Off the Wall

Wall family road trip Blog post #3.

So I thought with my last post, “what possibly could I write about and add more drama to my trip?” Little did I know I am a drama waiting to happen and in the past 2 days I think I can top any, throw up in the car, lock yourself out of the house or over flow the toilet, hands down. Did I mention I think I found my first gray hair? Well I am pretty sure I did and after all the drama I am sure I have a few more.

Our trip in Canton Ohio is one I will not want to relive. The hotel was a dive and well enough said.  Dan and I decided to try Hotwire for our Scranton Hotel stay. For $46 it sounded too good to be true and after our Ramada stay I was having second thoughts about our purchase. God who is so good gave us a better than expected hotel with all the amenities and a free room upgrade so the kids had their own TV and room.  We got lost with our GPS for 45 minutes looking for Pizza Hut that by the time we did finally find it we just wanted to go back to the hotel and eat. Our GPS is 4 years old and we have had many issues with it on this trip. We should of paid for a map upgrade before we left but you live and learn. By the time we ate our supper and got back to our hotel we were in a mad rush to get changed and go enjoy the pool and hot tub. I was having a hard time finding my swim suit so I dug my hands through all my clothes trying to find each piece.  After some search I was off and in the hot tub enjoying the warm water. Dan came and went to hold m hand we he realized my middle stone in my ring was missing. Heart sick we searched both the pool and hot tub best we could and with no luck I retraced my steps. Thinking back to when my diamond ring slipped off my hand a few years ago I decided to dump out my suit case so see if maybe my stone had fallen out there. Sure enough there was my stone and I couldn’t praise God enough for answering my prayers.

The next morning we were off to Steam Town USA and again our trusty Tom Tom got us very lost and what was a 1 mile trip turned into 20 minutes. We enjoyed our tour and set off for lunch and then on to Rhode Island. We stopped at Subway in some blink or you miss town. Dan handed me the leftovers and I grabbed the water bottle feeling my arms full I did not realize I was leaving my purse behind. 20 Minutes down the road I looked down and realized my purse was gone. Heart sick again I prayed God would yet again do another miracle and get my purse along with my credit cards and camera back into my possession. I asked Dan to take the illegal U-Turn and I would pay if he got a fine. It was a long 20 minutes back but God was good and someone had given it to the Manager and he had it with all is contents inside for me. For the second time in less than 24 hours I was Praising God again for His goodness to me. Dan said, “I think your Grace is going to run out if you keep this up.”  Dan who lovingly went back to get my purse seemed a little tired of all the driving so when I offered to drive the last hour to Rhode Island he responded with, “I want a stress free drive thank you. I am just fine.”

Since this is now my last and final post of our trip I wanted to leave you with a few stats. We just crossed the border to Maine and our trusty Toyota van has logged over 5000 miles in 26 days, Slept in 11 different beds, went to 3 different churches and had communion with each body or Christ, The kids have watched 40 + hours of TV shows and movies, ate out at least 18 times at restaurants and last but not least we have lost count of all the friends and family we reunited with along the way. Dan and I are very thankful for ALL God has blessed us with for this trip and hope we can do it again someday.

Wall Family Road trip #2.

I am riding in the car 3 weeks and 2 days into our wall family road trip. On my first blog posting I wrote of all the comical things that had happened on the trip thus far. So on this 2^nd blog posting I can’t help myself but share with you some of the drama that keeps our life exciting although I will warn you this time it doesn’t seem as bad. Before I get away with myself let me recap a little of where I left off.

When I last wrote we were just arrived at Dan’s parents and I had overflowed the toilet all over the floor.  I and that bathroom did not get along all trip and I refused to use it in fear it would over flow on me again.  We had a wonderful visit with Dan’s family and friends. It would take me a book to write all about it but I will give just a few cute highlights. A few days after arriving I was putting Emma to bed and as our custom we prayed before bed. This night Emma didn’t pray her normal prayer I can recite by heart “Dear Jesus, Pray for Nana and Papa, help Mama to get better. AMEN!” No I was caught off guard when she started, “Dear Jesus, Help us to stay here always and never go home. AMEN!” When prompting her as to why she wanted to stay for always she responded with “Grandma is here.”

