We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog.....

..... to update you on the past few weeks of our lives. Oh, y'all. What a crazy month we have had.

I am going to try to sum up this past week and a half as briefly as I can.

Rob and I left for our 19 hour road trip to Virginia on a Friday. We made it 10 hours and stopped for the night. They next morning, we were 2 hours in when my Mother called with some devastating news. My beloved Grandmother (who I am very very close to) had a stroke in the middle of the night at her assisted living facility which was in Montgomery, Alabama.

Hospice had evaluated her and given her 2 weeks to live. Rob and I had an extremely difficult choice. By this time, we were only a few hours away from Virginia. We were going to vacation with his side of the family and we only see them once a year. Also, his father has Alzheimer's, but he still is very lucid. We don't know where he will be health wise a year from now and so it was so important that we see him as well as the rest of the family.

We pulled the car over and I sobbed and tried to decide what to do. We decided to go on to Virginia thinking we would cut our vacation short so we could see everyone in Virginia and make it in time to see my Grandmother before she passed away.

I was calling Alabama morning and night getting updates on my precious Grandmother. I was ready to hop on a plane in an instant if need be. But everyone assured me that she was hanging in there. That I would make it on time. Even the night before her death, I was told that she had another week.

But we didn't make it. Will got sick in Virginia which made it difficult to leave when I had planned and since Grandmother seemed to be stable, we decided to leave on Thursday. We had been on the road an hour when she passed away.

I can't write about that now. I'll have to write about that later. I don't have the words right now. I will say though that I have no doubt about where she is right now. In fact my very first thought when I heard the news was, "Good for her." I know that she is celebrating right this instant with the very God that she spent her entire life loving and serving.

But after a 19 hour road trip, a very sick little boy, and a crazy week of emotions, we drove 12 hours down to Alabama to say good-bye to my Grandmother.

This past weekend was a whirlwind. Family, cousins, visitations, emotions, sadness, and celebration.

On top of everything, I had a surprise 40th birthday party planned for Rob for months. We pushed back the time, scaled it back to just dessert, but kept it on. It was theraputic. But hard.

And now, my husband is in Malawi, Africa for 2 weeks. I took him to Atlanta the day after the funeral and am driving today to Birmingham to spend time at my sisters house.

I am exhausted. I am sad. I am on auto pilot. I don't know what I am anymore.

But, I am happy to be with my family in Alabama and I rejoice in the fact that I will be with my Grandmother again one day. And I am so grateful for the 32 years I had with her. That is a gift I will always be grateful for.