Where I've been!

Okay, so I know it must seem like I just dropped off the face of the earth, as far as you are all concerned I'm stuck somewhere in Mexico probably! :D :D Well, I am not! ;) Mandy and I left that Friday back to St. Louis. We actually got an earlier flight which was REALLY nice so we were home by 6:30 on Friday night! That evening was spent with Tara and 2 friends which was nice and then that night Mandy and I just stayed at Tara's house, planning on going back Saturday to spend the day with family. Well, while I was at breakfast with David, Papa Jim, Tara and Joan, the Bradfords (the family I work for) called and said that they would be gone another week in Texas so they really didn't need me that week. I was very shocked but also kind of happy because I was planning on using the week to just recoup from my trip! Well, when I got back to the table to tell Mandy and the rest of them, they suggested I go to OK and use the week I had off instead of taking off a different week! Not sure HOW I agreed to go on with this crazy plan, maybe because I REALLY wanted to see everyone in Oklahoma, so I called Bethany and basically invited myself over. I know, I know...totally awful of me! :( But!!!! They said YES!! So, that day my crazy plan started! Mandy and I went home for 2 hours, that's it and then were off again. The plan was to ride down with Philip's (a friend) church van back to the Springfield area and then Katie, Joan's daughter, would be picking me up there and then on Sunday morning taking me to a bus stop to ride a bus to OKC. Sounds easy enough, right???? WRONG! It was the worst experience ever I think! Thanks Sage for the bus idea! ;) :P No, just kidding! It should have worked, but the Lord must have had something to teach me...anyway....on with the story. :) I met up with Philip around 5:00 in St. Peters and when we got there he sort of acted like there wasn't any room. He was afraid that they had forgotten I was coming and wasn't sure where I would sit. I was in a panic, I kept asking Mandy to just drive me down to Springfield, but she REALLY didn't want to do that, so she kept trying to work it out for me. Finally, Philip asked and they said there was room but in a different vehicle. So that was okay with me, and actually was the best thing! I am thankful I road with 3 Moms instead of 15 teenagers! :D It was very odd too, because within 15 minutes of driving, the lady in the passenger seat realized that I was going to stay with a family she knew in OKC..she was from the same city! It was pretty amazing to me, so we knew 2 of the same families, so she told me lots about the Burnetts and Morris' :)

Well, after driving an hour and half, they wanted to pull over to eat so we stopped at some Steak and Shake and were there for 3 hours!!! I couldn't believe it! I couldn't say anything, but I kept watching the clock and noticing it was getting later and later. It was 9:30 when we left and I told Katie we'd be at the meeting place by 10:30...there was no way we would make that now. So.....everything with Katie got scratched, she wasn't going to get me anymore. I had no clue what I was going to do and was just really frustrated. The ladies in the vehicle with me were calling all sorts of people to see if I could stay with them and they would take me to the bus station so early the next morning, but then Philip called and said his family said it was alright, so by 2:00 am we were at his house and going to sleep. At like 5:30 my alarm went off, that was not enough time to sleep, but we had to leave early to get there in time! So when we woke up, their Dad got up also and kept mentioning all the rain and storms. He said that we probably wouldn't be able to get out of the drvieway because of it flooding...I was SO scared...I kept saying, NO I have to get there...can we take a boat? SO, we tried anyway, and thanks to God, we made it!!! :) Philip and his brothers got me to the bus station in time and all I had to do was wait for my bus, sounds easy, but it wasn't. It was a disaster! My bus was supposed to leave at like 8 something, so I was there an hour early and just sitting there. I was so tired, but I was determined to not fall asleep, and I didn't. So, I sat and sat and sat....I saw buses come and go but none were headed for OKC. One said some weird place and the other that I watched said Los Angeles. I kept waiting and finally I called David and asked him if buses are usually late. By this time it was like 9:15, he asked if I had missed it and so I assured him I couldn't have and I went up to ask the guy and he said, "Yea, your bus left a while ago...I called for it twice, how did you not hear me?" He was pretty rude. Just then a bus that said OKC on the top drove in and I said...No, that's my bus there, and he explained that there wasn't enough for that bus so they switched it, BUT they didn't tell me! SO AWFUL of them! AND, the other mistake was...he never shouted OKC, he just said Westbound bus...I know, I should have been smart enough, but I kept listening for OKC....ugh I was So upset. I think I was just overally tired too, but I just called David back and cried and cried and cried. I was So upset. I couldn't believe that I had missed the bus. David offered to come and get me, but it'd be 3 hours sitting in that bus station and the next bus for OKC didn't leave till 1:30. So I called Katie, and as soon as she heard me crying she said she would be there, and within minutes she was...she is a life saver! I didn't want to spend one more minute in that station, there were two really creepy guys that said things and well...they just weren't good, it scared me. So, it really worked out good for me to miss the bus. I went to Katies, and was able to shower, sleep some and have something to eat! I was happy! So, at 12:30 we went back to the station and I made sure I didn't miss the next bus. Someone had reccommended sitting near the front of the bus, so I got the very front seat, right behind the bus driver. A man asked to sit next to me and he didn't look dangerous so it was fine with me. He was very kind and knew I had missed an earlier bus, so he said he would help me get to OKC. The bus made 2 stops a long the way, so I was thankful to have someone to look for to make sure I was going the right way. :) It was almost a 6 hour drive on the bus, but the time went pretty fast. The things that went on while on the bus were SO bad though. I'm cautioning everyone to not let their son or daughter of ANY age ride a bus like that alone, it is NOT a good place, well it wasn't for me. I got to do a lot of praying while on the bus, it was SO sad for me to see such corrupt people. I wont go into detail, but they were dealing drugs, taking drugs, using horrible language and talking about things that I would NEVER in my LIFE want to hear. It was SO bad. I did get to witness to the man sitting next to me. He seemed like a Christian at first, but I think he is searching for truth now. I was SO relieved to get off that bus though in OKC and see Bethany!!!!!! Her and Caleb came to pick me up and I was so thankful for that! Took awhile to get my bag, but as soon as we did we headed for the house! I couldn't wait to see everyone! :)

I don't have any pictures from my trip yet, so I am going to wait to tell about the whole week till' I get the pics, but it was one of the BEST weeks for me! I learned SO much and got TONS of pranks done to me and some certain name kept popping up while down there, oh AND pics (Thanks to Micah) but honestly, it was a really great week! It was SO sad to leave yesterday, wish I could stay forever but reality has to come sometime. :( I did get a few pictures on my cell phone that I uploaded to the computer, so I'll post them. The quality isn't good at ALL, but just a sneak peak from the week!!!!! Hopefully soon I can write about the week though!



(These 3 were at a Goat Show we went too...details later...the last one is SO blurry, but it was too cute to not post! ;) )


The brush pile they MADE me climb over.... :D I might have a scar to show for it...a bruise at least! ;)
Siah's crazy hair!! So cute!
Mercy
Bethany and Me
Josh
Jeremiah
BeshU
Siah looking like a cowboy bandit sort of thing :D
One of the MANY pranks Micah tried pulling on me...this one worked, I was SO scared thinking he was really hurt!