Our Trip

WARNING: LONG STORY with some misspellings and wrong tenses. But, I decided I wanted to get this written before the details got too fuzzy in my mind. Not enough time to perfect it or put in each and every detail. But, here's the gist...




Thursday, August 11

My MIL calls to let me know she and my SIL's family have been sick with a virus all week, but she's feeling alright. We are scheduled to head to Austin the following day to spend the weekend with the Webres (Matt's sister and family) and his parents.  She's just giving me a heads up.

Our journey to Spain was to begin on Monday morning, August 15 at 3:00 a.m.


Friday, August 12

I decide to head to Austin anyway since my MIL is feeling fine. My gut is saying to wait one more day to allow Matt's sister's family and his mother to be well for a complete 24 hours. HOWEVER, I choose to go anyway but decide to stay away from the Webres until Saturday morning.

My parents and I load up the truck with luggage and kids, say our tearful goodbyes and we leave Seguin.

The big kids enjoyed a fun filled day spending time alone with Matt's parents.  I spend the day packing and organizing and doing laundry.

Saturday, August 13


My kids meet up with their cousins to do a Lowe's Project.  Lots of fun. Everyone seems healthy.  My SIL's baby has a slight fever but is teething, so it's hard to tell if she's really sick or not and she already had the virus earlier in the week.

Sunday, August 14

We celebrate my MIL's birthday with Texas bar b que and coconut cream pie and presents. Lots of fun and a great last day with family.  I spend the evening getting all the suitcases packed just right and organizing our carry on items, etc.

EVERYTHING is in order. I'm totally ready.

We are scheduled to leave at 3 a.m.  in the morning, so we all head to bed early. I'm ready to get this trip over with and see Matt. I'm really  missing him by this point. Again, everyone seems healthy and well.

9:45 p.m. 
I've been asleep about an hour and wake up feeling sick to my stomach.  I spend the rest of the (short) night in the bathroom. I have the virus now and it is furious. I'm not doing well.

2:00 a.m. MONDAY, August 15 (1 hour before departure)
I drag myself into the living room to tell Colleen how sick I am. She covers her mouth and gasps. Then, moves into action. Her first step is to send Steve to Walmart for immodium for me. Instead of getting ready or loading, I'm laying on my room floor praying for enough energy to get me through our first leg of the trip. And, that I can stay out of the bathroom until then.

That leg consists of Steve driving us 3.5 hours to Dallas where we'll catch an 8:40 a.m. flight to Norfolk, Virginia. Colleen would be meeting me there but I'll do the planeride alone.

Steve gets my meds and shockingly I'm able to keep them down.  He and Colleen proceed to zip up my suitcases, pack the last odds and ends and load everything into the truck. I ask for a pillow and end up sitting in the backseat between the baby's carseats. I can barely hold my head up.

Not far into the trip, I nurse Annalise.  Then, the kids and I proceed to sleep on and off the rest of the way.  I start to perk up as we get into the Dallas area.  I eat a biscuit from McDonalds, an apple juice and water.  Adrenaline is kicking in and God is filling me with energy that I shouldn't have yet.

The airport was confusing and we couldn't locate the sky cab to drop off my 9 pieces of luggage.  So, we pull up to the curb near the rental carts. I go get 2 carts and start to unload. Then, I realize that Steve is doubled over in pain. He's sick now. He runs inside to find a restroom.

I unload the back of the truck, the babies, the car seats, and the kids. He comes back. And, trailing behind him is some lady who seems to be in charge in some way. She looks at me loaded down with 4 carry ons, the overflowing carts, the kids and my babies in the double stroller.

"You're traveling alone?" she asks. "Yes, " I confidently respond back to her.
 "How do you think you're going to travel by yourself with all these kids?" she asks with a puzzled look.

I have no response so I just lift my hands in the air as if it say that I have no idea but I"m here and doing it.  Steve has to go park the truck so she reluctantly begins pushing a cart, I push the other, and Abigail pushes the babies. She realizes we are military and got after me for not telling her right away. She also fusses at me about why I didn't use the Sky Cab, which as it turns out, if we had just driven about 4 car lengths further we would have found them.

I can tell she doesn't usually do this sort of "manual labor" due to her obvious unfamiliarity with using the carts and by how well dressed she was in a skirt and blouse and nice shoes.  She leads me to Sky Cab and they refuse to help me because I was military and there wouldn't be a charge for the bags...still not sure why that mattered...or maybe there was some other reason they would not help that I wasn't made aware of.

She fussed at the guy and coerced him into taking one of the carts and helping us up the elevator to the ticket counter. I don't know if he just didn't want to lug all our stuff or if he didn't want to miss out on Sky Cab tips, but he RELUCTANTLY submitted to this little feisty lady. And, thanks to my friend Mare who suggested I have LOTS of tip money...he was paid well for his time and effort.

Some of you may remember how worried I was that American Airlines would not allow me to take my 2.25 pounds too heavy double stroller to the gate. Well, they not only allowed me the stroller but they also allowed Steve (my FIL) to go through security and to our gate. HUGE help considering how weak I was feeling.  Security was a breeze. Thank you GOD!

