WEEK 4

 July 8th, 1989

We are at the half way point.  It is going by too fast.  We are all getting spoiled with this house. Even Mark likes it now that it has AC. 7:30 am David came down with both eyes swollen shut and really oozing. I took him to the emergency room where they gave him a shot, we waited 3 and a half hours. I brought him home then Philip and I started working on the dirt room (root cellar under the porch), what a mess. We hauled a good pickup load out of there. Old tricycles, pogo sticks, rotted wood and rotted wash tubs. I put the rabbit hutch down there with 4 rabbits.  I need to cover the dirt floor with paper yet.  One of the does teeth were curling under and way to long. I found a plyers and snipped them off. Hopefully trimmed them correctly. Hopefully she can eat. Philip took a dozen eggs over to Virdens. It's 95 degrees today and very humid. I started the air about 2:00 pm. I let it too late, we have all already sweated buckets. 8:00 pm We decided to have Mark's birthday party now since tomorrow will be so busy.  We gave him the lantern and mom and dad's gift, the propane tank. Then we gave him the big gift, the air compressor. It's 1 horsepower with an 8 gallon tank.  We put it together and got it started.  I still need to buy one piece. the piece that will allow us to hook up the air gun. While we were priming it, we filled up the double mattress. It wasn't comfortable. I ended up moving to the couch.  The phone rang 15 minutes after midnight wanting us to take a 13 year old boy.  Mark explained for the third time the parents were on vacation and wouldn't be back until August. Rhoda and Ben brought the eggs in today. I don't know how many.

July 9th, 1989

6:30 am and David is worse.  What a mess. He is weeping from his face and left side and can't talk because his mouth is almost swollen shut. I took a nightmare picture of him. He doesn't want to leave tomorrow for Valparaiso. I took Philip and Ben to Hardees and then down to pick up Eldora before heading to church. Rick spoke in the morning. I signed up for a tape since I was teaching and didn't get to hear him. Jim talked in the afternoon. He kept bringing up the morning's sermon. Chuck wants us to pray about a deacon this week. We arrived home at 1:45 pm. Mark had cleaned up the kitchen and playroom but the living room was still a mess. I picked up Beth M at 3:45 pm and went to clean church.  We did the entire church since I'll be gone.   She is going to clean after Wednesday night so I gave her the church keys. I dropped her off at home and went straight to the shop to work on the apartment books. I couldn't find the payment books so I went by dad's list and paid everything else I could find. I filled out a deposit slip and left it in Maxine's desk. I also paid the rest of mom's bills. It was very hot in there and I stayed until 8:30 pm. Came home extremely tired and couldn't face packing and cleaning the house. I called Beth and put off leaving until noon. I can go to bed and sleep!

July 10th, 1989

Mark's birthday. I forgot to wish him a good one. David feels a little better but looks awful. Called Beth H and told her we would be ready by 10:00 am to leave for Diane and Mike's house in Valparaiso. I wrote Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday on tablet I found at Diane's and then left them there. Hope I can remember to get them. That was picked up when we drove back for my purse which was also left. MONDAY Mark and I woke up at 6:00 am I ate breakfast and started working as fast as I could. David looked a little better. I was almost done about 9:15 am when Beth came. We finished and loaded the car and were on our way by 9:40 am. The ride to Valparaiso was quiet and uneventful . Thank GOD! We had really prayed He would watch over our trip. We arrived here about 1:00 pm. We took a wrong turn and drove around 5 minutes until we found their house. I'm glad it's a small town.  We unpacked and started making lunch for 8 hungry kids. Justin wasn't hungry as Beth fed him in the car. After lunch Beth and I left the older kids and did our grocery shopping. We then got on the phone to plan out tomorrow. I think we can do it. we bought chicken for supper, fed the kids and put them to bed early since we plan on being up by 5:00 am. Everyone settled down and was sleeping by 9:00 pm. 

July 11th, 1989

Everybody was up at 5:00 am. For breakfast we had cereal and donuts. We arrived at the train station at 5:45 am and the train was already there waiting for us. I asked if we could board and was given a yes.  We all walked in and sat down then  put the strollers up top when the conductor came and said," you know this is a smoking coach." Of course we packed up and moved. Then the conductor asks for our tickets. We explained that we were paying on the train. He started counting kids and says, "oh no, I'll be right back." I don't know if he went for help calculating the price. When he came back, he asked us to buy our return tickets in advance and try to get a group rate. The train was fun, just cold. The air condition was really cold. We arrived at Union station at 7:32 am and waited and waited for all departing passengers from about 10 exits trying to exit the station. When it finally cleared out, we went to the ticket booth and bought our tickets. We couldn't get a group rates as there weren't 15 of us. Then out of the station to find Bus #1. We walked around the building on the advice of a CTA official and there was the bus. the driver figured out our far and off we went. He told us where to get off and where to wait for bus #6. No problem. It was the same intersection. Bus #6 took us all the way to the museum of Science and Industry.  and arrived there by 8:45 am. The museum didn't open until 9:30 am so we took the kids to the snack bar and bought everyone an ice cream sandwich and then just waited until the museum opened. We started on the downstairs and didn't finish until 3:00 pm. The only scary part of the entire trip was the bus drivers driving. That seemed downright dangerous! we were home by 6:30 pm, fed everyone supper by 7:00 pm. After supper I decided to go grocery shopping and asked Beth if she could watch all the kids. On the kid count we couldn't find one of the kids. I went out driving while the older boys went out walking to look for him. I found him a couple blocks away. He told me, "I couldn't find the right house but found some big puddles. Shopping and bed by 9:00 pm. I'm tired.

