One Day to Go: A Year Ago Today

A year ago today, I was a nervous wreck.  The doctors were concerned that Lydia was too small and that I might have inter-uterine growth restriction.  It was a Friday, and they told me that if I didn't go into labor over the weekend, they would induce me Monday morning.  Now, I am a hippy-dippy, new-agey, all-natural kind of girl when it comes to labor, so the word "induce" terrified me.  So I spent this whole day, the day before Lydia would come, walking.  I walked and walked and walked.  It was a 100+ plus degrees outside, but my mom was a trooper and walked right next to me.  I have no idea if the walking is what did it, but I went into labor that night.  Every woman must decide for herself what kind of labor she wants, and I think there is more than one right way to do it.  I just feel so blessed that I was able to have the labor I wanted.

I think those days leading up to the birth of a child are so anxiety-filled for pregnant mothers because we are so excited about that moment when we meet our child, the moment that everyone says was one of the best moments of their life.  It is like waiting for your wedding day to happen without knowing the exact time and date.  With both of my babies, The Moment has been exactly as awe-inspiring as I was told but couldn't possibly imagine.  The pain leading up to The Moment was excruciating, but The Moment, when it finally came after months of anticipation and hours of pain, was euphoric and as free of pain as my body has ever been.  Motherhood is so challenging and at times frustrating and flat-out scary, but there is something about thinking back on that first moment you beheld your child that constantly reminds you what a gift you have been given and what an amazing system of love and creativity God has put into place in his infinite wisdom and compassion.

I've been thinking about what I'm going to tell Shepherd when he asks me where babies come from.  Here is the plan: when a mommy and daddy love each other so much they hardly know what to do, God takes all of that love and makes a special little person with it.  He then gives that person to the mommy and daddy so that their love can be shared.  Shepherd and Lydia are mine and BJ's love.

Two Days to Go: Shepherd on the Upcoming Anniversary of Baby's Birth

Three Days to Go: The Top Fifteen Best Pictures of Lydia from the Past Year

I tried to keep it to ten.  I really did, but 15 was the best I could do.  Here they are in order of when they were taken with a brief description of why they made my list.

1. Because they were cautiously getting to know each other.  Now they are enthusiastic partners in crime on a daily basis.

2. Because Lydia spent her first week being held by my then-invalid father, and this picture shows how tiny she looked next to his big carpenter's hands.

 

3. Because she's even cute when she's angry. This is what she thought of baths for the first four months. 

4. Because this is the look BJ always gets from her.

5. Because you've got a love sloppy, wet toddler kisses!

6. Because Lydia and I have spent the better part of this past year cuddling with her in that wrap.

 

7. Because of their matching snotty noses.

8. Because this is from the night Lydia and I did our Christmas shopping.  I dressed her like a polar bear to go Christmas shopping.  How fantastically awesome is that?!?!

9. Because of baby back wrinkles!

10. Because between the red wrapping paper and the brand new knitted hat from Nana, this picture pretty much captures Lydia's first Christmas.

11. Because of a simple math equation: the hair + the eyes + the ears + the drool = cute.

12. Because of two words: the hair.

13. Because this is the intensity with which she examines each person she meets.

14. Because Lydia has a purple hat with ear flaps. 'Nuff said.

15. Because Lydia in a swimsuit makes me giggle.

Four Days to Go: The Shoes

Everything on Lydia is tiny, so it should come as no surprise that Lydia has exceptionally small feet.  When I was pregnant, Uncle Bro and Aunt Stephanie got Lydia a pair of 3-6 month pink Converse shoes to match my own pair.  I was very impatient for Lydia to be able to wear them, but it took her about 6 to 7 months to grow into them.  Fortunately, they have now fit her for the latter half of her first year.  She has worn them out.  They are frayed and grimy.  She has crawled and walked all over the place in these shoes, and they show the signs.  Her toes are just now reaching the limit, so I will be retiring them soon.  But when I think of Lydia as a baby, I'll probably always think of her in pink converse shoes.  Here's a pictures of Lydia's first truly great pair of shoes.  Being that she is a girl, there are probably going to be many, many, many, many, many more pairs to come (and yes, BJ, you will be paying for them the next 17 years).

Five Days to Go: What we've learned since having Lydia.

For Shepherd's first birthday, I did a count down.  While in Ardmore, I worked on a series of post so that I could do the same thing for Lydia.  If I set them up correctly, a new post should appear every morning at 7:00 leading up to Lydia's birthday. For the first post, here are some thoughts on what we've learned during our first year with Lydia.