Another day we went to the city with Dan’s parents to the royal Canadian mint. It was a 2 hour drive so asked Eli if he wanted his Benadryl meds to help with car sickness. He really wanted them so down they went. By the time we got to the mint was so out of it and drowsy he wanted to just sit. The whole tour he was acting like he was out in left field I was feeling so bad for him. When we got home that night Eli prayed, “Dear Jesus, Please help us never to go to the royal Canadian mint again. Amen.” The rest of us enjoyed it.

After our 10 days in Manitoba we spent the weekend in Minnesota visiting with old YWAM friends. Again I could write a book of our time but in short and on a personal level I felt our time there was extremely helpful. We stayed with Dirk and Heather Hanson. They opened up their home to us and made us feel so welcomed. What made this time there very personal to me is they had lost their infant in a still born death 3.5 years ago. I just learned so much from talking with them and having a fellowship of suffering with them we would of never personal chose to have but have just the same.

Each place we leave our kids are more and more reluctant to leave and as well pulled out of the Hanson’s Eli said “I am sick already.” Thinking he was just sick to leave behind the video games and fun times we just gave him his meds and went on our way. 5 minutes later Eli had christened our car again by losing his Breakfast. Thankfully we made it to Devon’s without any more issues but Eli was kind of out of it thanks to his Benadryl for the rest of the car ride. As we went to bed Devon showed me how to push the button on the coffee maker in the morning if I got up before her. So the next morning thinking as doing everyone a favor I turned the coffee maker on and soon I could see coffee running all over the maker and on the counter and not into the coffee carafe. I quickly ran up to find Dan telling him help something’s wrong. By the time we figured out that the coffee basket was missing there was coffee and grounds everywhere. It was not my fault, Devon bless her heart was talking when she got the coffee ready and forgot to put the coffee filter basket in and thus making the coffee brew all over the place.

As we drove to the local Chucky Cheese for supper, Dan and I spotted gas at almost $4 a gallon on one side of the road and $4.06 on the other. We decided we should fill up the van on the way home. You can never win when it comes to timing your gas purchase since 2 hours later, both gas stations were up to $4.16 a gallon, ouch.

So as I write we are on our way to Canton Ohio to spend the night. Tomorrow morning we will go to the NFL Football hall of fame. Dan and I debated about taking an extra day for our trip to see this football lovers “Must See,” as we have been told but our next stop is Scranton PA to see Steam Town USA and the drive was just too far to make in one day and Canton was right on the way.  Hopefully there will be no more drama before I get this posted.

P.S. So we are at the hotel and what can I say. You get what you pay for. Pool Hot tub, Free Hot Breakfast and a package price that fits the budget for lodging and Hall of fame tickets. Coming here is like stepping back into the 1980 and in its day it was a beautiful hotel. The hot tub is broken and has green water. Our room smells like smoke and the free hot breakfast is under major construction. I can’t even say our room is clean. This hotel is in major need or facelift out of 1980.

Road Trip #1

Today marks day seven out of our 3 ½ week road trip. We are just driving through Winnipeg Manitoba and our next stop is Dan’s parents in Winkler Manitoba. But before I get away with what is going on today in our trip let’s start from the beginning.

On our first day of driving we made record time to The Reeds house but not without some drama. Eli, then Emma Threwup their breakfast ½ way through our trip. As we pulled off the highway only 10 miles from the Reed’s Our sickness went from bad to worse, Faith all the sudden threwup and then in succession Eli totally missed any bucket and Alicia followed suit. Our new van was finally christend as we put it. Just 10 more minutes and we would have been fine but alas we drove into the Reed’s driveway so ready to get out of the stinky car. Dan and I both worked many times cleaning and spraying the car down with Basic G. (After 7 days I can finally say the Van smells fine.)

We enjoyed our time with the Reeds just having fun visiting. The next day started off with more Drama. Early in the morning and thought, “I want to read my bible while the house is quite.” So at 6:30am I slipped outside to our van in the pouring Rain/ Wind storm to grab my bible. When I went back to the door it was locked and I was stranded in the freezing cold with no way to get back in.  There was no way back into the house without ringing the doorbell waking everyone up. By the time someone came to the door I was wet and chilled to the bone so back to bed I went to warm up.

