Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Home Sweet Home?

 Well, Good Ole Indianer failed us once again yesterday and closed most of it's highways, namely the ones that we use to travel home, so we had to delay our trip home again. We were hesitant to travel because of the crazy cold temperatures anyways so we were glad for a very clear sign about whether or not to go.

This morning the travel news was only slightly better and we were feeling pretty frustrated because we really had to get home. We spent a lot of time early this morning mapping out a new, alternate route to get home, avoiding all of the closed highways. Instead of 6 hours to get home, it took us about 8 1/2. Needless to say, we were ALL on the cagey, cranky side by the last hour or two!!


I know I have mentioned once or ten times how much I dislike Indiana. Here is just a simple example of one of the many reasons I can think of that this state should be inhabitable. Isn't that ugly? This would be Gary, Indiana, birthplace of Michael Jackson. It stinks (literally) and it is FILLED with factories. It is hideous.

But we were pretty ticked with Indiana today because they seriously dropped the ball with their road plowing. There was a clear difference between Ohio roads and Indy roads. We saw SO many cars off the road, stuck in ditches or almost perpendicular in huge snow banks!

We are incredibly thankful for a safe, if long trip home:)


When we arrived home, we found a huge, unshoveled heap of snow outside. In order to even unpack our car and get inside, Ben and the boys had to do a quick shovel job. Not sure where the landlords have been this past week since all the snow?? There is definitely a lot for the kiddos to play in once the temps rise!

One nice thing about our departure delay was that the boys' school was canceled anyways the past two days so we didn't have to worry about that. We got home at dinnertime and we're all feeling a bit overwhelmed at jumping right back into our busy day tomorrow but we are all tucked in bed early so hopefully we'll be ready to go!

We left my grandpa (who had to make a trip to the ER himself yesterday) looking much better and are praying for health to be restored quickly to everyone! That stomach flu was nothing to mess with. It seemed to strike in the wee hours of the morning and there was nothing we could do to stop it. No amount of cloroxing, hand-washing or quarantining helped us avoid it!

Only Ben, Zakkai and my stepdad were left standing when all was said and done. (E had her own before we left for Ohio.) Every 5 minutes we would look at the healthy (lucky) ones and say, "How are you feeling? Okay? How's your stomach?" We were all panicking at the slightest twinge or pain in our stomachs!

Hopefully that was it for the winter. One can hope! Samuel is having a hard time recovering from the stomach bug. He even threw up again Sunday night and still doesn't have much of an appetite. Hopefully he will get back to normal soon.

All in all, it was a very strange Christmas break for many reasons, as I am sure most of our OH family would agree. But even though we were quarantined most of the time and didn't get to see anyone or even say goodbye to pretty much everyone (so sorry to my mom, Ben's mom, Derek, my brother in law...), we are really really thankful that we were able to be there to help my Grandma and to watch my Grandpa be reunited with her on New Year's Day.

We were also able to see and be re-reminded of how family works together to help each other. People were jumping in left and right to help with meals, cleaning, caring for sick ones, even when barely recovered themselves. And we can always find something to laugh about later from those chaotic moments:)

 I am very thankful for my family! Goodnight from snowy COLD Chicago!

3 comments:

Aunt t said...

So happy to know y'all made it home safely!
You'll need a nap tomorrow. Praying your day is peaceful.

Emily and Frank said...

Glad you made it home safely!

Grandma W said...

I am so glad you made it home safely. What a long drive in extreme weather. I wish we could have spent more time together while you were in Ohio...but I so enjoyed the time we did have. Special memories for me. Stay well and stay warm!!

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