Our next stop after visiting our dear friends in Sweet Home Alabama was Louisiana, where we “Laisser les bons temps rouler” (Less lay bohn tohn roo lay) that’s Cajun for “Let the good times roll!”. And the good times did roll. When we left Alabama on Sunday afternoon around noon after spending the morning spending more time with the Lirette’s and pack up the van. A great deal of time and effort went into sweeping out all the food that the Littles had managed to spew all over the entire van. We had tears of sorrow and tears of joy, we left the Lirette’s and made our way to Louisiana near Baton Rouge. We were going to stay with my dad’s aunt, uncle, and Grandfather. I’d only met Grandpa Hill and Aunt Barbara once when I was six-months-old so it was kinda like we were meeting them for the first time.

It took us forever to get there, and one of the reason being because the Highway Department had eight guys out at 9 o’clock at night sticking reflectors on the road while traffic was stopped up for an hour. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they had moved the “lane closed” sign up about 10 miles so everyone knew that’s not where you had to drive at 20 miles an hour in a single lane. We were only forty-five minutes away but it took us over an hour to get past the “road construction”. Oh, we were so mad when we saw the hooligans with the stickers.

At about 10-11pm we arrived at Aunt Barbara’s. We were all so happy to get to of the van and even more so knowing we’d be there for a few days. Aunt Barbara was so sweet and kind to us when we all got there. She welcomed us with a cheery smile and open arms. She accommodated us in any possible way and let us cook for her (and when then rest of the family that came over). I was so happy we could do that for her. She takes care of Uncle Leo and Grandpa Hill while working a 8hr job so it was nice for her to get a break.

We had a nice time having fellowship and “meeting” our extended family. My dad was happy to see his Grandpa Hill again after nearly 17 years. Grandpa is in his eighties, and I’m glad we got to see him again before he passed on. He’s still mobile and likes to sit out on the porch, reading the newspaper or enjoying nature. While we were there Eric and the other Littles sat out with him, which I think he enjoyed a lot.

My Uncle Leo is quite a character. He likes to tease people and make conversation… haha that went well with me. He kept calling me Curly Sue since I had curly hair and he couldn’t remember my name. It was interesting being around him. He also couldn’t believe I was 17. I wasn’t surprised. No body ever believes me when I tell them I’m 17. They always assume I’m either 12-13, and Rachel is an inch or two taller than me so that doesn’t help. I decided to start telling people I’m 22 when they ask that way when I say “naw, I’m kidding. I’m 17″ so it won’t be that big of a shock when I tell them my real age. hehe

Uncle Leo asked all of us girls if we had a boyfriend. When we told him “no” he looked at us oddly and said, “well why not?” My reply was simple, “I only need one and I don’t need him right now.” He was baffled and just couldn’t understand it. I hope we were able to be a witness to him in more ways than one.

Uncle Leo took pleasure in showing us all the different canes he made out of trees from the backyard. Some of them were quite interesting. He gave Eric, Hannah, and Isaac each their own cane to fit their size, and they’ve been having fun with them ever since.

We were all sad when we had to leave. We said goodbye to Aunt Barbara early on Tuesday morning before she had to go to work. She is such a sweet person. She was always smiling or making someone else smile. She loved having our big family there and was just so kind. She is definitely one relative I wouldn’t mind seeing again soon. Uncle Leo was sad when we’re getting all of our stuff into the van. He wanted us to stay a few more days. Takes a few days to get used to him and we had to leave right when we did! Haha, he was such a curious character, and I’m glad we got to meet them all and spend some time with them.

Blessings!

Blessings!

As promised I shall now resume my posts on our two-week vacation to the Southern States of the US. We had already visited Georgia and now we were on our way to Sweet Home Alabama. The view was pretty as it was much like Indiana in the weather and scenery, and we got to see lots of cows, goats, and sheep. Mother Dear took plenty of photos, though most were blurry because it’s kind of hard to focus the camera as you’re driving by at 60 miles an hour. There were a few good ones that you could tell were cows and not black spots. Most of the goats were Boer goats, which maybe my 3rd favourite breed of goat. Not sure if I like Nigerians or Boers better.

Anyways, it was supposed to take four hours from Brooke’s to our stop in Alabama but it took the Dixon Crew  six, and right as we were getting towards the end, we got lost. We’d missed a turn, probably because it was so late and almost completely dark. We pulled into a cemetery to look at our map and directions, when Mrs. Lirette called and asked where we were. As I was telling her a face appeared out of the darkness in my window (and scared the snot out of me!). Then I heard a tapping on my window so I rolled it down, leery of it was. However, there was nothing to fear. It was three policemen, who saw our big white van pull into the cemetery and wonder what we were doing. They were very accommodating and kind, and gave us directions as well their card if we got lost again. Alabama police are quite pleasant.

After they took their leave, we pulled out of the cemetery and not five minutes later we arrived at the Lirette’s, who some of you may have heard of because of the death of Mr. Lirette back in May. Stopping at their house was escpecially close to our hearts and it was a pleasure to meet them. I’ve been blogging with Sarah (the birthday girl!) for almost a year and recently with her sisters, Jordan Lee, Celeste, and Sandy, and then mother, Mrs. Lirette. They were all the sweetest and kindest hostess. When we got there Mrs. Lirette came out and welcomed us with big hugs. We were thrilled.

They had all cooked us an authentic Cajun meal, which was excellent, with shrimp, fried breaded-potatoes,  rice with beans on top. It was so very delightful and I was so hungry! During dinner they shared some precious stories with us and then in the morning cooked us a most excellent meal. When we had finished breakfast Sarah and Jordan went to us their rooms. I had fun taken photos of all the neat things, especially the Roy Rogers apron and photographs Sarah had on her wall. One was signed… perhaps by him. I must convince her to find out! Then they took us outside to show us the swing and we had fun on it… yes, Sarah and I both got on it. Haha They are happyily situated on their homestead, surrounded by fields.I love the countryside… any countryside.

When the time came for us to leave I was in such dismay, even though I knew we would be leaving.  I wanted to stay and fellowship with them, but God has it all in His plan and hopefully we will be able to meet again soon. I’m glad to have gotten to travel and stay in Alabama. Very pretty state. I can see what some people call it Sweet Home Alabama.

Blessings!