I must have had too much water at Casa de Suenos because I was up at 12:30 am to go to the bathroom. When I exited the bathroom, there was the youngest walking back from the kitchen. I followed him to our room where he was sleeping in the twin bed. “He attacked our bed”, she told me because she’d woken her up, “I think he’s sleepwalking.” This was a first for him. We’ve never known him to sleep walk, but apparently he did. He had no memory of all this when he woke up the next morning.
The next morning it was also raining as we packed up the van. I really wish we could have spent some time relaxing but I had to preach the next morning so we needed to be home late afternoon/early evening. I was not looking forward to another day of “How much longer?” and “Are we even close yet?”. Yeah, these were long rides only made longer by the numerous questions being asked.
But first we had a breakfast prepared by the Baileys. It was good to not have restaurant food. Blueberry pancakes, sausage, and some Florida’s Natural OJ. The latter has a special place in our hearts since we used to live near the processing plant. I wish we could have stayed longer talking. It has been a difficult year of ministry. Little did I know what awaited me when we got home (maybe some other time). But we did take time for a tour of the very interesting building. It has been built in stages with no coherent plan. So it has plenty of character.
As we were getting ready to go Jim let me know about the waterfall down the road. So … this necessitated a detour. Then it was time to head back down the mountain.
When we were more ignorant of New Mexican geography, I thought we could hit Carlsbad Canyon on the way home. That, however, would have been a 4 hour round trip and time at the canyon which would make for a very late night. Maybe some other trip.
On the way down we saw another deer along the side of the road. As we pulled up, he stayed put which allowed the eldest to take some pictures of him/her. The occasional rain made us wonder if we’d be able to enjoy White Sands National Monument. Friends from FL has enjoyed it before visiting us and we had the saucers they used to sled down the dunes. This just sounded quite cool. As we went down the mountain we could see the whiteness of the dunes in the distance. Quite beautiful.
The price to get in was $5/adult, but since we had a fourth grader, we got in free. That was two national parks in two days for free thanks to the fourth grader. We stopped at the broad walk to get a grasp of all this. I wasn’t sure what to expect. They are like sand dunes at many beaches with brush, flowers and critters. Some were barren, like an albino version of the Sahara. When we drove further down we got out where some others were sledding. On top of a dune you could see just how disorienting it all can be with all that white. It would be easy to lose track of where you were and where the vehicle was. We warned the kids about this and to stick together.
Our first attempt was pretty much a disaster. I thought it was steep enough, and was wrong. It was like trying to sled in deep, fluffy snow. Was this going to be a major disaster? We moved to another dune that looked better and it was better. A little. A bit further up the dune it was better. One of the kids tried snowboarding and that went well. We were just about ready to give up, a bit disappointed when I saw it. a blue cube of wax. I waxed the bottom of the saucers and things went much better. All in all it was two thumbs up from the little people. Some pretty good memories, me thinks.
Back at the entrance we made a pit stop and polished off the last of the pizza. And we were off!
Our time in Las Cruces was interesting. We passed the intersection for I-25 and I wondered why. It may have brought us out a bit farther east on I-10, but it was all highway. We are about to enter a 35 mph zone with lots of lights. So we asked Siri who proceeded to take us around the block and put us back in the same direction. Exasperated, I just went with the flow cursing Siri under my breath. Eventually we were on I-10, westbound and down. On this trip it was The Force Awakens and another round of The Lego Batman Movie. There was a dialog between A. and the eldest about Siri’s time estimates. We made good time. Somehow we made it from White Sands all the way home in NW Tucson without making a stop for food or “rest”. Doing that with 4 kids is astounding although we thought one of them needed a potty break based on the stench wafting thru the van periodically. But home we were and all the pent up emotion emerged in a series of irrational tantrums. But we had a mostly good trek through New Mexico. The Hodyssey served us well. Now it was in serious need of a bath. And detailing. Yes, detailing (lots of gypsum from White Sands).
I had a restless night thanks to green and red chile peppers, lots of water due to the really dry air, and a nose full of dried blood and snot also due to the lack of humidity in the high desert.
At this point the plan was to head to Cloudhaven, a study/retreat center near Cloudcroft, NM, way up in the mountains. Since it was about noon, it made sense to have lunch before we left. Back to Dion’s so they could enjoy the pizza. We ordered a large for the kids and a medium for us parental types. They proved to be large enough to have leftovers. Then we were off, heading farther east.
Right next to this trading post was the entrance to the Three Rivers Petroglyph site. So off we went down the alleged 3 mile road to the site. It was actually 4.7 miles, but since when has our government been able to do math. The volunteer in the office was quite excited to see real live human beings and gave us far too much information leaving us too little time to actually walk along the ridge to see the petroglyphs. They are done on volcanic rock, and there were 3 dormant volcanoes at this particular location.
