The Seven of Us

We celebrated Corbs' second birthday on NOv. 7. All of us: Taylor, 13;Kenna, 9 1/2; Caleb, 11; Havilah, Isaac, 6; Jared, Corbin, 2 With cousins Madi and Ali Bradshaw on Thanksgiving Day.

There may be 14 days until Christmas, but there are 8 days until we leave for Washington. Two of those days are Sundays; so 6 preparation days. What?! What happened to "a week and a half or so"? Six is just not enough! What will we do? Run. All day, every day until we leave. We will go home teaching, visiting teaching, dental appointment-ing, bedtime story-ing, school party-ing, baking, budgeting, bill paying, sleeping, listing, buying, packing, and loading. What we will do en route? We will read, sleep (not nearly enough), squabble, debate (too much), check the atlas, check license plates, check road conditions, check what's for lunch and what's on the radio, read The Undaunted (until mom's poor imitation of an Irish brogue bothers someone too much), and endure through 2 mountain ranges, 6 states, and 2 days of togetherness. Oh, yeah, we'll love one another, too...enough to do it again sometime. What will I do between reading, enduring, and loving? We...