Sweet Home Alabama

My week in Mobile was crazy-but I was so glad to see my dear old friends, plus dear old family- the other Hodges. Harris was sick and the medicine he was on made him ultra-clingy and just miserable. It was one of those times where you just want to click your ruby slippers together and be home. But we toughed it out and managed to have good times, despite missing out on some very important playdate opportunities. I dropped the ball on pictures, but here are some:


I got to go out with Mallory and Emily- two girls who were in our youth group at church way back when it just started and Jay and I were the youth leaders. They were so wonderful and mature even then, and now they are college grads with steady jobs, and Emily has an engagement ring! We chatted and caught up- it was such a joy for me!

Mac, Ruth and I went blueberry picking with and for Jen, since we couldn't really take them home with us. Mac successfully said " I just want to go home" 800 times after about 5 minutes in the scorching hot field. Arrrggghhh. Oh, by the way, Betty's Berry Farm was better than Betty's grammar!


Other highlights:
-Girl movie and Los Rancheros with Jen!
-Playtime with cousins Jack and Alli and Aunt Kelli
-Short but insane visit with Sally (Harris cried the entire time. We couldn't really talk. So I left. Sorry Sally!)
-Seeing the folks at Grace! Worshipping with them.
-Ruth and Mac got to go to VBS at Grace
-Ruthie got to play "Little House" with one of her best friends, Becca. Her mom Shay has to email me the precious picture so I can share it here.
-Eating at Foosackly's! Man I miss those chicken fingers.
-Mac got to go with Uncle Greg and Jackson to see the C-17 that brought the President's vehicles to the Gulf Coast. They also got to get their pictures with the Black Suburban. Cool.
-We got to enjoy the booming thunderstorms down on the coast. I miss them!
-Oh, and the 100%-I-am-sweating-just-because-I-am-breathing-and-standing-outdoors-humidity of the lovely city of Mobile. My deodorant freaked out.


I hope I didn't forget anyone or anything. I have a fondness for Mobile- it is the place I have lived the longest and have the most connections. It is where I spent my carefree college days, where Jay and I were newlyweds in our first house, and where we became parents three times over. I feel some rootiness there, some sweet attachments. I will always smile when I drive across the Bay and go back to the mossy-oak-magnolia streets of Mo-town.