Not Ready for Bye-Bye

We will soon be leaving North Carolina to head back to Texas for awhile. We have obligations that must be met that require us to leave Abigail and Amy and Josh for a little while. They will do great without us, but we hate to leave.

Sarah has been here this week and has taken the wonderful pictures you have been seeing. It has been a special blessing to be with her. Check out Amy and Josh's blog for more pics.

One thing we are looking forward to is seeing our friends and family in Lubbock and showing off our new little home. Especially pulling our heartstrings are some little girls who we have missed almost to the point of unbearable. As much as we hate to say goodbye to Abigail, we look forward just as much to getting our arms around Rebecca and Izzy again. We also have Sophia, Sierra, and Sydni not too far away in Whiteface. This grandparent thing is just the greatest joy. Wish we could get the Smithermans a little further west though.

We plan to leave the first part of next week, hoping to thread our way across the South and avoid tropical storm "Fay" as much as possible.

We thank everyone for their continued prayers.

See you soon,

Mel and Karen

These Pictures Say It All

Bath Time

Memomma had the wonderful privilege of giving Abigail her first bath at home this morning. She got all dressed up to go on her first little outing to the pediatrician's office for a bilirubin check. She is a little jaundiced, no one is worried, but they are checking it daily until it starts going down. Her bilirubin was the same today as yesterday, so we think it has peaked and will start going down in a day or two. This is common as most of you know, and especially in our family. Amy had to stay under the bili-light for several days after she was born. Abigail's weight is good and she is wetting plenty of diapers. She is a delight to us all.

Karen is staying over at Josh & Amy's house this week. Mel comes over for awhile during the day and enjoys the fun, but otherwise he is home alone with the puppies, getting some reading done and listing some things on ebay. This is our world for now.

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This

Here She Is!

Abigail Joy, born 1258 am, 8/9/08, wt. 7#11oz., 20 1/2 in. long, blonde hair, blue eyes. She is great. Mom and all okay.

Today is the day!

We are all at the hospital awaiting the arrival of our little Abigail Joy. She is expected to make her entrance some time this evening. She already has our hearts wrapped around her little finger and we can't wait to see her and hold her. I will make another entry tonight or tomorrow and try to post a picture.

Excited and Praising His Name

Karen

Just Waiting

Never thought we would be soooo busy after retiring, but our life is anything but boring. Most or our usual household chores are a breeze in our RV, however, we have a few occasional routine plumbing chores unique to RV's that are somewhat shall we say "interesting". For the nurse in me, it reminds me of giving a giant enema. Afterwards our holding tank and sewer pipes are clean as a whistle. Mel is appalled that I share this, but hey, some of you are considering this lifestyle and there is really nothing to it. Ha-ha

We took a day trip further east in North Carolina this week. We got an early start and headed for the coast at Morehead City. We stopped along the way at the places where I (Karen) lived and went to college and got my nurses training. It was a walk down memory lane and my mind and heart were flooded with the past, I focused on the good experiences and it was good to see how some places had changed and how others had not changed at all. We ate the best seafood on the waterfront, just as yummy as I remember it.

We eventually made it to the beach and enjoyed the ocean breeze for awhile before heading back to Raleigh. Mel collected some pretty sea shells for Rebecca and Izzy and Karen bought them something from a gift shop.

Wednesday, Karen attended a Bible Study at First Baptist in Garner near where we are staying. Then we picked up Amy and she spent the afternoon with us. Karen cooked supper and Josh joined us when he got off work. We enjoyed time together with both of them in anticipation of our BIG DAY on Thursday. That was the day of Amy's cerclage removal. We were half expecting Abigail to come that day, but she has a mind of her own.

You can click on the link to Josh and Amy's blog for more details about Thursday, but to make a long story short, after the cerclage was snipped, Amy immediately dilated to 4 cm. Optimistically, we walked her around the mall until we were all exhausted and other than a few random contractions nothing happened. It was predicted that labor would begin withing 24 hours, but like all other predictions for Abigail this pregnancy, she did not cooperate. She tried to come a few times when it was not time, and now that we are ready, she is happy where she is. hmmmmm, get used to it? yeah, I think so.

So we are "just waiting" now with happy expectations for her arrival soon.

God Bless you all! Though we miss Texas, we are making the most of our time here in beautiful North Carolina!

Dead Sea Scrolls

Karen wanted to line all the shelves with non-skid material for travel before she put her dishes away. Hopefully we will avoid having a cabinet full of broken pieces after we go rolling down the next highway.

This past week we took advantage of a wonderful opportunity. On loan from Jerusalem there is an exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science here in Raleigh. It took about 2 hours for us to take in the entire exhibit. There were about 25 stations where we viewed artifacts and listened to archaeological and historical information presented through audio headsets. The story of how the scrolls were discovered and eventually relayed into the hands of scientists where they could be studied and preserved is nothing short of amazing. Also we were briefed on the culture of the ancient dwellers of Qumran where the scrolls were found.

Eventually, we were actually standing in the room where 6 fairly large fragments of scrolls were displayed. Just gazing on these ancient documents in their glass cases and being in the presence of such cherished words which had been hidden away for safe keeping was beyond description. The literal English translation was posted above each document. There were excerpts from Exodus, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Psalms, and also some other instructional documents on how to live in purity before God. The most amazing thing was that virtually nothing has been lost in the translation of the Bible. The translation of these ancient documents reads exactly like a page from my own Bible. I wept.