From the Reed’s we drove onto Toronto to visit with Sharon and Jesse. We were so thankful to get there without any of the kids getting sick along the way. We made such good time we had to wait an hour for Sharon to get home from work. We spent 2 nights with them and left Friday morning for Sault Ste Marie. ½ way to Thunder Bay our next visit with Chris and Shawnee and Family. We woke the next morning to freezing rain and bad roads. We drove for 3 hours on really bad icy roads. As we came into White River we saw traffic was stopped and realized the Trans Canada Highway was closed due to severe weather and accidents. Thankfully we were able to pull into town to wait out the road closing. We were hearing conflicting reports but most people were saying the road was closed for 24 hours. Not wanting to wait in the car and just see we decided to rent a hotel room for the night. No sooner had we checked in, Dan looks out to see the Highway had been opened back up. We had hardly unpacked our bags so I called the front desk to see if we could get a refund. She called back to say that they could only give us $50 of the $110 we paid. Dan didn’t care and wanted to go. The front desk called again 5 minutes later to tell us the road was closed 1 hour away. Dan not wanting to believe this went to the local coffee shop and talked with area truck drivers and they all said the road was open as far as they knew. So away we packed, checked out and set off. 20 minutes we drove and then in the middle of nowhere the road traffic was stopped again as far as the eye could see. Dan got out and went to talk with people who were at a standstill and was told the road was closed due to weather and accidents. Most truckers told Dan the roads were so bad not even to try and go further but to wait till the next day. Dan asked me to call the hotel back and see if we could rerent our room. For some reason our cell phone would not work. (Well the real reason it didn’t work is we were in the middle of no-where.) So we just decided to drive back and hope the motel would let us have our room back without another $110 charge. Thankfully the woman was very nice and hadn’t rented out our room again so she gave it back to us for the $50 she had refunded us. We were all just happy to be safe and sound and settled in for the night in White River. If you study anything about the real Whinnie the Pooh you would find Whinnie the Pooh was purchased in White River as a cub. The town people where very nice and made us feel right at home. Our hotel room was more like a large Condo making it like a small home away from home. The kids bought postcards and sent them out to some special friends and family.

Dan wanted to get to Thunder Bay by 10am the next morning for Grassroots Church Sunday morning service. We left at 4:30 am all half awake but ready for our next journey. We had no idea how long our drive would take since the roads were still very icy and snowy. We pulled into the church driveway at 9:58am. As we walked through the church doors we couldn’t come slip in unannounced when Eli threw up within 1 minute of walking through the doors. Thankfully I grabbed a garbage can just in time. Poor guy he really can’t help it. I m sure it was embarrassing in-front of all the people he didn’t even know.

Our time in Thunder Bay went by very quick and no one was truly ready to leave but we managed to get out the door by 8am on Tuesday morning. As I write we are less than 1 hour away from Grandma and Grandpa Wall’s and the kids are very excited. So far today there has been no drama to speak of.  I gave Eli some Benadryl before we left and he says it has helped him.

It is hard to believe we have been gone for a week already. I am thankful God has allowed us to be able to finally come visit so many people we haven’t seen in so long. I know many people wonder how I am feeling and I hate to disappoint but my stomach has been really bad 3 of the 7 days making it almost impossible to eat. I am thankful my muscle aches haven’t been too bad. So that is a little recap of our trip thus far. I haven’t blogged in years but I thought this would be the easiest way to reach many of you who might want to know what is going on in our lives. Until Next time!

P.S. Just before I post this I have another Drama incident to write about. For some reason these seem to involve me. We arrived at Dan’s parents safe and sound. I went to use the bathroom and the toilet did not flush properly and it promptly overflowed all over the bathroom floor.  Never a dull moment.

I wrote this letter to my Daughter who passed away June 2010. I pray your blessed by reading this.

