Last Day Here

Today is our last day here in SB. This afternoon dh will come home early from work and start packing up the van. Our plan is to leave "dark & early" (as ds calls it) tomorrow morning as it is a 12-hour drive. Five people, one dog, one hamster, a bunch of school books, a load of scrapbooking supplies (including quite a few completed pages!), four pairs of ice skates, two guitars, one amp, and several Ziploc XL bags full of clothes) -- all in one Ford Windstar. (Please pray for our safety!)

We have some new books-on-tape to listen to while driving: The Hobbit, Jazz: A History of America's Music, a Raold Dahl collection, and a few abridged stories with accompanying books (Heidi and Oliver Twist) for younger dd.

All in all it's been a good time here. Long enough but not too long. Different enough but not too different. Challenging in a good way.

I'm grateful for the experiences and opportunities that come our family's way. And glad to go home where the beds are familiar.

Just hoping the deer have left me a little something to enjoy.

Because it's always nice to have something pretty to look at, I'll add a few photos I took recently inside the Basilica here.

(I think it's breath- takingly beautiful inside, not sure if the pictures will adequately co- mmunicate that. Plus I think you really need to have the full sensory experience which includes the smells of incense and sounds of the choir to appreciate it fully.)

Anyway, you can read more about the history of the Basilica Church here. I need to go walk/run on the treadmill and get my day started. See you in NC!