Early Christmas

We are leaving tomorrow night after Shawn gets off of work (around 11pm) and driving all night to Ohio to have an early Christmas with his family. I am really looking forward to getting away for a little while, but I'm even more excited for Shawn b/c this is like the first time since July that he has had two or more days off in a row. He really needs this vacation! The part that I'm not looking forward to is getting all of our stuff packed...that is always such a task - and I always feel like I'm leaving something really important behind. Please pray for us as we are traveling, that I'm able to get some rest before we leave and that Ayden will travel well during the night and it won't mess up his schedule too too much.

I do have another prayer request...Judy Rivera's (Armando and Judy lived in Manchester, NH when we were there and are like another set of parents to Shawn and I) mother passed away on Sunday. To set this up, Judy lived in Manchester her whole life and her family was always around. When her mother (Yvonne) couldn't live alone anymore, they sold their house (only one street over) and moved back into the house that she grew up in - that her father (who had already passed away) had built. Well they moved to AR the day after we moved to NJ. They obviously had to sell her mother's house in order to move. That was extremely hard for her to say goodbye to it. Then there was saying goodbye to her whole family, including her mother who was in a nursing home. It about killed Judy to have to leave her, but she knew it was what she had to do. Well since April they have been back three times to NH for various reasons. They were not able to get there in time to say one last goodbye - and I am a little worried about Judy for that. The viewing is tomorrow night (Wed.) and the funeral is Thursday and I just am asking for prayers for them as this is such a difficult time. I wish so much that we could be there as they were there for us through some difficult times. But, timing stinks sometimes and there's nothing I can do about it. But I know that praying and asking others to be praying for them is the best thing I can do! We love you, Rivera's!
Well I guess that's all she wrote today - I have a lot of packing and Christmas present making to do. If I have a chance I will try and post something while we are in Ohio and then post pics when we get back.
Have a wonderful day! LOVE!