Dear Ivana,
I wanted to write you before these memories fade away. It has been one week since I last felt your body move in my belly and you have been gone from our lives to a better place. How my heart aches for you. I can now relate so much closer to what God felt when His innocent Son died who had done nothing to deserve it.
It all started back in November when I took a pregnancy test and saw two lines. I took it to Daddy and he looked and said, �Are you sure?� Of course I was sure. We were so happy about God blessing our family with new life. Our lives over the past year had been on a rollercoaster and having a baby brought joy and happiness to our souls.
From the beginning this pregnancy was different. I never felt my typical pregnancy symptoms of, going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, hips hurting, poor circulation, constipation, and more. I always said, �It�s the power of one. The Lyme�s symptoms are all I feel.� You see five months before you were conceived Mommy who had been very sick to her stomach for years got diagnosed with a disease called Lyme�s. In very rare circumstances Lyme�s can be given from Mommy to baby. I was treating the Lyme�s when I conceived you and was never worried that it would affect you until about two weeks before you died. As the pregnancy progressed I felt sicker and sicker from the Lyme�s. I carefully took the medicines I was told were safe for me and you but the symptoms just never went away. I told a friend once, �I have been pregnant 5 times and this one just seems different and I am not sure why�. The way you moved, how I grew was just a little different. To ease my fears I had an ultrasound done. I had read Lyme�s could affect you, so I wanted to make sure your placenta, heart, brain and other organs were all developing normally. All test and Dr. appointments would say, �Melissa you have a very healthy baby that looks perfect.� I cried when I saw your face on the ultra sound. They even caught you sucking your fingers.
Oh, how we planned for your arrival to our family. Your brother and sisters were so excited. They loved feeling you move. They talked to you and even tried to come up with names for you. We bought you outfits, made you blankets, and planned our whole summer around your birth. Our lives were going to change when you came and it was going to be for the better. We couldn�t wait.
Then Mommy got sicker and just knew something was wrong. We started blood work test and they showed things were bad but we didn�t know why. Mommy�s pee was darker than normal. I started saying things like, �This is the hardest pregnancy I have ever had.� �I am afraid I am going to have this baby too early.� I started organizing things. Five days before you were born, Daddy and I changed our room around so we could make room for your bassinet. We were getting ready.
One week before you were born Mommy�s feet swelled very suddenly and each day got worse. You started moving less and less. On Monday I was so worried for you. I felt you were leaving me and I begged God not to take you. I couldn�t get you to move so I called Heather and she came right over. We got a good heart beat and I tried to believe that you really were okay and that it was just my body that was having all the issues. Your movement was very sparse and on Wednesday morning, June 9th 2010, you kicked my coffee cup on my belly for the last time. That afternoon my pee turned clear again and I now know that was a sign to me you were gone.
On Thursday morning, Heather came to check your heartbeat and my fears were confirmed when she couldn�t find one. We rushed to the Inland Hospital where a wonderful Dr. Bradfield, who didn�t know us, lovingly took us as patients and came and did another ultrasound to double check your heart. He confirmed it was not beating. He said you looked perfect and your placenta looked fine. Oh how my heart ached. This new life was now gone. God was so good and allowed you to be born quickly and naturally at the hospital in the water, just like all my other babies. The hospital was kind and let me do whatever I wanted to do with you. You were born 7 hours after we confirmed you were gone. As soon as you were born the Dr.�s took one look at your placenta and could tell it was diseased with Lyme�s. Not only had it made me so sick it had taken your life.
All I wanted was to be alone with you and Daddy. We loved holding you and you looked so perfect. Your siblings came right away to see you along with many other people. We hadn�t chosen a name for you and Daddy and I wanted to name you something that meant gift. We knew you were a very special gift and as we looked we found the name Ivana and it meant �Gift from God.� So Ivana Grace Wall seemed to say what we felt from the depths of our heart that God had given us a very special gift in you. We spent the night and next day in the hospital before we went home without you. Gallant�s funeral home came and took your body away. We dressed you a beautiful dress the hospital gave us just for you to bury you in. Daddy went home and in the next few days made you a casket and prepared your gravesite. We planned a small funeral for you and over 100 people came to celebrate your short life. Pastor Denny shared many verses, including Psalm 139. We sang �Blessed Be Your Name� and �Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus�. Aunt Crysten sang, �A Visitor From Heaven�. Your siblings all wanted to do something special for you. Faith wanted us to sing �Jesus Loves Me�, Eli wanted to read Job 1:21-22. Alicia painted you a picture we put in your casket. Emma was just Emma. Even Daddy shared some special words at your service. I placed the blanket I made you in the casket to wrap and cushion you. I also placed a hat Kami had knit for you and a rose Daddy had bought me.
When the Dr.�s confirmed you were gone God gave me this verse. Job 1:21 �The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.� Then God gave me this verse to comfort me, before I saw you for the last time. Ps 34:18 �The LORD is near to the brokenhearted.�
I know you�re in a much better place but my heart grieves for you. I love you and will miss you. Someday we will meet again.
Love, Mommy
June 16, 2010