July 12th, 1989

I thought I was awakened at 4:00 am by boys playing jump rope right above my bedroom. It was really 6:00 am and they were just jumping out of bed and walking around. I finally woke up at 7:00 am and went upstairs for breakfast. we ate and made sandwiches for the beach today.  Everyone helped clean up the house and we left by 9:30 am for the beach. We drove first to Indiana state dunes, paid our $2.00 and I got a perfect parking spot. Everyone started walking down to the water when the ranger made an  announcement over the PA "STAY OUT OF THE WATER". The water was closed because of high waves. We loaded everyone back up and went to ask for our $2.00 back. The ranger wouldn't give it back.  I asked her to write the time we were leaving on our form so I could write for a refund. Then she gave us back our money. We found our way to the other beach where we swam and played in the waves and were able to run down the dunes. It was a perfect day, not too hot and the sun in and out of the clouds all day. We walked down to the river and got some clay. We saw swallows building nests into the dunes. They were digging their nests out. Nathan saw some bluegill. He was sure missing his fishing pole. Everyone hiked back to our towels and the older boys started swimming again. We packed up and left at 4:00 pm to go back to Diane's house. We just started out of the park when Beth saw a deer. It was in the woods just off the road. We stepped out and let everyone see it. It calmly walked into the woods and we drove home. We arrived back at 4:30 pm, cleaned the van and ordered pizza for supper. Picked that up and had everyone fed by 5:30 pm. We started planning tomorrow. We really need to pick up one more coupon for Great America if Greg comes up. We are still waiting to hear if he is coming. It is 8:00 pm and time for bed.

July 13th, 1989

WE got up early to get ready to leave for Great America. We went through Chicago and ran into traffic. didn't arrive in Gurney until 9:40 am. We looked for a hotel and ended up at a Day's Inn across from the amusement park. We checked in and drove over as soon after 10:00 am as possible, bought our tickets and prepared to enjoy ourselves. Everyone had a ball! We watched a movie on the Grand Canyon our parents would have loved.  It made us all sick as it seemed we were in the plane flying over the canyon. These IMAX theaters are amazing. We drove back to the hotel at 2:00 pm and let the kids swim in the hotel swimming pool.  David, Philip, Chad, Nathan and Michelle went back to Great America and stayed until 9:00 pm. I stayed back and watched Rhoda, Ben, AmyBeth and Justin. It was a full day.

July 14th, 1989

I got up at 6;00 am and started looking for the shampoo. I found it in Beth's van. Just ready to take a shower when Chad knocked on the door and asked to borrow the shampoo. I made them wait until I was done then sent it over. After my shower I went down to the lobby where there was juice, coffee and donuts. I helped myself and took it back to the room. When Beth was ready I went down with her and enjoyed my second cup. We arrived at Great America at 10:00 am I made Philip go on a roller coaster with me. I shouldn't have, the poor kid was really scared. Beth took Ben on a bobsled ride while I took Rhoda. Rhoda loved it and wanted to go again. Ben didn't enjoy it, I guess he was a little young. He really did enjoy the smaller rides. Beth and Greg wanted to get back to Diane's and check on the boat. they took us back and left. We got in Dad's car and it wouldn't start. I asked at the hotel if someone could get me a jump and they said I would have to wait until 4:00 pm. Chad, David, Philip and I were the only ones left so we walked over to Great America, about one mile and stayed until 6:30 then walked to Burger King for supper. Then walked back to the Day's Inn and got a jump. We left at 7:30 pm for Diane's. At 8:00 pm I turned on the car lights and at 8:15 pm we ran into backed up traffic and drove 5 miles an hour until we passed the problem. A truck car collision. It wasn't very bad. At 9:30 pm after the 4th toll pay the car window rolled up very slowly and I started to lose my lights. I started looking for a gas station but I was on a toll road. I finally found a Day's Inn and stopped as it was almost too dark to see and I didn't want any other vehicle running into us.  We called Mike and Diane to get their Indiana number and Diane told me Misty had been found and Mark wouldn't drive to East Peoria to get her. I hope Diane will. Then I called Beth and Greg and told them where we were and what had happened. I feel bad, she was left with Ben and Rhoda overnight.  9:30 pm went straight to bed.