GPTS

Last week, we went to GPTS (Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary--now you know why I used the acronym!) in Greenville, SC. They had their annual conference for pastors and elders and whomever else wants to attend. The first one we attended was four years ago on worship. We enjoyed the teaching and have been back each year...sometimes with the kids, sometimes without them. This year Nathan went with Bill and I, and the rest of the children stayed with family or friends.

It gets a little complicated trying to get a family of ten ready for a trip. We need to divide up suitcases and pack for eight children. In fact, this year we had to go and purchase new suitcases because we didn't have enough; some of them had broken last year. Then there are the medical permission forms and the agenda and list of everyone's locations to do. Planning who will take care of the gerbils and take in our mail. Thankfully, we don't have a dog or cat to worry about---at least not yet! (More about that later.) There are maps to print out, lists of things to take, cleaning the clothes before we can pack them, and more I'm sure I have forgotten. We need a vacation after getting ready for the vacation! :o)

Finally all is ready and the big day comes. We said our goodbyes to Rachel, Katelyn, Renee and Rebekah at church. One family was hosting Rachel and the other one had the remaining three girls. We went home for a quick lunch and to finish packing and then we started the trip south to NC where we would drop off the three younger boys. Bill's sister and husband graciously agreed to host them. The boys were excited to be going there because Aunt Dena and Uncle Tom live in a large house on several acres of land and had promised there would be camping, shooting and canoeing involved!

It was a scary start to the trip when we couldn't find the adapter that plugs into the car lighter that we use for the laptops. I was planning to use the laptop during the seven hour trip down to catch up on imputing the financial records into Quicken that I have been neglecting the last month. Then we found the adapter, but found it was broken! Thankfully, Bill and Nathan were able to get it working and I was able to use the laptop. A near tragedy avoided!! LOL Am I technically addicted or what?!

Listening to some sermons on the way down, our trip was smooth and uneventful. We had one slight detour after supper when half an hour down the road again, Caleb realized he had left his retainer at the restaurant. When Bill is on a trip to go somewhere, he is determined to get there as fast as possible and rarely stops for more than a quick pit stop or meal, but when he found out how much the retainer cost, he made the u-turn and went back for it.

We stayed the night at Tom and Dena's and then went on to Mauldin, SC where our pastor friend who was hosting the rest of us lives. Of course, we couldn't leave Tom & Dena's before using their wireless router to get our last taste of internet access before going to the conference. It's amazing that their vintage house with ancient electrical outlets was able to sustain the adapters and power strip outlets with three laptops and a 200GB harddrive plugged into them! I thought we were going to need Tom's expertise as a forester (who routinely fights fires and was on alert that week) in his own house! The house did better than I expected, and survived our strain on its electrical system without any mishaps.

We arrived in SC and had a delightful time reminicsing, laughing, and catching up with our hosts during the week. The conference was on Missions this time, and since Nathan is planning to go with a short term missions group from church to Cherokee, NC this summer, he went with us to the conference. Greenville always has excellent speakers and preachers during their conferences; plenty of good teaching and things to ponder. Before each talk, they are sure to mention at least two great books you can buy in their bookstore....like Bill NEEDS any encouragement to buy theology books! This is one of the highlights of the conference for Bill...much to our budget's detriment. ;o)

We missed the kids, and so took advantage of some opportunities to give them a call during the breaks or after the meetings. The funny thing was, it would take quite awhile to talk to them, because each of them wanted to talk to each of us, telling us each the same things. They even called each other at the different houses. It's interesting how they missed each other, even though you'd never know they even liked each other sometimes the way they act at home. lol

We headed back to NC after the conference, and stayed with Bill's sister and husband again. Even though they live out in a town (if indeed it is a town) which has nothing more than a blinking traffic light at the one and only main crossroad, they DO have high speed internet! So once again we taxed the limits of their electrical system and checked email and satisfied our craving for the world wide web. :o)

The boys had a wonderful time in the great outdoors. As promised, there was camping, canoeing, shooting. They had to almost be forced at first to stop playing game boy games or game cube to go outside and explore, but they soon got used to taking walks and enjoying God's creation. Besides, they had to help take the three dogs out. Dena and Tom actually only have one dog that is theirs. The other two dogs were strays that wandered onto their property and seemed abandoned. They attempted to find the owners by calling the regional vets, but no one had reported them missing....which means they are looking for a good home for them...and they thought OUR home was that good home.

The boys that were staying there had had the whole week to become attached to Girly Girl and Angus and were pleading to keep one or both of them. I almost succumbed to the pressure, but then came to my senses when I realized that besides the fact that a dog is a huge responsibility, would add another mouth to our already strained food budget, would require future kennel visits, cannot be considered a dependent and be covered under our medical plan, and the fact that Rebekah climbs on top of the tallest human and sits on their head screaming when a dog comes nearby--besides all those objections, it dawned on me we don't even have a fence! The boys were not daunted, however. They quickly used the very accessible internet to look up the cost of an invisible fence and found one within their means if they pooled their money together. So again they pleaded.

As much as I would love to have a dog, I still don't think we are ready, so I said no. They were disappointed, but reluctantly resolved themselves to life without a dog. There were a few moments that I thought I had better check the van again before we left NC to make sure we didn't have any stowaways. :o)

We knew we would be getting back late that Saturday night, so we arranged to pick up the girls at church since both families attend our church. (Getting ready for church was a breeze with only four older children in the house. lol ) It was music to my ears as the girls all shrieked, "Mommy" when they saw me before the service. It was good to have the whole family together again and good to be HOME!