We're Home

We're safe and sound back in South Dakota. We left NJ Thursday at 12:30 p.m. and arrived home on Friday around 2 p.m. I (Liz) drove the whole way except for a little bit in the morning and towards the end of the trip. The trip went okay except for the fact that our heat was not working right in our van. Thankfully it worked while we were driving. It didn't work when we were idling. Sooo.. every 4 hours when we stopped to feed the babies, we were a bit cold by the time they finished eating. I'm extremely thankful that the heat at least worked while we were driving because temperatures were bitter. It was -27 most of the night and even hit -37 for a short time in Wisconsin!!
I'm really thankful that God kept His hand on our van as we travelled. I saw several accidents throughout the trip. I did not like seeing cars in ditches, cars crashed together, etc. I especially did not like seeing the car in front of me fish-tailing all over the road. I was glad they regained control. I definitely drove under the speed limit for a lot of the trip.
When we arrived home, we went through our pile of mail. After spending 2 great weeks with family, we unfortunately had to say good-bye and rush back to S.D. so David could be back at work on Monday. (In case you missed the previous post from a few weeks back -- David's plant shut down for 2 weeks because of the economic downturn and we decided to go to PA and NJ to see our families) Anyway... we drove all the way home, opened our mail, and found a letter from David's work informing him that he should not return to work for another 2 weeks!!!! I don't know how to describe the emotion we felt. I guess... frustrated! If we had known this via telephone, we could have visited for 2 more weeks!!!!!! We entertained the thought of making the trip again, but it's just too long of a trip to repeat so soon! We are planning on using this time to do some painting in 3 rooms of our house and doing other miscellaneous jobs around the house. David is also considering getting applications for employment from other companies since his job is not looking very promising!!!
I just want to say that sleep deprivation is not healthy. I didn't feel too bad after the all night driving from SD to PA, but it was a different story for the return trip. I was really feeling it towards morning and David had to do some driving. I held up okay when we got home--I did some unpacking, picked up a few things at the store, and grabbed a pizza. I definitely felt like a zombie. I couldn't take it any longer once 8:00 hit. I told David to play with the babies and bring them in to sleep with me when they got tired. I guess he and Harmony had a laugh when I talked in my sleep. I blurted out "Do they like honey?" Who knows what I was dreaming about. I guess I was having "sweet dreams". haha. When David was ready to put the babies down with me, he said my name several times, but I was unresponsive. He finally had to hit me on the leg for me to acknowledge that he was putting the babies down to sleep with me. Later in the night Addy got really fussy and I asked David to rock her. He got her back to sleep and when he tried to give her back to me, I said, "Does she have any flavoring?" Again, who knows what I was dreaming?!

I do have to say that even though we had a really good time with family, there's no place like home. Even Harmony was excited to be home. She pulled a bunch of toys out of her toy room and sang this cute little song: "It's so good to be home". Yeah, she sang it over and over.

We'll post pics soon. I gotta get to sleep. I've still got to play "catch-up" with my sleep.

*yawn*