A quick note to say thank you to all of you for your sweet words and prayers over the last week. It was so encouraging to check my email while in Oklahoma and see comments from friends across the country and know you were praying. I'm tired. We did the 12 hour drive last Tuesday, funeral on Wednesday, and spent Thursday and Friday taking apart my grandparents' home, ending the week with an extra-long 14 hour trip home (thanks to a couple unscheduled stops for the kiddos). My grandmother had passed away in 2003 and Grandad hadn't done anything with any of her stuff - he always thought he was going to get well enough to go back home and take care of it so we had tons of stuff to sort through and decide what needs to be sold, given away or thrown out.

It's so hard to believe that that part of my family is gone for good. There's really no reason now to travel 700-odd miles to a little town in OK to visit. All the memories associated with that place seemed much more pronounced this visit. Hanging out at the family owned lumberyard; ice cream at Braum's; driving under the bridge with Grandad instead of over; the memory of chauffering my Grandma around right after she had cataract surgery - it was the first time I had ever driven with her in the car and I was so nervous!; giving Grandad's dogs treats; snatching cookies from the cookie jar and getting an ice cold TAB or Fresca from the fridge. I feel old.

One praise - Noelle did so great on the trip. Behaved herself so well. The funeral was right during her naptime so she and I walked around the lobby of the funeral home and listened to my Dad speak over the loudspeaker. It was so fun to have her with me and cuddle with her at night in the hotel room. But it was so GOOD to get back home . . . to our own house. We hadn't seen Travis for a week and it's been so nice to be all together again, and just be.

Just wanted to stop in and say hi. Hopefully as I get caught up on laundry and my job, I'll be back to regular old news. :-)

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