Flight home from Utah.

Another entry from forever ago. This is a long one. I hope I get the details right. I learned during this portion of my life that even though we all have horrible days there are wonderful blessings from learning to appreciate the small things.

pictures used in this blog are from the beginning of our trip.Our day began early in the morning in Utah. We had our bags packed and ready by 8:00. Our flight was for 12:00 and we needed to leave the house by 9:30 to get to the airport by 10:15. Two hours is what we usually shoot for when we fly. The night before we left, Parker was really not feeling good. He had 'spit up' a few times. We thought that it might have gone away through the night. We were wrong. Parker had a temp of 102. We were very worried because we needed to make our flight and find someone to check on Parker. Another thing from the day before, Parker finally woke from his night time sleep at 3 p.m. and his ear looked like it exploded ear wax. Yuck. We thought he might have an ear infection.

My sister, Jess, came down to help us pack up and take us to the airport. She was AWESOME. She called a family friend, Suzanne, and found out that we could come to her house to get Parker's ears checked. Thanks Suzanne. His ears were beet red! Not a good sign. She called in a prescription for us to the local Wal-Mart as we were heading out the door. As we stopped to get the prescription we realized that we forgot a few things. My little sister, Erika, drove quickly to the Wal-Mart and gave us our things.

My sisters are so amazing! Thanks so much for all of your help during this crazy day! We had to buy some fever/pain reliever as well. Our niece, Jordan, helped to pick out a yummy flavor for Parker. He liked it Jord. The pharmacy said that it would be about a half an hour to get the prescription filled, oh no!! We only had a few minutes. Luckily I went back about three minutes later and another lady helped me and got the prescription ready. Nice. So we were off to the airport.

We made it into the airport after some quick good-byes. Jordy we wish we could have stayed longer. We're sorry we made you cry that day. It's nice to be loved. We got to the line and a man was in front of us with about four bags. Turned out he was saving places for his buddies who were at the kiosks checking in. I think it would have been okay had he only had about two buddies. I think there were about ten guys with ALL of their luggage butting in front of us. My fuse was getting mighty short. We had a sick kid and all of our luggage and we were running behind because we needed to get our prescription. Oh by the way we had to get ice packs from my sister so the medicine could stay cold during our trip. Once again, Thanks Jess.

Back to these guys in line. They had so much stuff. I kept moving our luggage and stroller closer and closer. I heard one of them tell their buddy, 'brad', to hurry and get his papers to him. In my mind I was trying to keep clean thoughts, but 'brad' was going to have to wait in the long line because I was not going to wait for him to butt in front of me. I pushed my way up and gave our tickets to the lady. Finally!

We made it to our gate with just enough time to feed Lincoln and give Parker some medicine. We were blessed on the first flight. We had a spare seat next to us. I love when that happens. We didn't really use the seat because Parker slept on Willie's lap for the whole ride. Lincoln played with me. Our flight made it to Dallas in time. Food was a must, Willie and I were getting hungry. Parker ate some rice which was so nice to see him eat something. He was so sweet.

The ticket agent let everyone know that our plane had some engine issues. After a short amount of time they decided that the plane had to go to the workshop. They found another plane for us to use. They mentioned that it would be a bit stuffy and warm because it had been out in the sun all day just resting. Our flight left about an hour and a half later. When we had booked our flights we planned just right to get to the MARTA station before the line split and you had to get off and switch trains to get to our destination.

Because of the delay the flight was booked and we didn't have a spare seat next to us. Parker and Lincoln were both restless and had a very difficult time. Our kids really never cry when we are on the plane but we were the family with the crying babies on this flight. We made it back to Atlanta safe. We are grateful they found us a working plane. As we reached the top of the platform to get on the MARTA train I realized that we had missed the last train by about 10-15 minutes. Urggh. We got on the train and put our luggage in it's spot, then sat down in the middle of the car where there was another luggage area. After our train started Willie thought it would be a good idea to sit closer to our luggage and put our stroller in the disabled/handicap place. Both of the kids were on our laps anyway so we switched our seats. Thanks for listening to the Spirit Love.

We hit five point station and saw a mass of people outside waiting to get on the train. The Braves had a game that night! Lincoln was just beginning to fall asleep and the ride was peaceful until then. A group of drunk college kids and some rowdy high schoolers got on the train. They were yelling back and forth at each other. Some of the folks had sympathy for us and helped us to get to our things when our stop was coming up. I was ready to burst by this point. I had bad thoughts going through my mind and I should have tried to be grateful that we were just making it home safe and together.

We got off at our stop and realized the same groups were getting off as well. We moved into a different car to get away from them. The kids were really exhausted at this point. We got to our final stop and made it to our car. Thanks Jake for dropping it off at the station for us. Another blessing. We walked into our home with a sigh of relief and gratitude. One day with many difficulties and we were so happy to see our home, even if it was for only five days. Don't you just love the feeling of being in your home after a long trip?

Parker visited the doctor a few days later and needed to get a stronger prescription for his ears. Lincoln had his shots and we are all doing very well and finding joy in our new home. I am grateful for Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Even the little things in life can be a great joy to us.