0500 start for the day. It surprisingly did not feel like I was getting up early and was quite enjoyable. A shower and quiet drive to French Press in South Salem for an 0600 breakfast/coffee date with Michele. I love Michele. We always have so much to talk about with each of us having a family of littles with our oldests in Jr. High on this homeschool journey together. We have been bouncing schooling and parenting ideas off of eachother since Chloe was 18 months of age and Caleb was a year. (This is an old picture but we didn’t take one this morning) Michele is someone I can always count on to influence me positively and point out perspectives and concerns that I have not yet considered. Never a push over or a go with the flow person that holds tight to her convictions. I always come away from our conversations thinking, “how have I never noticed that before, or she’s right I could do that so much better.” She will point out any of my excuses that are holding me back, and encourage my growth as a person constantly. I just hope that I provide some of those same things for her. Three hours later we were wishing we had more time. …til September…(that seems to be the theme of this visit home.) As much as I’m not sure how I feel about giving up the opportunities we are given to meet and love people in our travel nursing adventures there are aspects we miss about being home that we are all so ready for like being able to spend more than a couple hours a year with our dearest friends.
After coffee we took the car to get the oil changed and Jiffy Lube let us stay in the car. Chad scanned the pile of work documents that he had printed out for me to fill out and sign last night and I took the online tests on restraints and fire. We sent more vaccination records and copies of my recent respirator fit test. My Chest X-ray and capable-of-doing-the-physical-requirements-of-a-floor-nursing-job physical expire in late June or July. If I end up getting into school I will have to make an appointment in Kodiak to get both of those again as I didn’t get a primary care dr. appointment fit in wile we were home. My nursing notebook that was recommended by the instructors in the Northwest Nazarene University nursing program at the time that I attended has been a life savor. It keeps all my important documents together and after two years of traveling it is starting to burst at the seems. I keep a picture of my support team from the homebirth with Eve on the cover. I kept them on my bike when I trained and rode the America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride (AMBBR) century in 2011 as motivation. They reminded me that I am loved and supported then and still. It was kind of an odd picture to take at the time but has been a constant reminder of my greatest blessings ever since.
After JiffyLube we stopped by Burger Basket for lunch and AAA to pick of maps of the areas we would be driving through. That and a mile post book that Great Grandma Brown gifted to us is how we plan to navigate through Canada as we will not be able to use google maps. Chad has printed out the recomended route from google maps so we are feeling as ready as possible for this data free challenge. After lunch we picked up groceries getting home just after Stephanie, Jayson and the kids who had been camping at the beach for several days. Chad and Caleb went and got their hair cut. Caleb was already packed, the girls and I packed while they were gone. It is the most compact we have ever packed with all of each of our clothes except a few jackets fitting completely in our backpacks.
Everyone else is packed up just as compactly with a few blankets, pillows, a tub of backpacking/camping/hiking gear and a 31 picnicking size bag full of import books and paperwork. Chad and Hannah made enchiladas, three casserole dishes of them. One regular one for Mark and Becky, one GF one, and an extra regular one for Stephanie and Jayson. We took one of the regular pans and the GF pan of enchiladas to the Rodli’s house stopping to check in with Great Grandma Brown and take a few rolls of coban to her on the way. She is eager for us to make it to Alaska so she can stop worrying about our drive. We are thankful for her prayers and all of yours as well. It doesn’t feel like we are getting ready for a big trip to start tomorrow. I know we are in God’s hands and he will carry us.
The weather was perfect so we hung out in the back yard with Becky and the kids. The enchiladas were a special request from Becky (not for this baby, but in the past I think for after Brielle). She reminded us that we have brought white sauce enchiladas over for them after every single one of their four kids. I am glad that we had the opportunity to keep up the tradition with baby Annie. Kailyn handed baby Annie to me shortly after we arived and I didn’t give her back the whole time we were there. I don’t mean to be a baby hog it just happens. I love babies! Everyone’s babies, but babies of my closest friends have a special place in my heart. I have been with Becky through each pregnancy and birth up until Annie. It was difficult to not be here checking in by phone and getting random updates from Kailyn. I still kind of feel like a part of it because it has been such a journey from the delivery of Kailyn to the labor and delivery of Annie. The next day when I talked to Becky she said, “You may not have been here physically, but you were here in my head.” Well now (a month late) I can be here physically and I’m going to get as many baby loves, energetic toddler loves, preschool giggly loves, preteen and growing way too fast loves, and bestie loves as I can.
Before heading home we stopped at Walmart trying to decide what we were going to do about gas cans, we didn’t buy any there. Chuck and Donna got done with their carpet job so we met up with them to let the kids say goodbye. (Aunt Stephanie and Cyrus, and Grandma and Grandpa Owens are always our hardest goodbyes) We decided not to take the gas cans from the shop so we stopped at Fredmeyer and picked up new ones on our way home as well as filling up with gas. We arived home late. Cyrus had tried to stay up and wait for us and had fallen asleep next to his momma on the couch watching the cooking chanel. He is such a sweet little guy, especially when he is sleeping. Caleb and Hannah cycled through the shower as we packed the last few things in the car. We weren’t going to push to get out too early. The kids were up too late for us to do that. A whole first travel day filled with whiny kids would not be a good way to start our journey.
Owens Endeavors 