Little Rock, Arkansas

The final spot we stayed in was Little Rock, Arkansas. Husband's American sister and her family live here and we spend Christmas and New Years at their house every year, that is until we moved to Tokyo. We broke up the 8 hour car ride by having a pit stop at friends in Nashville. Again, I got to see an old roommate from Minsk, Belarus, an old friend from church, and we spent the night with Kan's friends from high school who invited his college pastor over for dinner. Lots of fellowship and connecting with old friends. We really could not be more blessed. We left Nashville in good spirits, thinking 5 hours will be much more doable than 8, in one day. Turns out our trip took 9 hours due to construction and traffic. I was ready for a glass of wine when we finally pulled up to the Foxxden. We rolled in around 9PM I think, and within 15 minutes, we lost our children, in a good way. They were being entertained and taken care of by their cousins. The K Man loved his cousin Kerry. He would follow him everywhere and wanted to be doing what he was doing. At times you would hear Kerry say, "I need a break." I laughed...welcome to my world kid! :) Our kids had so much fun here, in spite of us losing power for 5 days. They played their hearts out. When we left Miss M wanted to hug Kerry first, and then the rest of her cousins. We went to the park nearby their house. We drove and looked at Christmas lights once the power came back on. We played games, most of them by candlelight or flashlight. In spite of no power, we ate well and all came back with a few extra pounds around the hips. The kids loved their plasma cars and due to the noise they make, I am glad we brought them out on our last day there. Although we are debating on getting some here in Tokyo and letting them ride them around the hallway outside. They were a huge hit and so much fun. We made cookies, once the power came back on, with Nana and cousin Shelbs. Even in Little Rock, I got to visit with a college roommate who was about to pop with her third baby when I went to her house for some tea. Still sad my trip half way to Dallas to meet my cyberspace friend M did not happen due to inclement weather and me being just worn out from all of the traveling...but I know there will be a day when we do finally meet. More family from Memphis came to visit us for the day...they chose to leave their heated homes and hang out with us without heat just to see us. So sweet. And finally, Miss M got to play in the snow...thanks to the ice storm of 2012. She LOVED the snow and I am glad Kan LOVES the snow because it means he will play with her outside and I can stay inside warm (except this time I stayed inside, cold. :) On Christmas day we noticed the trees starting to get covered in ice. They all started remembering back to the ice storm of 2000, I think it was, when they lost power over Christmas. Well, at 3:37 Christmas day the power went out. We sure did pick the right year to come home. Thankfully we had already cooked the ham and turkey and were able to finish the side dishes at a friends house and on the Foxxden grill. By God's grace we salvaged Christmas dinner and food to eat on for a few more days. The power did not come back on until the night of the 30th, while we were eating dinner via candlelight. We all heard the timer on the oven going off and thought, "what is that." Then everyone looked at each other, Kim turned the light on, and we all shouted "POWER!" It was glorious. Looking back on it, it was not that bad. We had a fireplace, hot water, and lots of blankets. The worst part was getting out of bed in the morning. We went out to eat one night just to eat in heat and with light. Another night friends from church had us over for Mexican at their lovely home. Wouldn't you know the minute we pull into the driveway, they lost power. Thankfully it came back on a little bit later. In hindsight you can always see the situation a little better than what you can in reality. Without power we could not log in to the internet or watch tv and play video games. We had to sit around and talk and play games which we have no problem doing. We were limited in our games due to the lack of light but we still played and had fun. We never went hungry. And we were with people we love, which is the most important thing. However, do not get me wrong, when the power came back on I was not thinking to myself, "oh, I wish it would go off again." What a memorable Christmas it was in Little Rock this year. Hopefully it will not happen for another 10 years and the Foxxden will have a generator by then. :) Thank you Fox's for a fabulous Christmas! It was so fun to be with y'all! We love you.