Thanksgiving Travels

Praise God for good friends! I'm so thankful that there are people all over who love me and like spending time with me! I was also grateful for time to sleep, read, and just be. This past week I was blessed with a long break from work long enough to travel to Arkansas to see friends. I drove by myself to the dismay of my parents all the way from MN to AR in one day. I spent a few days hanging out with some of the people who know me best-Jenel and Emily, of whom I neglected to get a picture of, but will include one from the past. I also ran into a bunch of my former professors and got to catch up with them.

Unfortunately, Jennifer couldn't be there, because she's in Africa. I was quite mad at her for this, because I really wanted to talk to her while I was making my 14-hr drive. Oh, well, I guess I'll get over it. :-)

After a few days in Searcy and lunch with my friend Tim, a group of of headed to Memphis to Jack and Linda's house. Jack and Linda are Ben's aunt and uncle, who are so welcoming to college-age friends of Ben. We were slightly delayed in getting there, for a few reasons. One was door-to-door salesmen offering a mass purchase of filet mignon. Let's just say the boys have a lot of meat now. Secondly, we got a phone call from Drew, Ben's roommate, saying his car had broken down in Little Rock on his way to Austin and he needed us to come get him. He ended up coming to Memphis with us. Thirdly, Greg accidently erased all of Ben's music from his ipod. This may sound like a benign statement, but if you know Ben, you know this was a huge catastrophe.

We finally made it to Memphis much later than planned to a nice lasagna dinner prepared by Linda. The boys went downtown for a while, but Amy and I stayed and relaxed in the heated outdoor pool until we were raisins. The next day we chilled and played around while helping some with the Thanksgiving dinner preparations. The day included a ride in an MG convertible and a rousing game of football golf with Drew serving as the hole.

Linda and her grandkids had made cute little namecards for everyone and had gone all out for Thanksgiving. We had a royal feast with other random people from the community. It was good to be there in such a hospitable place.

Headed back to Searcy for another rendezvous with Tim, Jenel, and Emily, and JD the cat. Then I went to Calico Rock, AR to spend the night with Jordan and her family. They are so amazing! I feel like I'm in a Little House on the Prairie book when I'm with them, though I don't remember anything from those books. But they are so loving, and truly care for each other. They spend hours talking, laughing, and sharing. We sat around and read poetry, listened to new music, watched the Matrix and discussed its implications. Random, huh? Jordan and I stayed up late talking. I also neglected to get a photo of their family, unfortunately.

I set off for MN again Saturday morning. 30 hrs in a car by yourself gives you lots of time to think as well as talk to others on a cell phone, though I don't feel like sharing too much of that right now. I'll just say I am happy, God is good, and I'm very excited about life.