The security person who checks your boarding passes asked to speak with the big kids, "The ones who can talk" as he put it. So I shuffled Abi and Adam over to him wondering what he wanted from them. He asked them where they were headed.  Adam busts out with "SPAIN!". And, Abi taps his shoulder saying, "No, no, Adam we're not going to Spain today. We're going to Virginia." I smiled and explained that our final destination was Spain and that my son didn't know where we were going. Thankfully, the guy understood my son's cluelessness and allowed us through :)

I gate checked my stroller and was one of the first to board. Lugging that big ol' Britax car seat to the Row 16 was no easy feat with Annalise on my chest,  4 bags hanging off me and feeling extremely weak. But, by golly, I did it! Abi did awesome holding Ada's hand and Adam stayed in line between us. The kids were so cooperative the entire trip. Thank you for your prayers.

Boarded and situated, I felt a huge sense of relief. God had enabled me to make this far. He would help me with the rest also.

The three hour flight was fine except for the last 1.5 hours when I started feeling nausea again and sat holding the throw up bag open in front of me.  Thankfully, I never used it though.

We landed and were last off the plane.  I'm tired, weak, and hungry by this point.  I have all my gear, again, and got off the plane only to discover that they decided to check my double stroller after all. This left me with a toddler, an infant on my chest, the four carry on bags, 2 other kids and that stinkin' car seat to lug to baggage pick up WITH NO STROLLER. Someone did carry the car seat a little ways to an eating area. But, I didn't know I was still forever away from baggage at that point. I tried to eat, but only took one bite as the nausea began again. I nursed Annalise, took a deep breath, gathered the kids, and car seat and headed to baggage.

I made it down there and as the elevator doors opened, I lost all stamina. Taking about 10 more steps, I stopped mid stride, lowered my arms, dropping all my bags and car seat, and plunked down on the floor.

Annalise sat on my lap content while the big kids kept Ada occupied next to me. I dialed my MIL's phone number praying she had made it to the airport already. Diapers needed to be changed, luggage (and stroller) needed to be found, rental car rented and I was no where near being physically able to manage.  She answered her phone and as I looked way down to my right, there she was with a big cart, my luggage, and my beloved stroller. I can honestly say that I have NEVER been so thrilled to see my MIL as I was at that moment. (How we ended up getting her a ticket to come is another story. Her coming was last minute.)

From there we rented our awesome car, found our hotel, unloaded, and went to dinner.

After I put the babies down for the night I started to feel nausea again and ended up in the bathroom unable to keep ANY of my dinner down.  So, I took a long shower and went to bed.

Adam and Annalise were with me in my room. Ada and Abi were with Colleen in the other room.

At midnight, Adam woke up throwing up and continued all the next day. No sleep for me, again. BUT, I woke up feeling good and hungry and spent the day eating and drinking and packing.

Tuesday, August 16

One little side story that the kids really want in here is that in the middle of the day the alarms started going off in the hotel rooms and the lights were flashing.  Someone came over the intercom telling us all to leave the building because there was an emergency.  I had JUST laid Annalise down but got everyone out safely.  As we found a shady spot outside to wait, Colleen and I turn our heads to look at Adam who is repeatedly saying, "It wasn't me, I didn't do anything, it wasn't me!"  We laughed and laughed because usually it is Adam who has set off an alarm, turned off the lights, or something else. The fire trucks and emergency vehicles showed up. But, nothing came of it. We were all allowed back in the building after about half an hour.

Adam had all day to get better and he ended up feeling fine as we boarded the airplane at 9:30 p.m. at Norfolk Naval Air Station,  on tuesday night that would take us all the way to Spain, our final destination.

The 8 or 9 hour plane ride was uneventful. Thank the Lord!  We all slept off and on and the big kids played their Nintendo DS (handheld video game) for several hours. I was thankful considering how absolutely exhausted I was by this point being on night THREE of  no sleep.

Wednesday, August 17, 11:30 a.m. (Spain Time)


Our plane landed.


For the final time, I gathered our gear, the babies, and kids and walked off the plane. As I descended the stairs onto the tarmac I see Matt walking towards me. Later I realized we are the only people who were allowed to be greeted outside (thanks to his boss) the terminal. I felt like a Hollywood star with how many people were there to greet us.  He took Ada into his arms, gave us all hugs and kisses while his co-workers, boss, and their spouses took all my gear. I never again touched my suitcases or gear once they took over. Customs was quick and before I knew it, my feet were walking on Spanish land.

We drove up to our new HOME, known on base to some as The Mansion due to it's large size.

That night, Abigail came into my room at midnight. She was now the sick one and would be for 2 days. Annalise and Ada had a touch of the virus but never a full blown version like the big kids and I had.

God was faithful to get me to my new home in Spain with Matt.  I don't know why He allowed me to get sick that first night but I knew He would take care of us. His track record is perfect. I kept thinking that He had been faithful through many other circumstances in my military wife life of sickness, miscarriage, deployments, TDY's, births, sickly pregnancies, sadness, loneliness, etc...  I knew He would not abandon me now.  He put people in my path to help me, gave me just the amount of strength I needed for each step and concluded our journey with Matt, open armed and ready for us.