Minivan Mama

Yep.  I'm a minivan mama!  I couldn't be more excited and sure never thought that would be the case!

We've been cruising in our new van for a little over a week and LOVE it!  Ava still talks about how awesome it is each time we get in and we have uttered many prayers of thanksgiving for God's amazing gift to our family.

(So much love for the new van Grayson just had to give it a hug!)

Our new van proclaims that God provides in ways that only He can get the credit.  We are so thankful for my cousins for their generous gift and are even more thankful that they themselves give all the glory to God!

Our new van is also a daily reminder that there is room for more.  We wait expectantly for Easton to be part of our family . . . not with anxiety, because we trust in God's timing, but with such excitement for God's good plans for our family and our new son.  Oh man I can't wait to get another carseat and have another sweet little face smiling back at me in the rearview mirror!  (And Chad has been quick to point out that even after Easton is home we now have room for 2 more! Only the Lord knows about that one!)

The van is amazing.  The travel to get the van was not.

My cousins who gave us the van live outside of Nashville.  We had already planned a trip up there to see them and attend the Empowered to Connect conference.  The details worked out perfectly for us to visit them and bring back the van, but we hated to have to drive home in two cars.

Solution = Megabus.

The Megabus is amazing really.  It goes to many cities and is ridiculously cheap.  Chad and I both got from New Orleans to Nashville for $30.  Not $30 each.  $30 total.  You can't get down the road without using that much in gas these days!

Megabus seemed like the perfect solution.  We ride a bus together there and drive our van home together.  Sounds all rosy and snuggly, right?  Wrong.

Our bus ride from New Orleans to Atlanta was from 9:30 pm to 7:30 am.  I obviously knew this, but talked myself into the fact that it would be an "adventure" for us, great bonding time, blah blah blah.

The bus was full.  The wifi wasn't working so we couldn't watch movies like we'd planned.  And for the love of all that is good, I just can't sleep in anything but a bed.  That little 2 inch reclining does nothing for me.  I had ear plugs, an eye mask, a pillow, and my Louisiana Tech blanket that I never leave home without.  And I still barely got 2 hours of sleep on that never ending ride.

Not to mention that every time I would start to doze off, I would jump up in a panic when I heard the bus make a noise because I was just sure that our driver would be dozing off too. (I had to sit up half the night keeping a bus driver awake on a college trip to Glorieta and I've evidently been scarred for life.)

Chad did a little better and got maybe 4 hours of sleep, but you wouldn't have known it.  When we got to Atlanta, Chad woke up quite delirious and kept talking about how he couldn't see right.  I'm like "Yea, yea.  Just keep moving and get me off this bus."  We waited for them to unload the luggage and as Chad grabs our suitcase he swung it around and literally knocked over 4 other suitcases and almost sideswiped an innocent bystander.  I'm picking up suitcases and looking at Chad like everyone else . . . "Are you crazy?"

We walk down the road a bit before Chad realizes that he's left his phone on the bus.  Thankfully it hadn't left yet, but as he runs back up to me, I'm like, "Chad you better snap out of it and get yourself together.  We are in the middle of an overpass in downtown Atlanta and I need you to be able to think!"  If that hadn't worked, there is a good chance he would've gotten a slap in the face. :)

Middle of an overpass?  Yeah, that's another fun part of this adventure.  Megabus is so cheap because they have no bus stations.  You literally get dropped off on the side of the road.  No address, just an intersection. And in downtown Atlanta, it just so happens to be in the middle of an interstate overpass.

So there we are . . . exhausted, hungry, in desperate need of coffee, and pulling our luggage behind us as we wander through downtown.  Sensing that we clearly needed help, a security guard kindly guided us to a cafe where we fueled up (and brushed our teeth in the bathroom).  We found a little courtyard to read our Bibles until we had to be back at the overpass to get on our bus to Nashville (I stared at the same words like a zombie and then just gave up).

The Nashville trip wasn't near as bad, but I was D.O.N.E. by the time we got there!  I so wish I was a better traveler, but it just hasn't happened yet.  :)

Even with all the adventure in getting there, our time in Nashville was incredible.  We loved getting to spend time with our family.  And the conference was life changing.  Too much to put into words.

And let me tell you . . . the ride home in our new van was like a ride in luxury compared to what it took to get there!

 Letting Ava and Grayson check out the new ride for the first time!

Testing out the buttons!

My two cuties with SO much room!  Ava asks daily if she can play in the van . . . it's like a playground in there!