Installment 2

Tara Times

Having gotten to the ground without major incident and regaining my bearings, it was time for a fun-filled weekend with the Livesays (less two). Or from their perspective, a fun-filled weekend of harass the hillbilly.

We got to the house around 9:00 pm and chatted for quite awhile. The next morning we were getting ready to make a Target run when Paige (pictured here in silliness as retribution for the following comments) informed me that "you've said 'ya'll' four times already." I sneered. "Are you keeping a log or something?" She assured me that she was and I knew I would have to be careful. Unfortunately, you can take the girl out of the south but you can't...yeah, yeah. A little while later both Paige and I entered the house from opposite sides and in a moment of total senselessness I said "howdy." I believe there are still screech marks on the hardwood floor from how quickly Paige stopped and glared at me in disbelief. I reckoned she was fixin' to put that in her log. To Paige's credit, she did forfeit her bed two nights for me. I sure do done love you, Paige! =)

Friday night we went to a football game for one of the local high schools where Matt (Tara's brother-in-law married to Tara's sister, Tina, who graciously let me use their shower) is the head coach. It was a really good game and perfect cold football weather. Hope sat in my lap through out the game and cried "hug! hug!" whenever the wind would whip through. It was in the last two minutes of the game that she looked up and said "what's your name again?" Yes, she had been sitting on the warm, softness of my fat legs while I on the other hand, could no longer feel my buttocks due to the frozen metal bleacher, for over an hour and she couldn't remember my name? Lucky for Hope she has that whole stinkin' cute thing working to her advantage.

Isaac is wonderful! No really, he is wonderful and everything he sees or touches is wonderful! The glass is not only half full -it's a beautiful glass, too. He's so precious and his optimism is priceless. He had me puddling on the way to the airport as he prayed for my flight and that "maybe Amie can bring her whole family to see us because that's just a wonderful idea God!" (ps... God, I think he's onto something.) Isaac was a constant reminder of my own gentle giant, Isaiah, whose naivety makes me smile. I pray for the day we can put these two over sized boys together for what will surely be an entertaining event. Noah is his mamma's boy. No doubt. BUT I did get some unexpected snuggles on the last day of the trip which was nice. Here's the crew plus Aiden (nephew) and Peanut -who I think loved me the most unconditionally on this trip. Not one comment from her about my accent.

We got to see Britt in action at a swim meet and then headed off for a couple of days without the kiddos. Btw, Britt got the award for being first to usher in the tears. She has big college decisions coming up and I'm just so amazingly proud of her thoughtfulness and desire to glorify God in her decisions. She's an incredibly smart and mature young woman. Not sure who she gets that from. =)

We went to church Saturday night and met up with Lisa (Tara's lifelong best friend). We all hit PF Changs for dinner and more abuse for the southerners in our bunch. Oh wait, that was just me. I admit that I can tolerate a great deal of ridicule while feasting on lettuce wraps. mmmmm. And despite the WAY off base stereotypes regarding Nascar, we had a really great night. We talked for hours about everything under the sun...for much of the conversation I was thinking that we were like a married and only slightly less supermodel-ish version of Sex in the City. (never actually seen the show so stop judging me) Troy called in the middle of such conversation and was glad to see we were getting Tara geared up for his homecoming.

Tara and I spent the rest of our time being total bums. Talking, napping, movies, all good! I'm not sure if these issues are evident in all pregnant women but here are a few things I learned from Tara:

5. Pregnant women (read Tara) should not be obligated to wear seat belts. It just causes unnecessary rage.

4. Pregnant women (read Tara) snore much less than normal. But they can still snore.

3. Pregnant women (read Tara) can be very great with child and yet still wear fancy shoes. (per Troy's favorite ob/gyn)

2. Pregnant women (read Tara) do not want people constantly staring at their pregnantness unless it will give them a cut in the bathroom line.

1. Pregnant women (read Tara) are hormonally imbalanced and should require proper permits and a 10 day waiting period before entering public service areas.

It was a great trip! I just hate that distance makes these get togethers so few and far between. If you don't already read the Livesay Blog, you can (click here). If you don't already pray for their family and their work in Haiti, you can.

I'd like to say that the trip home was uneventful but then that wouldn't be my life, would it? The final installment soon to come.