The long road home, at the farm, Britany’s news

Wednesday morning Mama wanted to go back to the beach for just a little while so badly it was palpable. I had to talk her out of that idea several times. My biggest concern was that the kids would get wetter than we were prepared to deal with. That, and I have never gone shell hunting with Mama and not gotten wet myself. So, we ate breakfast at the hotel – such as it was – and hit the road at about 7:30 am. Cathryn and Walter did very well on the long trip home. Mama was thrilled to have me in the driver’s seat. After several days of travel to get to me, the kids and Mama had established a routine of sorts. Once I got the routine down, it was pretty smooth traveling. One of the things I was unaware of was that Walter was not allowed to take any items from the vehicle with him as he left the vehicle. He has a tendency to fill his hands with toys, action figures, tiny army men, etc., and then lay them down as something else strikes his fancy. Often leaving behind the things he prefers to play with as he travels. That almost happened on the first break. Mama saw to it that nothing got forgotten or left behind in the store since I did not know the drill. There were several times that things were misplaced within the vehicle and a desperate search was launched to recover whatever was the focus of the moment, but we made it to the farm with most of the important items.

We had been in the vehicle about seven hours when Mama and I were talking about the lay of the land we were passing through. We were in southeast Texas at the time traveling back roads because I had missed the turn we normally take to get home from Pensacola. As we chatted and the kids played, we passed a Louisiana style house with a large wraparound porch. The house was painted a pale yellow. Trimmed in white. It was beautifully landscaped. I remarked to Mama, “There’s the kind of house you have always wanted.” Her casual reply was, ‘Yep. That’s my house.” From the back we heard Walter’s very concerned voice. “Grammy, did we just pass your farm?” I started to laugh immediately. It took Mama a minute to get the intent of the question – and the concern expressed in it. When she did, she laughed for several minutes. We assured Walter that we knew where the farm was and that was not it.

The kids did very well on the trip – all thirteen hours of it. Considering our route, Mama and I decided to pick up my truck at the airport as we were passing through Dallas. It added an hour to the trip, but it was worth extra time to collect the vehicle then versus making the two to three hour round trip to get it Thursday evening. It was 9:45 pm when I pulled through the toll booth exiting the airport parking. Mama and I stopped at a Buckee’s on the way home for her to use the restroom, but other than that we headed straight home. We were pulling in the driveway at 11:15 pm. Other than getting the kids out of the car and put to bed, we did very little to unpack the car. I was up and off to work at 5:45 the next morning. A short night but a safe trip home.

Cathryn and Walter are enjoying the farm. All the kids we have over to the farm enjoy the house as well. The overly large living area is a made-to-order play area and Mama has accumulated a wealth of toys kids enjoy from baby dolls to building blocks, Lincoln logs and Legos to dishes and dinosaurs. When the kids go out with Mama to feed, she takes time to pet the animals, to explain the sounds the animals are making, to show how the animals react to certain movement, to make her menagerie a fun type of working. Cathryn especially loves the Bantam chickens. They are half the size of the other chickens and Mama’s three baby Bantams will venture very close to anyone they think has special treats; especially the day-old bread we feed out.

Yesterday evening after dinner, once feeding was done, Mama sent the kids over to me as I worked on the goat shelter in the new paddock. Cathryn build a shop of her own with pieces of scrap wood. Walter used a small pair of pruning scissors to cut weeds. The scissors are made in such a way that he could not possibly have cut himself with them. Both of them worked at their respective tasks for a couple hours as I began to put the roof supports on the building. Tonight, we will get the nanny goats from Rick, so I have to get the boys out of the area they are now in so our girls can have it. The fencing is complete on the new paddock, but Mama is hesitant to put the boys over there without a shelter to keep the rain off them. Lord willing, I should have that done this weekend.

Meanwhile, Brittany let Mama and I know she is pregnant. Praise the Lord! We have been praying for her and Andrew as they planned for another child. I am not praying for twins this time, but I would not be shocked of God did bless them that way a second time. Twins fit Brittany’s personality. After all, if you are going to put that much effort into a pregnancy, why have just one baby?

God is so good.