Mel once viewed the main display in Jerusalem when he visited the Holy Lands.

The link to the exhibit we experienced is:

http://www.naturalsciences.org/scrolls/about.shtml

The other highlight of our week was the sonogram of our little Abigail. She is active and growing, they estimate here weight at a little over 5 pounds. She is about the size of a sack of sugar and just as sweet. We are counting the days with Amy and Josh until we can hold her in our arms

Very, very early Sunday Morning Josh drove Amy to the hospital with contractions. Josh took along "everything" he thought they might need for labor and delivery and going home with a baby. He was quite loaded down, but it turned out to be a false alarm and they were headed home in a few hours.

Sunday was also National Ice Cream Day established by President Ronald Regan, ( I always liked that man). So after we all took a nap, we made homemade ice cream and spent the evening playing Clue. A fun time.

Today, Amy's former co-workers at the New Hope Preschool gave her a baby shower. The actually brought the shower to her. I'm glad we could be here for this one.

It has been very hot here, 97-100 degrees, and very humid. Outdoor activities are out of the question, and in the evenings, it doesn't cool off much and the mosquitos are bad, too. So we play games, read, and otherwise occupy ourselves indoors. We are still tweaking our little home. I actually found a way to rearrange the furniture even though the sofa is bolted down. Mel likes it and we have a tiny desk in one corner now.

We are parked several miles outside the city limits of Raleigh and there are several fruit and vegetable stands along the back country roads we travel to Amy & Josh's house. We are enjoying fresh tomatoes, squash, green beans, and the yummiest watermelons I've ever tasted.

We love you and miss our friends and family in Texas and Colorado and look forward to seeing everyone soon. God Bless you all. We pray for you every single day.

Your are in our Hearts,
Karen & Mel

On the Road for Happy Trails

Hi Everyone,

We are enjoying life in our RV. We are LEARNING as we go! So far we have not taken out any gas pumps or parked cars. Praaaaaaaaaaaaay for us!

We left Lubbock on Tuesday, July 1 and drove to Des Moines, Iowa to pick up our big Fifth Wheel on July 3. They carefully went over all the operating systems teaching us how to hook and unhook to plumbing and electricity, how to set up, level, stabilize, open and close our slides and use the washer and dryer, entertainment center, and maintain our generator, propane, and batteries.

However, they did not teach us how to drive, pull, negotiate turns and go around objects. It was something like an episode of "I love Lucy" if you had watched us getting out of the lot and onto the road. Let's just say that eventually, all the managers and staff of the entire Des Moines RV Company were out in the lot trying to help us as we got ourselves into quite a predicament that required some backing and maneuvering. Mel had to be behind the wheel, because after we took possession, their staff could no longer pull it because of insurance.

Karen, finally couldn't take anymore and left it to "the men". She took the dogs and waited in the lobby of the RV dealership sobbing hysterically until Mel finally gently tapped her on the shoulder and said we were ready to go now. We now had a straight shot at the exit gate and the road ahead, surely we can do this!

We made our way onto the interstate, (why was everybody going sooo fast?) Karen was a basket case. Mel was nervous about the RV, but more concerned for Karen who was absolutely a wreck , constantly watching the trailer, the hitch, the rearview mirrors. He almost had to resuscitate her at the first gas stop. But after a few hours, it actually helped to let her drive for awhile and get the feel of the weight and behavior of the trailer. Our truck did absolutely fabulous. We are sooo proud of it. Some people told us it wasn't big enough or we should have gotten a diesel. But FORD has built an F250 with the towing power of a bigger truck with our V10 engine and towing package, we have all the pulling power we need.

When we arrived at our first RV Park in Davenport, Iowa, we discovered that RVer's are friendly and helpful people. We requested a "pull through" site and got one.(Thank You, Lord) Our neighbors came out to meet us and once we told them "this is our first time", we had all the help and advice we could possibly need. We got tons of helpful hints and after a couple of trips to the store to get longer hoses, we were set up and in business and received a round of applause from our new friends. We spent the fourth of July in Dubuque and visited some very dear friends there. Our hearts were full when we once again set out on the road.

Slowly, we made our way across the midwest and eastern United States, camping in Illinois, Kentucky and Virginia, meeting more new friends learning more about RVing as they shared their knowledge with us. We crossed three mountain ranges, one in a rainstorm and eventually arrived at our destination in Raleigh, NC.
Our little home is feeling more and more like home all the time as we get our stuff orgainized and put away. We are adjusting to living in a small space, but we are comfortable and happy. Our little dogs seem to be no worse for the wear, Nala watches out the window and guards our space like always. Gretel is queen and life is grand. The only negative is that we miss our family in Lubbock, especially Rebecca and Izzy.

Amy is still pregnant. She is 35 weeks gestation now and the doctors are shaking their heads in amazement and calling that a miracle. She is allowed out of bed now and can participate in leisurely activities and outings. We went out for a girls lunch today for the first time in months! We are excited. She can go into labor safely now anytime. If she has not given birth by July 31, the plan is to remove her cerclage at that time and allow her to dilate. Her doctor thinks that labor will follow that procedure rather quickly.

In the meantime, Mel and Karen are enjoying a little sightseeing and relaxing and helping Amy and Josh get ready for little Abigail.

God bless you to our family and friends and we love you all.

Mel & Karen (hootenhearts)