The life and times of the Redding family.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Seasons and My Life

At this time, I feel like life is on fast speed. Especially when I am sliding down hill on ice in my Toyota van. The past few weeks have been especially busy.

Isn't life always busy when you have a house full of kids? Yes and no. There are times when life seems oh so calm and the children are playing nicely or doing school work willingly, the house is in order(has this happened in years?), the birds are singing outside on my porch, there is no major friction in my life...............and I know that a storm is probably imminent. Does this happen so I will appreciate the different seasons? Probably, and learn a few things more about the Father.

This winter has been another adventure for a few of us on Redding Mountain. We have had several reallllly cold days. You know the kind of days when it is 2 degrees outside and the water lines are frozen, as are the roads and you have no very good way to go anywhere. This is hard to imagine for those who have never visited Redding Mountain and live in a nice level sub-division or may live in Kansas, Oklahoma or Florida:)

Two weeks ago, I had a very busy day planned with an early appointment. I went outside and noticed some new snow and I knew it was very cold, so I moved cautiously. I had no trouble walking to the car. I got in my car and inched my way forward stopping occasionally without sliding. Then I hit the ice and away I flew down the hill until I hit the tree. To say the least I was shaken. I was very thankful for the tree; the other options were not good. The collision broke the tree. My 13 year old volunteered to show me how he could drive down the hill a little better than I could. The children also assured me dad could have gotten down without wrecking but alas he was in Tennessee. This was very comforting to have so much help. I might add that I did not let the 13 year old with such vast driving experience show me how to drive the rest of the way down.

The children had such high hopes of going to their outings that day...........they willingly shoveled and pushed the car out, cleared the road (the long road-all the way down), etc. It was however, too late for our activities. We did finally get down our hill and were not able to get back in for almost a week for more weather was on its way. We stayed with a friend who happens to manage the older boy's band. They were wonderful to us and the kids had a great time.

Thursday of that week my dear husband who was working in Tennessee called and asked me to take the kids to Gatlinburg, Tennessee to Winterfest, which started the next day. This is a youth conference with 15,000 people. I called and found out they still had tickets for the early sessions. The group is so large they have two sessions - an early one and a late one. I called the motel our friends usually stay at and there was one room available with two queen beds. They said I could keep all 7 of my children with me. They gave me a rollaway bed. It was a nice room with a fireplace and a mini kitchen. They were wonderful at the Midway Motel downtown. The person who booked the room for me was Heather and she was from Webster County, West Virginia which is where Doretta is from (she is the band manager and our dear friend who kept us while we were snowed out from home). I took Heather a Webster County paper. She was thrilled. She also gave us a great discount on our room and had someone light our fire for us. I really loved this room.

The conference was on "The Prize" (heaven). The singing was great. There was a song I just have to find which says let this generation be the one that...........praises God. The conference was great except for James (my 7 year old) 10 minutes disappearance in the crowd (we found him in front of our room wearing a big grin) and the fire in an upstairs room in the conference center which led to us being evacuated from the building. We missed one session because of this. It was resolved and we were able to meet the next morning. The impending threat of snow led to our friends all packing up and leaving at 10 pm to avoid getting snowed in to Gatlinburg. My husband told me to stay put so I did. He knows I am very bad at driving in the snow. We had a beautiful snowfall in Gatlinburg the next morning but the roads were clear. We went to the morning church service and still made it home safely. We arrived home that evening to a snow covered mountain, we had to park at the very bottom and walk up in 3inch snow. The next morning it was 2 degrees and our pipes were frozen for the 5th time in two weeks and by 2 that afternoon it was 50 so our snow melted away. We are now experiencing spring like weather with 24 robins and lots of other birds in the front yard, deer, squirrels, rabbits all coming out for the warm weather.

Seasons............I'm glad for them!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

How much damage did the tree do to the van!? I'm glad you all are OK!

tootlepip said...

Life is such an adventure, isn't it?

MissAngie said...

Hi, Reda! Thanks for the update! I'm so sorry this happened to you, but I'm glad you hit the tree :o) instead of whatever the other options were...I love the fact that you are able to insert humor where most people would shove in anger and depression...I love your attitude!! I'm so blessed to have met your family!

raybanoutlet001 said...

uggs outlet
true religion jeans
bears jerseys
colts jerseys
oklahoma city thunder jerseys
cheap ray bans
nike air max 90
soccer shoes
uggs outlet
san francisco 49ers jerseys