It takes a village

Ted left on Thursday for Ft. Worth.  This has become a typical, weekly pattern for the past 6-8 months.  He spends a couple of nights in Ft. Worth a week.  Only this time, it is longer.  Much longer.  His trial starts tomorrow and at the best, he will be home on Friday.  That means we are apart for 8 nights, 9 days - the longest we have been apart since my third year in law school - about 10 years ago.  And it stinks.  Of course, it would stink if it was just me, but with Ward, Ann Park and Sam, it makes things worse.  They miss their daddy and so does mommy.

Thankfully, I live where my parents live and am taking full advantage of it right now.  They normally have really busy, social schedules (they have more friends than I do!), but they are being a huge help this week!  We went to Grey Rocks over the weekend (we had Friday off for Veteran's Day) and they were a HUGE help.  Ward and Papa went lookng for wildlife every morning and late afternoon and mom kept Sam while I took the older two kids on an outing to the Bass Pro Shop in Prattville.  Sam is officially addicted to horses and can't get enough.  All three kids rode on Saturday and then Sam rode for about 30 minutes this morning before we left.  I think that he is going to be my rider - granted, he is my one without any fear!  Unfortunately, I did not have my camera, but did have my phone so i'll upload some pictures from it another post.  Sam had a perma-grin on his face and it returns as soon as I mention "Red," Matt's horse, that the kids rode.

Everyone please say a quick prayer for Ted and his trial.  I am proud of all the hard work he has been putting in the past few weeks and am thankful that it will be over by Thanksgiving so he can really enjoy himself.  He deserves it!