Back posting

Okay! Half hour at the computer! The problem has been that we do not have internet at our house across the street, so I have to come over to Mom's to post. The issue with that is...Maggie. During my last five second post, she managed to dump dirt on the floor, wash her hands in the toilet and get into Natalie's private supply of razors. So you see my dilemma. Jon's work schedule is nights so I have to stay over at my house with the girls during the quiet time that they are in bed.
So an update... There really has been so much that has happened. I guess I will start with the trip back from Ga, several weeks ago. I had been visiting Washington for a little while and was set to drive back on a Thursday, when I look up on Wednesday night and Jon walks into the kitchen. Everyone totally kept it secret that his parents had flown him to GA to drive back with me! I hadn't seen him in three weeks so it was really awesome.
On Thursday, we headed out to highway 20 which is essentially the only road you are on for 15 hours. We met up with my sister Natalie and our close friend Summer who were each in separate cars all caravaning out to to Texas together. Everything went fine until Alabama. I looked up from my book to see that Summer had pulled off of the highway behind us, so we all pulled off and Jon went to see what was wrong. Basically her car had completely shut down. This occurred at 3:40 p.m.
Her gas gauge didn't work so we hoped that it was just empty and drove to the nearest exit to get gas. Summer and I kept the kids while Jon and Natalie went back to try the gas.
Yep, no results. We then started to brainstorm about what to do, we are still 10 hours from Texas and Jon had to work the next night. We hit upon a truly brilliant idea and called information for a U-Haul. We actually found one open(by this time it was 5:06 p.m.) and we went to investigate.
We pulled up to this completely rundown motel? I think it used to be a movie theater, because it still had the old marquis signs that have the little light bulbs all around and hold the movie posters. There was an old Coke machine and planters on either side of the door with little dead trailing things that used to be flowers. On the bright side we could see the tops of the U-Haul trailers that were sticking up from the weeds, so we figured we were in the right place. In the "foyer" there was a 1970's TV on the counter facing the questionable chairs. The wallpaper was obviously applied by someone inebriated and the parts of the chair rail border that were still on the walls were slanted. We were met by a strange lady that talked really fast and wouldn't look you in the eye. We told her the scenario, and she fired up the old computer in the back room.
The internet was down (big surprise) so she told us that she would call her manager. She attempted to do so while we waited without touching anything, and she came back to tell us that he was out and it would be a little while until she could talk with him. We decided to get a bite to eat and conveniently, there was a Pizza Hut right next door.
We pulled into the parking lot and tried to find some cement to park on. Jon and I unloaded the kids and and the whole crew entered the dining establishment. The good news was that there was no wait...the bad news was that the locals obviously knew something that we didn't yet. The waitress came right over and told us cheerfully that although they carried Pepsi products, they were out of Pepsi, Dr. Pepper and Root beer. I ordered a sweet tea thinking smugly that I sure was glad I didn't like carbonated beverages.
Pride goes before a fall as they say and my sweet tea tasted like the smell of raw sewage. I gagged and as politely as I could, asked for a water. As I gazed into the murky depths I prayed for safety and braved a small sip. Honestly, at this point I was in a terrible mood and remarked loudly that if the Lord had made the Egyptians water turn to this instead of blood, there would only have been one plague needed to free the Israelites. As Jon begged me to be quiet, I realized that the music in the background was the 80's song that goes "Kick em' when they're up, kick em when they're down." After I gathered up the children's water from them I noticed that every third ceiling tile was moldy and the wallpaper was falling off the walls here as well. When "dinner"was finally over, we headed back to the "motel" to see if the manager had arrived.
Natalie and I walked in and were informed that the guy would not be there for another hour and a half, and that he would try to meet us at the truck stop down the road, but there were no guarantees that he could let us take one of his trailers. My husband is usually a mild mannered man, but he informed the woman that she could tell her manager that we would be driving to Mississippi to get a trailer, and we left. All of us went back to the car to retrieve what we could and we had to leave it for a tow truck.
Maggie had woken up in Shreveport and stayed awake talking for three hours. Some of the monologue went something like this... "Mommy, I really need you to bathe me because I went running with Chloe and got all dirty and my hair is GREASY and I need you to wash it and Aunt Nonny has BUGOTS on her car!"(she rambled about "bugots" for two hours before we realized that Summer had told us that she pointed the bug guts out to Maggie earlier) "Mommy what stinks?" Brennah- "I think that it is a skunk!" Maggie- No it's the BUGOTS! They stink really bad!" Brennah-"No, I 'm pretty sure that it's a skunk." Maggie- "Okay, it's a SCARY skunk, and God will protect us, and I will beat it with my shoes and it will die! Okay?" I was laughing so hard at this point I could barely breathe and poor Natalie who had gotten into my car for some well needed sleep didn't even get a catnap. When we finally got toDallas, Brennah piped up in the back seat, "Mommy I hear a voice in my head." I was actually really excited because I have been telling her that when it is time, the Lord will speak to her to come into her heart. I asked her carefully, Is it the Lord honey? I don't know mommy! Well, what is it saying to you? It's saying, BRENNAH EAT THE WHOLE BOX OF CRACKERS!!!!!! Well we finally made it and we are all alive.