Well, I thought when I wrote the last post that I would get two posts done in one day and here I am almost a week later! Oh, well, better late than never! I have a few minutes while my chocolate cheesecake is baking for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow so I thought I would post about a little whirlwind trip back to Alabama that I recently made.
The Thursday morning after our 1st anniversary at church, I got an email from my dad asking me to call him as soon as I could. My mom’s older sister, who lived in Arkansas with her family, had very suddenly fallen into critical condition and was not expected to live through the day. This was a huge shock to everyone because not only was she relatively young (59) but she was in good health and had even been planning a trip back to Alabama to spend time with family that very week. The week before she was suffering from what she assumed to be a cold, and it gradually got a little worse, so she called my uncle (who was away on business) to come home a little early. He got home and not too many hours later, she was burning up with fever and couldn’t breathe. He rushed her to the local hospital, who quickly transferred her to the bigger university hospital in Little Rock. She was then diagnosed with acute leukemia and after that point she really only lived a few more hours. It just really shocks you sometimes how quickly life can pass. My aunt was a truly kind lady who had a gentle spirit and a love for travel. She even made a trip to Peru a few years back and got to see Cusco before we moved here. In her job, she worked to help support local farmers and the agricultural business in Arkansas. She was able to accomplish great things in her work life and she was a great mother, wife, and grandmother to her family. I was blessed to be able to fly home for the funeral with Cole, so I got to see some cousins and aunts and uncles that I don’t get to see very often and that was a great blessing as well.
After the funeral, I spent a couple of days in Huntsville and then ended up going on a Young Pros retreat that my parents had previously committed to hosting. My dad’s company owns a chalet in Gatlinburg so we stayed there for the weekend. It was a lot of fun and my sister and her husband were able to come as well, so we got to spend a lot of time with them. While we were there, we ate out a couple of times, did some shopping in Gatlinburg, and got to visit the Aquarium there. They had a new exhibit on penguins, which was a huge hit with Cole because he is absolutely obsessed with penguins right now! He got to see them up close and personal (although much to his disappointment, he wasn’t able to pet them)!
We ended up doing a ton of traveling in a very short period of time (the flights to and from Peru, 8 hours back and forth from Arkansas, and 5 hours back and forth from Gatlinburg) but Cole did unbelievably well and was a real trooper through it all. He loved getting to spend time with Papa and KK (my parents), Aunt Ashley and Uncle Charlie (my sister and brother in law), Uncle Nathan (my brother), as well as his great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, and my cousins and their families. Although I was there just a little over a week, I got to bring home lots of goodies from the States (including a tricycle for Cole for Christmas) and my suitcases were a lot heavier than when I brought them!
Tomorrow we are going over to the Cooks’ house to spend Thanksgiving with them. We’ll miss the Reaves family, who are on furlough right now, but Charla’s parents are visiting this week so our group won’t be too much smaller than usual. We went the easy route this year and got our American friend who owns a restaurant here to cook most of the meal for us. He cooks the best burger in town and even built a smokehouse behind his restaurant so he can make authentic American BBQ! He’s a great chef, so I know everything tomorrow will be delicious and the best part is that we don’t have to do all the work!
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