Hi all,

    Wow! I had an interesting day yesterday. Last week, I set up an appointment to attend a student visitation tour at Georgia Military College where I will be going this fall. Sign in for the visit was set for 8:15 am on Saturday so Mom, my brothers, and I got up around 4am and left at 5am hoping we could get there on time.

    The drive up there was about 4 hours. We stopped once to fill the car up and then later stopped at a McDonald's to get breakfast. (Mom paid for the fuel and I paid for the food.) We were late getting to the college and got a bit lost at first but finally found it. I only missed about 30 min of the program. They were talking about scholarships when we went inside. (My brothers went with me and Mom stayed in the car because she is not able to walk long distances.)

    After a little while during the program, they took a 15 min break and I took my brothers back out to Mom so we could check in with her. We made sure she was still comfortable and then we headed back inside for the second part which was question and answer with students and faculty. Once that was over the crowd was divided into 3 groups based on the times of scheduled private meetings with the financial aid office. The groups with later meetings were then taken on a tour of the campus. My brothers and I followed in this group.

    During the tour, I was told that lunch was free for everyone so once we found out where the cafeteria was, we rushed back out to Mom and got her to park a little closer so she wouldn't have to walk as far. We had lunch there and talked with several students and staff members. Everyone was very friendly. I LOVE the campus and everyone we met. I can't wait to get started at this place!

    My meeting with financial aid was at 2:15 but we had such a long drive home that we decided to cancel and set up another one later. We left the college around 1:30 but one of the front tires on the car was low with air so we stopped to fill it up some. While Jon was putting air in the tire, he looked a little closer and realized why it was going down so much. There was a gash about an inch long on the lower side of the tire. We spent the next 15 min driving carefully around town to find a place that we could buy a new tire. Most places were closed. We finally were referred to a Wal-Mart close by that had a tire place and we spent about an hour and half walking around while they changes both front tires. (You should never just change one front tire. It's best to change them both.)

    After the tires were changed, we headed on our way managing to get back toward Macon. Getting to Macon was no problem but somewhere beyond that, we got stuck in traffic. The interstate was slowing down so we decided to get off and drive along highway 41, which runs parallel with I-75. Almost as soon as we got on 41, traffic started slowing down on there. UGH! We got stuck in one area and it took us 3 hours to go 10 miles. We got through that far enough to get back on I-75 and were going really good when it got slowed down again. We stayed in the traffic as far as we could then stopped at a rest area for a while.

    When we left the rest area, traffic was not too bad but slowed down yet again. It took about 3 hours to get from where the rest area was to Adel. At that point, I convinced Mom to get off again and try 41 one more time. Thankfully, this time it was clear. We drove along 41 for a long while with several cars following us the whole time. LOL Then, just before Valdosta, we got back on the interstate and about 10 or 15 cars (that had been following us already) got back on with us. It was so funny!

    Traffic was fine from that point on. We drove interstate the rest of the way until our exit then we got off and went home. It was after 2am when we got pulled into the drive. We all got in bed as soon as we were inside and then got up this morning at 9:30 to go to church. My pastor's birthday was yesterday and our church had a special lunch for him today. We had lots of food and cake to eat.

    After church, we went to Sam's again and headed over to Wal-Mart from there to get groceries. It was after 5pm when we got home today. I had a blast yesterday even despite our troubles. We had a great conversationg all the way home and were laughing at so many things. It was nice to be able to get alone like that even though we were all tired and irritable from riding so long.

    Anyway, now I am going to close out and get some rest. I have to work tomorrow and the rest of the week. Plus next weekend will be just as hectic. Good grief! LOL For now, have a safe spring break (if you have it this week) and God bless everyone.

    Oh, and don't ever forget, no matter what bad things happen, God will always get you thorough. Just have faith and trust in him. I know for an absolute fact that it was God who helped us see our tire problem before we got on the interstate and had it bust and He helped us get our tires changed. (We only paid $46 for each tire.) He also helped us get through the heavy traffic and helped us all get along well during the whole trip. I will credit Him for everything good that happened yesterday.

    Thank you, Lord for being so faithful and may I never stray from the love and protection you give me every day. You are the greatest inspiration and my #1 reason to live. Like the sermon in church this morning, may I be neither cold or luke warm but let me be completely on fire for you, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.

-Elizabeth