Abby has now joined the ranks of the bold and the daring. Yesterday, without any prompting, she asked to go on the Dragon Rollercoaster at Pixie Playland. Prior to this event, Abby had 1 other confrontation with the Dragon - that was during a trip to PP w/ Grandaddy & Mom. She took one look at that thing and make a quick decision to move on to the teacups (I think Grandaddy let out a sigh of relief at that moment since I was going to make HIM go on it with her!).

Not only did our precious child go on it once, but she asked to go on it twice! She had 3 tickets left - so that meant 3 rides by herself, or, 1 ride by herself and 1 more ride on the rollercoaster with Dad (Dad needed a ticket too!). She chose to ride the dragon again! Now mind you, this is not like riding the Matterhorn or anything - it's a rather tame coaster. However, Dad - who has ridden with the best of 'em, came off the ride a little shaken. Of course, he's also no longer 14 years old.

I, Mom, had the privilege of watching my only child and my dear husband board the monster - Mike looking a little like he was reliving something of his youth and Abby not really looking like she knew what she was getting herself into. Now, I had to trust that the good folk at Pixie Playland knew what the heck they were doing when they posted the signs about how tall you have to be to ride....and, our little munchkin passed with a few inches in her pocket. I watched them pull down the safety bar, which looked more like a decorative accessory then something that would keep my child from flying out of her seat.....I felt like tapping the 17 year old kid running the show there and asking him if those bars were in the right position, etc. But, I took comfort in knowing that Abby was nestled securely in her Daddy's arms.

Off went the dragon....3 times around the track it went. I watched Abby experience for the first time the thrill of a roller coaster. Man, I wish I had a camera or video to show you....I can only convey in words. The expressions were priceless.... Not having the life experience that we do, Abby was probably not playing in her mind the dangerous malfunctions that could occur. She was completely oblivious to fear at that moment - just feeling the joy of the ride . That precious smile of hers conveyed to me that she felt completely secure. If you ask me, I attribute it to the feeling of Dad's arms around her.

As I like to do, I must draw a spiritual parallel - the picture that I saw while watching two of my favorite people being whisked around a pair of metal tracks was this. As I'm experiencing my life - the roller coaster that it is - that during each twist and turn the strong arms of my Heavenly Father are wrapped tight around me. To provide safety in times of fear, to provide comfort in times of need, to provide love and truth in times of doubt. I pictured myself on the dragon for a brief moment and could almost hear my Saviour next to me whispering, "no need to fear, my child....I am here".

Enjoying the ride,
momma k

OK, for those of you who have been following along at home, it's obviously been awhile since our last post.  But we can assure you that much has happened since then. 

First, a brief recap.  Phase 1 of the 2300 Miles To Go story was our trip to Tennessee in early June.  Y'all (dig the Southern twang?) know about that trip if you've been paying any kind of attention to this blog.  Read it all again if you need a refresher course...

Phase 2 commenced at the beginning of July when we started working on getting our house in Concord ready to sell.  When we first met with our realtor in early June, he told us, "You have alot of work to do to be ready by early August, but it can be done."  Boy, was he ever right!   For starters, the front yard was in dire straights and not in a "money for nothing" sort of way.  The backyard wasn't so bad, but still needed a few things done here and there.  Inside - well, to start with, packing and paring down became a way of life for us in July as we had to figure out what to throw in boxes and what to throw in the dumpster.  Cleaning, painting, spackling wall cracks were some other "fun" things we did to get the house ready.  Nothing really out of the ordinary or extremely difficult except that we were attempting to do all of this in a span of 4 weeks! 

But by the grace of God - and only by His grace - we were able to do it!  As much time we spent doing all of the work, we spent just as much time praying through it the entire time.  We've seen God's faithfulness in all of this, providing what we needed when we needed it, most often in the form of assistance from others.  First, it was Uncle Steve helping to haul out two truckloads of bark from the backyard, then helping to put in a truckload of new bark.  Next came Wendy, who helped us paint the living room, hallway, and spare bedroom...doing the tough work of "cutting in".  Cassie did a superb job sanding down rough spots on our kitchen wall.   Mookie helped to paint the fence on the sideyard, which had been needing that for about 5 years!  Bob did an excellent job spackling some very noticeable cracks in the family room - now with some new paint, one can hardly tell that there were cracks there at all!  Eva kept the house smelling fresh and clean and even managed to touch-up many of the doors and jambs.  Mike M re-wired some of the electrical outlets in the garage.  And, of course, the master house stager - Mimi - who gave us sound advice through this all and in staging our home has really managed to bring out the best in our humble abode.  We know that we couldn't have made it this far without so much help.

Did I mention the front-yard landscaping?  We actually had to hire a landscaper to tackle this problem because, to be quite honest, it had gotten out of control - it was literally atrocious! Had we tried to take that project on ourselves...well, let's just say I wouldn't be sitting here typing this right now.  We're really happy with the landscaping work that was done:  new grass, potted plants around the cedar tree, and a great sprinkler system that features a drip system for the new plants and planter boxes.  It was quite a transformation.

The "For Sale" sign went up on August 6th, only three days later than what we had been shooting for.  This has been quite a journey so far...fun, exciting, at times frustrating, but through all of it, we've felt a peace that can't be described.  Truly amazing.

And now on to Phase 3:  selling!  Stay tuned!