It's a sign...

We intended to pull out of our driveway no later than 6 am for our trip to the AWAA National Reunion, so to say that there was some grump going on in our car when we finally left at 9:15 would be an understatement...and we ain't talkin' cards. The weather matched my mood, the DC outskirts seemed nonexistent, I wasn't crazy about leaving my oldest two at home, I was exhausted and I was none too pleased with the notion of missing Friday night fun with our China family.

And, seriously, what is it with my family this year? Virtually every time we hit the road, it eventually becomes a stinkin' monsoon. I am SO over rain. We did actually have some dry drive time for the first few hours. But, man, it was gloomy. The kids...minus the older two who stayed home for marching band competition and a coinciding bout with the flu...must have sensed our need to make up some time. We didn't hear much out of them and managed to drive five hours without stopping. Once into West Virginia, we stopped for gas, a potty break, a late lunch and very necessary cups of hot chocolate. It was bone chillingly cold.

Turns out, it's actually not that far...

Okay, you Point of Grace fans...get it??

As we skirted through West Virginia and headed into Maryland, paying homage to Yogi (click here to read a big brown bear tale), the weather turned ugly...first rain, then fog. Good. grief.

Have to admit...the leaves caught my attention and lifted my gloomy mood a bit...

And then we came upon this...

We rolled into our hotel parking lot in enough time to catch up with our friends at the local Chik-fil-A...the kids skipped dinner and went straight to the play area. We did feed them later, by the way. I'm holding out on the cute kid pictures in this post, so you'll have to deal. And I mean that in a loving way, really.

Forever embedded in my memory...

We woke up the next morning to none other than a steady rain and you-gotta-be-kidding me cold. The wedding and reunion were originally scheduled to take place in a beautiful park setting. I feel for the AWAA staff with all the last-minute changes and notifications they must have had to deal with. The wedding was, thankfully, moved to a church. After the wedding, we loaded up to head to the picnic. Just as we were leaving, we realized that one of our China families was in a bit of a crisis...one little one had inadvertently locked another little one in the car. While calls were being made, Caroline and I made funny faces in the car window to help alleviate some of the scariness. Which resulted in drowned rat syndrome...I apologize for those who witnessed the debacle that was my hair that day.

So yesterday...

Heading to the wedding...

We made a wrong turn...in spite of the fact that we had written directions and a GPS...and ended up at the wrong entrance of the park. For some reason, this sign struck me as hilarious and made me think, once again, of Yogi. West Virginia could take some serious lessons from Maryland on signage.

Taking in some local sights...

Seriously, Mr. Obama...

Don't mess with me and my sugar...

I'm not going to take taxing my soda lightly.

The picnic was a frigid venture. Don't get me wrong. We wouldn't have missed it for the world. But, oh dear goodness, it was cold. And I don't do cold well for very long. The food was delicious, but chewing was optional and rather unnecessary , our teeth were chattering so hard. We scrapped the afternoon's sightseeing plans and holed up in the hotel the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Our caravan heads into our nation's capital...

Sunday morning dawned with....well, pretty much a Groundhog's Day version of Saturday. We had pared down from six families to three, and we were determined to see some sights and, to be honest, delay our goodbyes a while longer. Off we went, into the cold, rainy day. Ian, our fearless DC tour guide, led us skillfully to a parking garage just east (??) of the National Archives. This was one hot spot we ended up skipping last summer because of the long lines, much to our older daughter Abby's dismay. She really wanted to see the Declaration of Independence. We canned our guilt and went in anyway. Our next stop was the Museum of American History, and, by the time, we hit the streets for lunch, we realized that the rain had stopped and it seemed a bit warmer out.

Just one of many parking sign photos

my husband had me take...

The consultant's job is never done, I guess...

Eventually, it just starts being funny...

After lunch, we parted ways and embarked on our respective routes toward home. We actually made a little detour to yet another museum and ended up nearly running out of gas. I am not exaggerating when I say that we were sweating it out, trying to find a gas station in a less than desirable neighborhood. The first three stations our GPS led us to were closed down. As we coasted into our fourth shot at it, we almost died laughing when the only available pump's display was hanging in disrepair and then, as Jon bolted for the restroom, he found an Out of Order sign on the door. It's pathetic, I know, but I'm really bummed I didn't get a picture of either one.

Hey, we own stock...or at least a chunk of the road...

Three hours later we were back in West Virginia, and the next day we woke to a beautiful, sunny day for our home stretch. Yes, that's right. A beautiful fall day for picnics, park discovery and sightseeing, and we spent it in the car, on our way home.

Back home again...

So there you have it. In hindsight, it seems that plenty (some of which I didn't even mention in this post) was thrown at us in an attempt to either cancel or spoil our fun, and, most importantly, our fellowship. If we had paid attention only to the signs, literal or figurative, in front of us, we might have missed out on what turned out to be a fabulous weekend, even though it wasn't the perfect fall retreat we anticipated. What mattered in the end was that we spent precious time with precious friends we consider family. The conversations alone were confirmation that this time was divinely orchestrated. Top that off with the shrieks of delight and endless smiles from our sweet children, even the big ones, and the only thing that would have made it more perfect was to have our other five families with us. Maybe sometimes we are too focused on what's right in front of us, and, just maybe, it keeps us from seeing the big picture.

Reminds me of my favorite verse in Hebrews. "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we cannot see." Now that's a sign I'll pay attention to...

And this is a sure sign that our trip was worth every mile!


Thanks for playing along with my sign game...

I promise I will post cute pictures of cute little faces next!