The first 90 miles of our 3,700 mile trip across the country and back

Ok, so I thought that I would blog about our trip to and from Omaha, NE, before now, but my anxiety is a bit too high as we wait to here if I got into the pharmacy program or not. So as we continue to wait, I thought that that I would tell about our first 90 miles. Before I do, however, I need to set up the day. Our day started like a normal day: Allison and I got up around 6:45 and starting getting ready, kids up by 7:00, breakfast, kids to school, Allison to work, me to school, pick up Emma, lunch, Emma to the babysitter, me to work, Allison and the girls getting ready for our trip, girls to bed, and then I get home around 10:00. We finished packing the car, got the girls up from bed, and started driving east around 10:45.

The girls are sleeping before we hit the freeway, and Allison's sleeping before we get out of the county. But, I am driving, so I must stay awake. About 85 miles later, I start yawning. I think yawning is an understatement. My yawn is so violent that the car starts swerving, and I cross over to the lane next to me. About 5 miles later, several more yawns, and more unauthorized lane changes, the inside of our car lit up like a blue and red Christmas light show. I pull over, wait for the police office, and wake up Allison. The police office walks up to the driver's side window and asks if I've been drinking. I start to explain that we're driving to Omaha and wanted to start our trip while the kids were sleeping. Allison (still trying to wake up) starts talking, well, not so much talking as sounding really, really drunk. The police office looks in the car and sees the girls waking up in the back seat (Allison still rambling quietly in her seat), and the officer looks me in the eye and says, "I only have one thing to say to you - Montana is BIG!" Then he said (and no I didn't point out he already said one thing), "Now that I've pulled you over, you're totally awake now, aren't you?"

I said yes and thank you as he turned and walked back to his police cruiser, and as I pulled away, both the girls started asking me why I needed the police officer to help me stay awake and keep me in my lane. Soon, Allison and Emma were sleeping, but Madison stayed awake to talk. She fought sleep for about another 90 minutes getting us to the mountain pass around midnight. With all the crazy weather (snow, rain, hail, high winds, dust storms, etc.) we experienced and the 150 miles of Wall Drug signs, being pulled over by the police officer in the first hour and a half of our more than 55 hour adventure was one of the highlights. I thank God that the girls had lots of fun and had great attitudes throughout the the whole trip.

Gregg

2,700 miles down, 900 to go

So it's 3:00 a.m. Mountain Time (2:00 back home), and we're leaving in 90 minutes to travel the final 900 miles (or about 13 hours of driving time) of our little family trip to and from Omaha, NE. I (Gregg) had an interview on Friday with Creighton University's School of Pharmacy, and I am super excited about their program and approach to health care as a future pharmacist. I won't find out, however, if I got into their program or not for another three weeks, so the following 21 days are going to be absolutely torturous!

During our 50+ hours of driving so far, I have discovered how absolutely amazingly beautiful our country is, and of course, how to drive 90+ mph for the entire states of Wyoming and South Dakota. We also made a point to stop at Mt. Rushmore mainly because I have never been and wanted to go so badly, but we also wanted the kids to experience the absolute awesomeness (yes, that is a word) of the mountain. They loved the presidents' faces carved into the mountain, but they were more interested in the gift shop wondering how to spend the money they have saved. We took lots of pictures while we were there and throughout our entire trip, and they will be uploaded soon after we return home. But, since I am unable to post any pictures now or better organize my thoughts, I will wait until we return home, unpack, get caught back up with work, school, and life in general to post anything more about our trip. It has been amazing so far, and the girls have been even better than I could have possibly dreamed.

Until next time, pray for our safe return and my acceptance into Creighton's pharmacy distant pathway program (that means we get to stay home while I attend school online).

God Bless,

Gregg

Baptism

Well, it has been a long time since anything has been posted on this blog, so I thought that I would give it a whirl. I am Gregg, Allison's husband, and I wanted to tell everybody about the experience I had about a month ago at a Saturday church service. I have been a Christian almost my entire life when I accepted Christ into my heart at the age of seven, and I remember it fondly. I had questions about a Sunday school lesson that the teachers didn't answer, so I was sitting outside the classroom when a man in our church sat next to me. Funny thing is, his name was Greg too (but he spelled it weird), so Greg listened to my questions, answered them, and then prayed with me right then and there.

