Alabama to Texas to Home

A couple weeks ago, we went to Alabama, made a stop in Louisiana, then to Texas.  

We drove to Enterprise, AL first to lead worship and have a concert at Crossroads Church.  This was our third time to be with them and it's always a joy.

Have I ever mentioned I read out loud to Trent while on the road?  Well, I do.  And this is where Oliver was looking at his book, too.

We got to the hotel at a decent hour and The Odens (the pastor and his wife) had left us a gift basket.  Ask me how long I waited before I opened the Oreos...

There's always a little uncertainty on the road with Oliver, but he slept great and woke up happy on Sunday morning.

The church meets in a movie theater, which is always so cool.  Oliver hung out with a nursery worker, Harley, and he did great.

The services were wonderful.  One of the pastors and his wife had just had their first baby, who they named Oliver.  Maybe one day, they'll meet =)

We rested that afternoon.  (Well, we rested and dozed off right when Mister Man woke up.  Isn't that how it goes?)

We went back to the church for sound check.  Oliver hung out in an exercauser and bounced like crazy when we played.  Awesome.

Thank you to Gene (Crossroads pastor) for taking some cool pics!

We introduced a new song, which is always kind of scary.  For me, anyway.  At one point in the song, I had to hold up lyrics for Trent, ha!  They were all gracious and complementary.  Whew.

Sunday night es no bueño with the little guy, so he and I went down early for breakfast and let Trent sleep.  How can you get upset with this face?

We left and headed to Texas.  But first, we stopped in Denham Springs, LA to split up our drive to Texas.  We know a church there with an apartment and they were gracious enough to let us crash for the night.  (Again, every church needs an apartment.)

We left the next morning and made our way to Salado to stay a few days with my parents before heading to Houston.  One day, we drove to Waco (it's still weird that my parents don't live there) to see Nana.  It was so cute to see Oliver play with toys I played with as a little girl.  And can we discuss this Nana?  She'll be 96 on Christmas Eve and is still kickin' butt.

I went to Caleb's JH pep rally with Julie and so that meant we picked up Noah.  

The joys of trying to get a decent pic of all the kids...

We left Friday morning (Oliver's 9 month bday) and drove to Houston.  SOOOOO glad the Road Grammie was able to come for that night.

 Check in =)

Hanging out before the show

Oliver was playing with my makeup brush.  Trent called it the "Merle Norman Brush of Justice."  Haha!

Our friend, Robin, orchestrated the night.  We played at Clear Lake Church of Christ in the youth room, which was awesome and gave us some pre-show activities.  (Yes, apparently there are Churches of Christ that allow instruments!  Who knew?)

Robin took some pictures with a real camera and here are some of them!  (To see the rest, go to our Facebook page.)

Sweet Grammie and Ollie.

                      

We can't remember what was going on here, but it makes me laugh.

I wasn't saluting.  I was looking for the boy.

 

 

Robin, the one who put it all together!

                          

We had so much fun and everyone was just as precious as can be.  Once merch died down, I nursed O and he passed out.  Bless it.  It was a looooong day for him and he didn't have a 2nd nap.

The night was rough.  So he didn't wake up (or keep up, rather) Grammie and Trent, we hung out in the bathroom from about 2 AM to 3 AM and I nursed him in the shower, which had a seat.  When he woke up at 6:00, I checked his temp and it was over 101, so I gave him Motrin and he went back down.  It seemed the virus was back.

The next morning, we had to take my mom to the airport (she was flying to Memphis for Blake's party) but first we needed some guitar strings.  Some people were waiting for the new iPhone.  We waited for Guitar Center to open.

After we dropped Grammie off, I called our Doctor's office at home and explained Oliver's symptoms.  Fever, bad cough, runny nose and then labored breathing and wheezing.  They told us to take him to the ER.  So THAT was fun.  

Nervous Nelly here with a baby in the ER who ended up having to get a breathing treatment that, to him, was the most terrifying thing ever.  Talk about heart breaking!  All the fussing and fighting wore him out, so he napped while we waited for the news.  Guess what!  Just a virus.  Thank God it wasn't that bad one going around.  They gave us an inhaler to use, just in case and sent us on our way.  Now we had a sick baby and a late show Saturday with an early morning Sunday.

He fell asleep on the way to Conroe for Faith Fest and stayed asleep for a long time.  This was us no knowing what to do.  We woke him up and introduced him to the sweet OliVolunteer and he did amazing!  Not a peep.

By the time we played and got back to the hotel, it was waaaaay past his bedtime and he fell asleep during books.  That has never happened.  Sweet boy =(

Sunday morning was spent with Walden Community Church in Montgomery.  We were supposed to be with them at 9:30 and 11:00, but after the ER trip, we cancelled the 9:30 so Oliver could rest more, which he did.  He seemed a lot better.  Yay!!!

Pastor David and his wife, Joanna (who willingly kept Oliver in a separate room so he didn't get any babies sick) were so nice to let us come in last minute.  They enjoyed our worship and special music, and so did the congregation, and that's always nice to hear.

We left right after church and drove to Texarkana to stay the night.  Then home the next day.  And this face pretty much sums it up:

We were so tired.  It was a GREAT run and a great weekend, but it was hard.  Now, we're home and are enjoying a little time off.