Oddly enough, I received word today that I just received my Tennessee licensure.  Yup.  Tennessee's licensure just came through.  Alaska's should come through shortly.

We were all at Tim's yesterday, and we flooded the bathroom, soaked the ductwork and just about gave his entire computer system a baptism, (in the name of all that is un-holy.)  Additionally, we were successful in shorting out the vacuum.  I'm going back on Saturday - we'll see what more I can do then.   It was so good to see Caleb - what a goof!  We miss Emily as much as she misses us.  It was wonderful to see Beth and Scott, even if it was only for a brief time.  Tim and Katy are an absolute blessing.

Mom's in the big parade tomorrow!  A cowboy saxaphone-ist in a sea of blue.  We'll all be watching, of course.  We love Themom!

The worldly belongings that we will come back to are now safely stored in Broken Bow.  We are now on our Midwestern Tour (it's not exactly a World Tour even though it may feel like it, and even though it is somewhat difficult to convince the chilllren otherwise.)

Aidan had perhaps the most difficult birthday of his life.  He woke up sick, after a night of flu-ish symptoms. He spent the day in the car from Broken Bow to Lincoln to Omaha to Glenwood to Omaha.  All the while, his chills and his obviously being tired persisted.  He was sung to on three separate occasions yesterday, and had two different opportunities to open presents, however he was certainly hoping for something other than being corralled in a moving vehicle while feeling badly mixed in with brief moments of running around.

He is certainly enjoying time with Chesalon yesterday and today, while Samara and Eliana seem to be enjoying Helaina and Monica.  It is so good to be with loved ones.  Camilla wanted to report that Monica pooped three times today.

Last night was at Glenwood Church.  How cool that was!  It was coming home.  Such good friendships have been developed and nurtured over the years.  We only had a brief few hours last night, and we are not done yet.  We shall return on Monday for more time.  We are certainly blessed!

Now, it is back to Lincoln for the weekend.  It is good to be together in one vehicle.  Driving two different vehicles across the country without any semblence of a schedule has created a somewhat upside-down family-time.  In the middle of all this change, it is vital to not lose sight of the two constants: Christ and family.   At this point, maintaining the right focus is my prayer.

Yesterday was an awful lot of driving.  We were able to make it from Crossville to Iowa City, as planned, however our timing was off.  Our kids are all in good spirits, even after a full day of driving today as well.  Val and the kids are in Glenwood tonight, and I am in Lincoln; having dropped off the piano with Dean.  It is nice to see Nolan already enjoying himself as he was pounding away on it.  Unloading it was tremendously easy in comparison to what it could have been - thanks to Jeff.  It's always nice to have an expert in the piano-moving field when moving a piano. 

It seems as though we are doing nothing but driving.  After the days and days of packing and unpacking, loading and unloading, sitting still is a shock to the system.  And there is sooooo much sitting still it is quite maddening.  "Just keep driving" ala Finding Nemo, is what goes through my head now.  And now.  And now.  And now.

It will tomorrow, too, as we are off to Broken Bow to unload and return the truck.  And Friday is Domino Night with Glenwood Community Church.  Hoo Hoo!!!

What a full day!  The moving truck came on schedule, but that was about all the schedule that occured throughout the entire day.  I must say, if it wasn't for the help of some wonderful God-sends, we would be up a creek!  We are blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.  It is sad to have just started friendships with these good and Godly people, and then have to say, "Goodbye".  If it wasn't for the McKlungs and the Maddoxes, the Kings and Barry, the Almonrodes and the Cornwells - as well as my parents and brother - and Val's sister and Camilla - today could have easily been a disaster.  God has given us the best of the best, and we are extemely grateful.

More details to follow.  I'm tired and going to bed. The sun will come up bright and early, and I'll be ahead of it. 

