sweet bammy

last week we made the trek to birmingham, al, and back in 3 days. we were actually gone from longview for less than 60 hours. 22-24 of those hours were in the minivan. we took two cars for all 11 of us.
as much as i hate long blog entries... they are kinda' cleansing for me. i could make a couple of analogies and applications there, but i won't. i'll put the pics first

no sense on travelling for 12 hours on i-20 with out stopping at a cracker barrell! here we are in jackson, ms.

aubrey fround this really cool pen. i gave them $5 a piece to spend in the shop. this pen was $2.99... it was really eye catching and sparkly. i really was proud of her pick. she even had that little girl look in her eye... "i've found a treasure, and it's the most beautiful thing i've ever found" look. i look at this picture and just think how beautiful aubrey is... she has that "wide eyed wonder" beautiful look.

so we asked the lady behind the counter to hold the pen until we finished eating. we ate and began to look on how to spend the rest of her $2... and then she found "bob". that's when she made the "i've found the cutest toy in the world and i want to snuggle with it for the rest of my life" look. (dad's of daughters understand exactly what i'm talking about).

so this blue little baloon stuffed with flour was her new "love". i tried to convince her what a great deal the pen was... but no besides "dad, we can't have pens at school". so bob travelled with us the rest of the way, and the treasured pen did not... lolo found lot's of stuff... and ended up picking a "hearing-aid" type of thing to hear accross the room. she said: "that way i'll know what you and mommy are saying"... i said when? "when your telling secrets", i had to laugh. i love that girl so much! ok, both of them!

fun with caleb and becky... "i want to sit by caleb" "no, i got here first"... and so it goes.
rockin' chairs, checkers, family, and... bob.

nasty weather is combated with notebooks, naps, and a few dvd's. we don't let them watch it all the time because it turns them into zombies. plus, they have the right to stare out the window into the endless trees, it helped me to grow up and be a responsible human. it'll help them.
roll tide. truck stop. cheap hat. mullet in the mirror. roll tide!

stop hurting him... he hates it!

grandmommie and lolo at the funeral home. it was a good day.

chrispy, becky, my cousin paul neill with caleb.

my mom wanted to know... "where did you get that sportscoat?" i do have one, in case anyone else was wondering. but it just for emergencies (along with slacks and ties). aubrey and lolo laughed at my "wingtip" shoes and said... "those look like paw paw's". i couldn't agree more... just like my paw paw's (ralls neill).

as we carried granny's casket and sat at the graveside... i couldn't help but wonder "wow, people have been doing this to/for their loved ones for thousands of years... we're just a drop in the bucket... a small piece of the story..."

granny and paw paw's head stone.

my mom and her two brothers (r to l): david, mom, larry.

ya snooze ya looze... this is the documentation of my long hours behind the wheel. and the long hours of sleep put in by others. except for aubrey... she hung with me. actually i wanted to drive. we were all caughing and getting colds in our van... so sleep was needed.

and the comedy relief comes from... again...

whatchu lookin at...?" cindy kept laughing ... like really laughing and amy and i asked what was going on. turns out coopie-doop was making some pretty crazy faces...

cooper was a trooper. for real. he did really good ... we were so blessed on that one! did i mention that we were in the car for 22-24 hrs... of 60 hours?

the sky was beautiful and scary at the same time... these pictures don't do justice to God's creation... and i can't find the words to describe them any better either.

I'm typing this from the back seat of our Grand Caravan. We're returning from my Granny's funeral, her big promotion. I guess I' ve been a little more aware of the "Three Dials" (Three Relational Dials in each of our lives: relationship with God, relationship with our parents, and relationships with those outside our house) in my own life recently. A memory that comes to mind that involves my Granny and Paw Paw is driving accross Argentina to get to the beautiful Andes mountains in the mid 80's. We visited several destinations near the resort of Bariloche. I remember riding in our station wagon (green Ford Falcon), in the very back - this is before the advent of the "third seat". So me and my sisters took turns sitting between my grandparents and laying down in the back (yes, you remember, NO SEATBELTS), playing cards, singing along to "cassettes" of Elvis, and other oldies that my parents liked, and we liked, too. Paw Paw would tell us stories, Granny wanted to hear us sing, we made up songs, and we sweated the whole way with out air conditioning. We got on each others nerves, we pulled up to hotels and motels without reservations or print outs of their ammenities.I remember Paw Paw's big hands coming together to pray for meals. I remember Granny marvelling at the glacier God had created. I remember a lot of time of talking. I remember discovering the world around me. I remember my parents seeming to enjoy our time together. I remember getting to sit up front with Dad from time to time talking about the trip what we did and were going to do.It's now 2008, and we've managed to squeeze a 9 hour trip into 12 hours. Cooper is sleeping. Cindy and Amy (my older sister) are in the front seat listening to the iPod. I'm typing on my laptop, and charging my phone. My daughters are watching videos on our portable DVD player. It's a different world, and I'm more aware than ever of the importance of Cindy's and my task to be parents. The experience of going to the Andes mountains was impactful. But this experience is tied to the relationship with my parents, sisters, grandparents, and the Mitchells (a missionary family that caravaned with us). I don't remember one single "God-Talk" I had with Paw Paw on that trip, but I remember a Godly example. I remember a Godly man, who loved God and treated the people around him with love and respect. My parents made a point to travel with people who would be Godly influences in our lives. We had other great trips with my family, and they all have those characteristics: Godly parents, Godly friends, Godly perspective that I was exposed to. The experiences were tied to those relationships. The experiences were the secondary attraction, the relationships are what made those trips in my childhood so special.

Side bars: 1) On our way to Birmingham on Tuesday, we left town at 8 a.m. after we passed through Bossier City, Aubrey asked the eternal question: "Are we almost there Daddy?" "Err, uh... no baby, pull out one of your books... we've got a long ways to go..." (10 and 1/2 more hours it turns out!)

2) As we left the Beautiful state of Alabama on Wednesday, I told the girls to pause the movie and we had a mandatory singing of "Sweet Home Alabama" with Lynyd on the iPod. One chorus into it my girls wanted to know if I would turn it off so they could get back to "Stuart Little 3"... Wow, I have a long way to go as a parent. But I'm not giving up...

3) As we're walking to the graveside, Aubrey tells my dad, "grandaddy, people only have two really sad days in our lives"... after a dramatic pause, she finishes her statement..." day when our dad dies and the day when our mommy dies".

4) Aubrey and LoLo also said to me: Daddy, when you get to heaven, if you haven't been good, God pushes you down to hell. Wow... i didn't rush to correct any theological errors there... but we're definitely working on that one, i don't want to get "pushed down to hell" do you?