we are home

Wednesday morning we got up at 6 am to get ready to leave. I sorted a few pictures, and made notes all over mom's house, " this pile needs sorting" "this pile is give away," "this pile garbage", "Save these for next visit".

We ate breakfast at Jim's and said I goodbyes. Every visit we have, we all get closer and closer. I really enjoyed visiting with Him and Lucia. they kindly made us at least a couple of meals a day while there. The last day we were there Jim took Moriah and I out to lunch at a real Italian sandwich shop. they made fantastic sandwiches with meat and cheese imported from Italy.
The time came Wednesday morning to say good bye then to my mom. Oh how I dreaded this moment. I prayed and prayed for the Lord to give me grace. Earlier in the week I shed so many tears wondering how I would possibly be able to say good bye, knowing I wouldn't see her again on this earth. I'm not sure how God gave me grace, but I knew it was time to go even though it was so, so hard.
The Amazing thing is the Lord gave us a special gift while saying good bye. She was very alert and clear. She still had a hard time completing a sentence, but she told us don't worry, I love you, be careful as you drive. When I told her I love you, she answered with "I love you too" She was speaking so clear that we even got some on video. It was such a precious time. Such a gift from God.
Well the drive home was very long and hard. Monica got the flu, we hit a snow storm in Butte, lots of icy roads and even a flat tire. It ended up taking us 18 hours! Besides it's so hard to drive and cry at the same time. We just couldn't let our thoughts go in a sad direction.
Moriah and Mark ended up changing the tire. Moriah had no trouble at all. Since we had 6 girls and only 1 boy before there was another boy in the house, Moriah was one to take on the boy jobs with Michael, like putting the snow tires on the car. Well sometimes those experiences pay off at times like these.