Tomorrow the moving truck arrives with the people to load it, with about one-third of our remaining belongings.  We will also be picking up a U-Haul to take the rest of our belongings to Broken Bow -- with about one-third of what we originally had about one month ago.  We had given away/sold a good third of our belongings at that point, in a major sale.  Also tomorrow we will be getting the carpet cleaner and the house will be spotless for one night.  Early Tuesday morning we take off for the drive to Iowa City with roughly a third of what remains.

Going through our worldly possessions is an odd experience.  What we have purchased, we did so with such purposefulness.  We never bought anything amazing or top of the line.  We pinched every penny, and our dollars were never loose.  So when the garage sale occured, we were letting go of things that I was rather attached to, as a result of the thought and planning that went into acquiring them.  Letting things go with a sense that they never really were ours, was both liberating and a struggle.  We want to be good stewards with what we have, and letting them go to people who value them and could use them is in fact being a good steward, even as we watch it disappear into the mist.

What we keep in storage we do so  because we know that retaining it makes sense, from a 3-5 year scenario.  What we take with us we fully expect to not bring back, with that 3-5 year mindset.  Then there are those childhood things that we bring with us to Alaska because they have to do directly with our kids, and they need some of the comfort and joy of remaining kids, (no matter that we have sinned and grown old and are odd-idealist-type people)

And then on to Wednesday... Me driving to Lincoln and Val driving to Glenwood.

And then on to Thursday... Val and I both driving to Broken Bow.

And then on to Friday... everybody meets in Lincoln.

...and then hanging out with Val's family!!

Tuesday in Ankeny!!

Thursday in Iowa City!!

Saturday in Minneapolis!!

I put in my last day with Eckerd today.  It feels extraordinarily good to have everything complete, and to know that I have done everything that needs doing.  It was sad to say goodbye to the people that I've connected with over the past few months, though.  These are wonderful people with a good purpose.  It's also good to know that I'm heading off to more wonderful people with a good purpose.

To make that happen, there is work to do in this mess of a house.  Praying, planning, packing, persevering and perseverating.  Too bad alliteration starts with an A, otherwise I'd include that too.

Our tickets have been secured.  Our travel plans are still in the works, however we know that I will be leaving Minneapolis/St. Paul on December 1st with the remaining pets (2 cats and 1 dog) in tow.  Val and the kids will follow 24 hours later.  The reason?  Bringing the pets is twice as expensive if travel occurs any other way, and that simply didn't work into the budget.  There are added bonuses as well: Val and the kids can fly mostly in the daylight hours, and the views are too spectacular to pass over without the oooohs and awwwws of the younger set -- the kids will also get to spend a night in a hotel in Anchorage for more fun and games.

What we have to arrange at this point are the specific stops between now and lift-off.  We have determined that the moving van will be coming on Monday the 17th, and we can leave either that day or the next.  We will probably be renting a trailer to transport what belongings will stay in the lower 48, which will give us six days to get to Broken Bow, NE.  We expect that we go straight from Crossville to Iowa City, and then go west to Broken Bow with stops in Ankeny, Glenwood and Lincoln.  We will be coming back to Iowa City and be able to catch some that we've missed and re-catch others.  Following Thanksgiving we will be tripping up to Minneapolis with the last couple of visits being made then.

Then, it's off to the Great White North, eh!

Today we are deciding about whether to take the van to Alaska or not.  We just spent $750 to get it winterized, and although I feel as though I'm in for a penny so I'm in for a pound, I'm feeling somewhat perplexed.  Val has helped work through the thoughts pretty well: it would be best to not spend the almost $5000, of which $3000 would be our direct responsibility.  Therefore we would keep the extraordinarily winterized vehicle here in the lower 48.  When we come on down to visit family and friends, we will then have something to drive around.  We would simply have to buy a beat-up something-er-other once we get up there.

With this plan, we would be able to bring a bit more of our creature comforts with us to Bethel, as we can now quite easily stay within our $12,500 allotment.  I guess it is really the only option.