Like many churches, however, I was not able to be baptized at that time because I was too young. I grew up as a Christian and only had a couple of other opportunities to be baptized, but I didn't feel like it was the correct time for me. Knowing that I wasn't baptized starting weighing on my spirit, and as we started attending Christ the King church the opportunity to be baptized presented itself during a service where the older kids were brought into the sanctuary to watch the baptism. I told Allison that I wanted to be baptized at the next opportunity, and my oldest daughter Madison (8) told us after the service that she wanted to be baptized too. How amazing it is that we decided to be baptized at the same time!

So, one Saturday evening in February 2010, my family (Allison, Madison, and Emma), my dad and step-mom (Dennis and Sayra), my in-laws (John, Pam, and my nephew Jayden), and even some cousins (Adrain, Sasha, JJ, and Ava (who was also going to be baptized)) sat in the front left corner of the sanctuary during the service. When Pastor Grant was done with his sermon, he dismissed all the people being baptized to the back stage area (yeah, there were more than just Madison and me) where we all took off our shoes and any extra clothing we didn't want to get wet. Any children that were getting baptized were supposed to be in the front of the line, but somehow, Madison and I were delayed and as the line was being let out on stage, we had to run to the front of the line. Well, we were second in line, and Ava and Adrain were first in line. As we stood on stage, Pastor Grant talked with the church about the importance of baptism and what it means to a Christian, and then he prayed for us all. When the prayer was finished, Ava and Adrain led the line to the pool on the far right of the stage - our right - but it was the front left corner of the sanctuary where all of our family members were sitting. I remember standing at the edge of the pool holding Madison's hand watching Adrain help baptized his daughter (Ava) and think what an amazing opportunity to not only experience the baptism process with our children but to assist with the procedure. When Ava was baptized, the whole church erupted in cheers and roared with excitement, and the look on Ava's face and Adrain's smile was breathtaking.

Then it was my turn, and my emotions fluctuated from excitement and pure happiness for Ava to a complete void. I remember standing there telling somebody I was being baptized first and then Madison after me, and I felt completely mechanical walking down the steps of the pool. All of my shorts had big holes in them so I wore pants to be more appropriate while my picture was being displayed on the two big screens in the sanctuary. When I tried to walk through the water, however, my pants were dragging me down, and it took so much effort to walk through that pool wearing pants. So a piece of advice, splurge! Buy yourself a new pair of shorts when you get baptized so you don't have to wear pants into the pool. Anyway, I finally made it to the other side of the pool, and all of the emotions that left me feeling void came rushing back to me. Images of when I became a Christian, my wedding day, watching my kids birth (that's a whole other story I'm sure you've all heard), and sitting bedside in the hospital, watching Madison slowly die, praying for a miracle all flooded my mind's eye. I remember that I started crying as they lowered me into the pool, so I don't think anybody noticed. When I was pulled out of the water, I just remember absolute silence. The void I felt before was replaced with the total opposite. I was so full of emotion, I was numb. I'm sure there were cheers, but everything was quiet. And then, Madison was in the pool, and I was standing next to her as words and prayers were said for her. Then I helped lower her into the pool and pull her out again, and the cheers were so loud it hurt my ears. The lights were so bright it hurt my eyes. I just thought what a miracle this girl is and what a special and amazing individual she's becoming and will become. Born at just 1 pound 6 ounces, we experienced most every emotion with her throughout her entire life. Watching special, modified defebrillator paddles get wheeled in to restart her heart, watching her right lung inflate so much that it crushed her heart and other organs to almost non-use, to taking her home and stopping in Everett so my sister Kristina and her family (Gregg (yes, another one), Mackenzie, and Caitlin) could look through the car windows and see her for the first time at 5 months old. Watching Madison walk up those steps and out of the pool, I thanked God for blessing me with her life when it should have been taken away. I just can't wait till her wedding day when I stand there blubbering like an idiot crying my eyes out stammering, "What's my line again?"

Well, this ends my little tale of my baptism and turns out to be much longer than anticipated, and I didn't think I would get so emotional. So, I hope you all enjoyed it and that it makes sense because I couldn't read the screen through all the tears.

God Bless

Gregg