A Great Travel Day

The three National Bible Bee Competitors: "We made it through security!"

Mrs. Beaver:

Our travel day was a good one. Everything went smoothly. Even so, by the time we got checked into this magnificent hotel in Schaumburg, Illinois, late this afternoon, we were tired enough to immediately succumb to yummy naps under the cozy white duvets. I think our weariness is exagerated by the emotional drain of the past couple of weeks. It's draining on a family to be so close to adding three new family members. For our three oldest kids their parents' travel has meant significantly increased responsibility in caring for their younger siblings. Everyone has held up so well (except me--I had an UGLY, sin-drenched,  family-harming meltdown on Monday).

Again tomorrow, I'll try to lay out an inteneraary for the next couple of weeks but again tonight I'm too tired. After teasing our poor readers about getting to see photos of our new family members today, we've decided to wait until Mr. Beaver is with them starting Friday. Sorry about dangling a carrot in such a cruel fashion!

I miss Mr. Beaver dreadfully as he travels to Russia without me, and we anticipate almost a week apart before I can join him! We've spent 27 years trying to be inseperable whenever possible. I believe this tendency was introduced into our relationship early on through two factors. First, Jim was stationed on a balistic-missle submarine that was underwater six months a years. Every moment that we could carve out around the Navy's need for their engineering officer was treated like an opportunity to stress test superglue to see how closely we could cling to one another. The second reason we have always valued our moments together is that Mr. Beavers' dad died when Mr Beaver was only seven years old. Since the moment the two of us be came an "item" back in 1983,we have know that you can never count on what tomorrow might bring and must treat today as a precious gift. Wanting to be near Mr. Beaver is so easy. I love his sense of humor. I adore his soft heart--especially for orphaned children. I deeply respect his powerful brain, and I admire his intimate relationship with Christ. I am a very, very blessed wife! I love him so very much.