handsful

And, it’s me!  Last Friday, I crammed a lot of luggage and all 5 kids into the Yukon XL and headed to FL.  Unfortunately, Randy had to stay behind…lots of meetings, conference calls, traveling by car and plane to be done. 

Which is all good and bad.  Being “busy” when you’re in sales is a good thing.  But, I miss him TERRIBLY.  This is the longest we’ve ever been apart (I can hear the resounding “Awwwww”s going on) and it stinks.  How DO single moms do it?  My patience isn’t thin, it’s GONE.  Lainey hasn’t slept very well on this trip.  Could be because we’ve stayed in 4 difference places?  Or, I’m getting her so tired during the day going to Power Up Clubs that she can’t settle down at night?  Whatever the reason, she’s been a bit “edgy” lately (putting it nicely).  Which is sending me OVER the edge every now and then. 

Back to our trip.  We promised the kids when we moved that we would most definitely bring them back for Power Up Clubs.  What’s that?  Our FL church doesn’t do regular, old VBS.  The amazing children’s pastor came up with a different idea, years ago, to take VBS to streets..well, in this case neighborhoods.  She plans a whole weeks worth of VBS-type stuff (theme, skits, songs, games, etc.) – asks church members to host the clubs in their yards and invite neighbor kids – builds teams of around 8 youth (7th grade to college age) each – and sends them out to 3 host homes per day.  It’s AMAZING.  This year, there were 67 host homes around Jacksonville!  The kids and adult leaders stay the whole week at the church, and are fed by an army of volunteers who handle the ravenous appetites of hot, exhausted kids each day.  I’m told the food is awesome :)  Oh…if you want to see last years Power Up Club, search for it on the sidebar.  I blogged about our club last year. 

Each of our big kids was on a seperate team!  I wanted to take Lainey around to the clubs so we could see her sisters and brothers in action, so I’ve logged a lot of miles on the truck this week!  We ended up seeing 7 clubs total.  I loved seeing the kids stretch themselves…Marley in FRONT of people, playing a character in the skits!  Each gave their testimony, too. 

Today is the last day of clubs, and tonight is the celebration called Power Surge!  I’ll be taking Lainey, then we’ll gather all (heh heh…any bets that we’ll find ALL of the kids belongings??) of their stuff, and head back to my friend Anne’s house to stay the night.  Tomorrow, we head HOME.  What a lovely word!

Sorry, no pictures…the site that I upload photos from decided to CHANGE all of their settings and procedures and now it won’t let me upload.  I’ll get that figured out asap! 

Next post from NC :)