Boy, was it crammed in there! Hard to move around and get food. Don’t get between this man and his waffles! My inner Homer Simpson comes out- “Mmmmm, waffle overflow.” I should have made myself a “breakfast sandwich” with the bacon, cheese & English muffin (no tortillas for a wrap/breakfast burrito?). It was a good breakfast for the 5 of us. Oh, the oldest was still asleep and still cranky for introvert overload the previous day. As A. would say, “Seriously?”
Meanwhile … I got a text about how the oldest didn’t want to go to the petroglyph site on the west side of town. She’s so grumpy, she says, that she might hit an annoying sibling. This is starting well.
Keep in mind, these were necessary “pre-op” appointments to take place within three days of the surgery. I’m thinking blood work and stuff like that. They weighed him, measured his height, took his blood pressure, a nasal swab, and an oral history. The first two were done on Monday. The last was all in his file which they should have had. No off book surgeries in Mexico. So they made Amie and Eli travel early and spend an extra day so they could take his blood pressure and a nasal swab. Yeah. But at least they got to celebrate Dr. Thomas’ birthday with her and her family. They enjoyed some good Indian food, reminding them of the times Reena would cook for community group.
After giving them lunch, I watched the Patriots beat the Broncos (yes!!). Then we all watched Chicken Run since Micah wanted to watch it. Asher loves that movie, laughing all the way through even if he doesn’t catch all “The Great Escape” allusions. Then it was time to work on dinner. I forgot to thaw chicken which I intended to cover with Bisquick and creole seasoning. So I used the last of the Tyson breaded chicken which was just enough, barely, for the 4 of us. I made some cheesy risotto and was sauteing spinach. At the critical moment, Amie called.
When he’s had surgery at Shriners’, they give me a pager. I can walk around to get exercise, pray, read and go get something to eat. At this hospital, Amie was trapped in the family waiting room. They didn’t let her go get food. I told her, “Ask if they’ll give you free migraine medication since they won’t let you go eat.” They had her cell number in case of emergency, but they wouldn’t let her leave.
Eli seemed to be well enough, so Reena, aka Dr. Thomas, arrived to get them to the airport so they could wait. LAX was horribly behind. 40% of the flights were late, and 40% were extremely late. On time was no longer a possibility, so which would it be- late or extremely late.
With no bags to check we went straight to the security line. While we waited, the TSA guy chatted me up about the Red Sox and D’Backs since I was wearing my long sleeved Red Sox jersey. And so we soon sat waiting for the flight to board. I started Faithful Presence by David Fitch in preparation for my upcoming series on 1 Peter. I would read it throughout the day. I decided not to read any of the other two work books I brought. Eli was anxious; rocking, roaming, eating an apple and going to wash his hands (after I suggested the common sense idea).
Finally it was 8:30 and the cafeteria was to open. Breakfast! I made sure I had cash (a rarity) since that is all they took. And we waited. They were a bit slow getting going. He picked scrambled eggs and bacon with juice while I had a breakfast of champions: bacon, hash browns and a Vanilla Coke. Sweet nutrition.
Being at the end of the “B” group we were way in the back in the only 2 seats we could find together. He was happy to be able to use the tablet again. Tired of Faithful Presence and it’s overuse of the word “space”, I read some of War Room by Michael Holley about the Patriots and team-building. Our whirlwind trip to LA was nearly over.
The show shifts back and forth between two time frames; childhood and the present for three siblings. One of those siblings was adopted, a black boy in a white home before it was common. One of his struggles was the longing to know his biological parents. He didn’t love his adoptive parents less but he wanted to understand who he was. Understandable.
It gets back to this: I often feel like a wholly inadequate father. It is like they want what I don’t have, and don’t want what I do. For instance, I want to share sports with them. They really aren’t interested in watching a game with me (they are missing the beauty of Dustin Pedroia play defense, or Tom Brady leading the offense). One those rare occasions when they want to toss the ball around, it is so hot outside I struggle.
But when he’s bored and unattended he tends to chew and or destroy things. Lulu loved stuffed animals and flip-flops. He tore up one of the girl’s sneakers. He ate one of our remote controls rendering it useless and us unable to watch Dish downstairs until the replacement arrives. He tore Lulu’s pretty pink bowl apart. He tore straps off Amie’s old foot brace. We rescued my reading glasses from him. He chewed on the hose nozzle in the back yard.
So we drove home. The kids were disappointed. I was too. I was also frustrated by the traffic. She was trying to assure the boy that Kado was not the dog for us.
The eldest wanted her own dog, one who would love her above all of the rest of us, especially me. I am Lulu’s alpha dog. She is most likely to listen to me, and to come to me. The eldest wants this love. The hamsters, due to their personal limitations cannot show this love.
Cavs Adopt Blog 