well, we made it to Gurdon, Arkansas. population 2000.

I had grand plans for an amazing Nashville trip recap this week.  we left for Memphis TN last thursday to stay one night and then on to Nashville for the rest of the weekend.

we didn’t make it.

the weather man had been talking about residual rain from Harvey but we didn’t anticipate it completely ruining our time in Tennessee so we packed up the kids and dropped them with BB and Papa before heading out. we were abut 5 hours and three pitstops into the roadtrip, just crossed over the Texas-Arkansas border and all hell broke loose.  the car started sputtering/stalling out and the “check engine” light started flashing.  we pulled over.. confused and concerned because what the heck was happening with our car?! we sat on the side of the road in hopes to let the car cool off a little and maybe it would let us get to a place where we could get it checked out.. because there was nothing where we were.

we drove a few more miles up the road and finally were forced to pull into a gas station that legit looked like there wasn’t a soul in site.

..and then it started to rain.

..and whatever at&t cell tower was in or around this area blacked out.  literally.

no phone. no internet. no CAR. and we didn’t exactly know where we were at. we ran into the desolate gas station/truck stop and thank goodness there was someone behind the register!  we asked her if she could point us in the right direction for finding a place that we could get our car looked at and she casually pointed to the shop that was in the same parking lot as the store. which also happened to be connected to a restaurant.

we pulled our car into the shop and the sweet young guys gave it a look over.. thought it could be the battery and then also thought it could be a sensor.. they had to call someone with a computer to come and hook the car up, so we waited and waited.  Gurdon is about 30-45 minutes from the next town over in both directions, so there was a lot of waiting that day.

I checked “pumping in a truck stop” off my bucket list and we went to see about getting some lunch.  still no cell service or internet at this point, but we were able to use our waitress’ cell phone (thanks, verizon!) to call Jordan’s dad.  we were on the phone with him when the tower blacked out and the last he had heard was that we were having car trouble.
so we sat.  and sat.  ate a grilled cheese and a fried pie..
the cell tower booted up again around hour 4 of waiting (YAS!) and then waited some more.
by the time hour six rolled around they had finally hooked the car up to a computer and determined that one of the sensors was firing incorrectly. OKAY. so there is still hope!  they assured us that they could fix the car, but wouldn’t be getting a part until maybe the next day.  maybe?? at that point we started trying to figure out if we were going to have the car towed to a dealership about 35 miles up the road or if we were going to stay put until the next morning and let them fix it.
oh and there happened to be a motel, albeit creepy AF, but there was some place to stay if we needed it.  we talked to my mom, who was a life saver in all this helping us with hotel rooms (she works for Marriott).  we cancelled all our plans for Memphis and eventually decided that our trip money was probably going to car repair.. so Nashville was off, for now.SUPER bummed, and I might have shed a tear, we started up the car in hopes that we would be able to limp the car down the road back towards home.  the car would run, just not very well.
UNTIL we started driving.  nothing.  no check engine light.  no shuttering.  no stalling.
so we risked our chances over paying $500 to tow the car and drove about an hour back to a hotel my mom had helped us book last minute.
the car didn’t make a peep.
as we laid in our hotel room that night, still licking our wounds over the fact that the entire trip had been ruined, we watched the news reporting tornado warnings in Memphis.  and the next story was flash flooding in downtown Nashville.  I woke the next morning to a text from my mom saying that the hotel we were supposed to stay at in Nashville was evacuated and flooded.. the roads we were supposed to take were nonexistent at the moment.
if we would have made it to Tennessee we would have been stuck there for a hot minute!
we took the scenic route home and made a stop in Canton for first Monday trade days (basically the best flea market you’ll ever go to.. and it happens just once a month) and made it home to these precious babies.

have you ever have one of those moments when you don’t see the blessing in those exact moments,  but as it all rolls out before your eyes you kinda go “okay, Jesus.. I see you.”

He totally took care of us on this one.  I was bummed about the car, which by the way has yet to even flash an engine light, but the trip wasn’t going to happen either way.

SO.. instead we spent the weekend at home with the babes.  we didn’t have ‘plans’ because we weren’t even supposed to be here, so it was low key and enjoyable with my favorite people.  we hit up the nephew’s bday party on Saturday afternoon where we were reunited with Jolie, Parker, Baker, and Brady. Baker wouldn’t leave my lap and I wasn’t mad about it! we finished off the weekend with the last swim of the summer, ordered pizza and the kids crashed early because they were zonked! church on Sunday + brunch at our favorite spot then an afternoon outside while daddy threw some chicken on the grill.  after Brady was down for the night we popped in The Lion King and snugged up with popcorn and theater candy before bed.

I took an unexpected hiatus from the blog the last couple weeks.. my plan was to get through my last week of work, come back after our trip without kids with loads of blog content and feeling refreshed. but the truth is, we are still living out of suitcases that never even saw said ‘vacation’ and my house looks like a tornado casually dropped in. life sometimes gets in the way of our best laid plans. and it sucks and its so annoying and I find myself the most anxious when things just aren’t going my way.
but we came back and were greeted with the best weekend ever.  if only I could get myself and all these kids unpacked! best part about unpacking for a trip you didn’t take is that there us way less laundry to be done..?

I say yes!