Land of Lincoln

This past March my dad accepted the job of a church in the State of Illinois. We were so excited about the Lord leading him to this little, small-town church in Francisville, but also very excited that he was six hours closer to Texas! So, we started planning our itinerary to drive twelve hours to see my dad and step-mom. We told the kids that we'd be going on a very long road trip, but that there would be some prizes for each State border we crossed if they were patient and loving to each other in the backseat. Totally worked! We left our house at 3:45 in the morning and gassed up the SUV. The kids weren't ready to go back to sleep just yet, they loved the Illinois activity books that I made them. Jaxon brought Jake the Penguin along with him and Faith brought Rapunzel. So, here we are all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed...

About three hours later, we arrived in Arkansas and officially crossed our first State border. Faith and Jaxon were given some stickers and a sticker/activity book. This definitely was NOT the more scenic route of Arkansas, but I loved that we could set the cruise control to 75 and carry on our merry way. The kids continued to work in their books and kept getting more and more excited about it getting brighter outside.

It took us about five hours to do a diagonal across the State of Arkansas, which led us to crossing the State border of Missouri. The kids were just starting to wake up and both received their second prize, which was a very rubbery, squishy, ball of fun! They loved making the ball make bubbles. It was a winner-buy for sure! Then, the kids fell back to sleep.

We went through the bottom, right portion of Missouri and made our way to Illinois. It seems like the kids were waking up whenever we hit a border just to see what they were getting. It was like clock-work, but it was so much fun leaving them in suspense for a bit. This time they received door hangers that they were able to decorate with their crayons and they came with foam stickers, too. Jaxon got a sport-themed one and Faith received an under-the-sea door hanger. Before we knew it, we were crossing over a huge bridge into the Land of Lincoln, known as Illinois!

We finally arrived to the little city of Francisville. The church gave my dad a seven-bedroom home, so there was PLENTY of room. He lives in the middle of the city, there is a small grocery-convenient store, the post office is twenty feet away, the town bank is a house over from my dad's, and my dad, conveniently lives right next door to the church. It's the shortest commute, ever, I tell ya! They have a huge porch, everyone waves and says hello, and everyone knows your name (just like the theme song on Cheers). The closest towns are about fifteen minutes away if you want to grocery shop, rent a movie, etc.

My dad had a funeral to preach the following morning, so Shawn and I took the kids to St. Francisville Port. Shawn gave the kids a little lesson in skipping rocks. Later on that day we drove to a pool that my dad and Cheri really enjoy going to. The kids had so much fun going down the slide and swimming around. The weather was in the high 80's, so it was wonderful.

That evening we went over the famous Wabash Historical Bridge--it's a one-lane bridge, so it is kind of scary at first. We crossed the bridge and had a nice dinner and some dessert at a Texas favorte, Dairy Queen.

The next morning we went to the town fish fry put on by the fire department. The food was super yummy. And, before naps, the kids had fun playing in the whale pool and slip-n-slide. We also took part in a silent auction...we bid 25 dollars on a Steve Young autographed picture, and 25 dollars on a Peyton Manning one, and, we totally won them both! The rest of the day we lounged around and just were plain lazy, but loved every bit of it!

Sunday morning I woke up like a child on Christmas morning. I could hardly wait to hear my dad preach. It brought back many memories as I remember sitting in the pews at church hearing my dad preach the good news! What really melted my heart was when Faith and Jaxon were called up to sing Jesus Loves Me. They were so proud of their little performance and the church people loved it, too! And, Shawn actually made his first debut to the pulpit. And, of course dad called me up there to share a story, as well.

We winded up leaving on Sunday evening...it was a very emotional time for my dad, so of course I cried while we were saying our goodbyes. We drove to St. Louis, Missouri that and stayed in the hotel for the evening. My plan was for us to wake up, eat our continental breakfast, and explore the St. Louis Arch at 8 A.M. My plan was unsuccessful, every exit was blocked off. No one was getting to the nation's highest monument that day...especially on the 4th of July. So, the best I could do was to get some pictures and hit the highway again. On our way out we passed Busch Stadium, Ram's Stadium, and White Castle (a northerner's favorite burger).

We made it to Oklahoma that evening and the A/C decided to go out...completely! Praise the Lord for extended warranties! We were singing happy birthday to America with our biggest voices. The kids didn't even complain, even though you could see the heat all over their faces.