1. In the words of BJ, "She's no smile slut."  As I've mentioned before, Lydia is an introvert.  It takes months of quality time with Lydia before she starts handing out smiles.  The plus side to this is that when she does smile at someone, they feel like they've accomplished something significant.

2. I'm even girlier than I new.  For the past year, I've giggled at every bow, every pair of tights, every ruffle, and every tutu. BJ just rolls his eyes, but I'm not fooled.  He's giggling inside.  Deep, deep, deep inside.

3. Having a girl has changed BJ.  The other day, BJ told me that he had ordered a bigger car seat for Lydia.  At first, I was disappointed he had ordered it without consulting me because I naturally assumed it would be gray and stoic.  Well, it came in the mail. It is pink.  And floral. 

4. Just because she's light wieght doesn't mean you should never put her down.  According to the nursery attendants at the YMCA, Lydia constantly demands to be held, and the only explanation for such behavior in a baby is that they are held too much at home.  After being repeatedly chastised for this, I have changed my holding habits exactly none at all.  Oh well.

5. She is the tiniest baby in the world. At Lydia's last doctor's appointment, we were told that she is in the 0% in weight and the 1% in height for a girl her age.  When first seeing these number, I had a panic attack (What do you mean? Is she merely a figment of our imagination?!?) Thank you, anxiety disorder.  But after repeated reassurances from the doctor, I came to see that Lydia is a perfectly healthy miniature baby.  It is actually sort of cool.

6. There are several perks to having the tiniest baby in the world.  For one, people think she is a prodigy at everything she does (we'll just keep it our little secret that she isn't a three month old who has magically learned how to crawl.) Perhaps the biggest advantage is what I like to call the teacup affect.  You see, people always want the teacup poodles, yorkies, etc., because pretty much everything is cuter in miniature.  Well, Lydia is a teacup baby, which means she is extra adorable.  Do you see the logic there?   

7. There are also drawbacks.  Primarily, when Lydia is in the nursery at the YMCA, all the other children think she is their own personal doll.  She isn't the youngest baby there, but she is the tiniest.

8. There are also some drawbacks to being the mother of the tiniest baby in the world.  People are openly incredulous when I tell them Lydia's age. No, I'm not an idiot who doesn't remember when she birthed a child.  My daughter really is a year old.

9. Girls are sugar and spice and everything nice. But that doesn't mean they don't get a good laugh out of passing gas.  Lydia tooted during dinner the other night, and she and BJ got a big kick out of it.

10. A two year old is capable of a great amount of love for a baby.  Shepherd and Lydia play and jabber all of the time.  As someone who values my own sibling relationship more than I can put into words, this is a beautiful thing to watch.

Before we head out...

As many of you know, BJ has begun a doctoral program this year to earn a Doctorate of Ministry in Spiritual Formation from Lipscomb University.  The way this program works, BJ will be spending two weeks in Nashville every July and February for the next two years, and he will work on his final project at home the third year.  At the end of all of this, he will be Rev. Dr. Gensic (which he is fully intending to make any boy Lydia ever brings home call him.)  BJ's first residency begins Monday, July 15th (our anniversary).

The down side to all of this is that BJ will be missing Lydia's first and second birthdays and our 7th and 8th anniversaries.  A week from this Sunday, Lydia will be a year old.  I'm seriously not sure where that year went.  The good news is that Shepherd, Lydia, and I will be spending this coming two weeks with the Gensics.  We will be in Alton, IL, with BJ's parents (Nana and Papa), and in the middle of the two weeks, we will be in Markle, IN, with the extended Gensic family.  That middle part just so happens to include Lydia's birthday, so needless to say, there is going to be a big family celebration that I am very excited about.

I record all of this here for the purpose of warning that my post are likely to be sporadic for the rest of July.  We'll just have to see what I manage while I'm away.  But in the mean time, here are some wonderful pictures of my children.

First, here are some pictures of Shepherd in his new favorite sleeping location: his tent.  He has put every blanket and stuffed animal we own in there, and he sleeps with them all every night and every nap time.

And here is Lydia's first real pony tail.  It was a big moment for me.

I guess that's all for now.  I'd better go work on packing.

Lydia learning how to walk

Reading list update

At the beginning of the year, I set a goal for myself to read at least one book that fit twenty different topics.  In late February, I did an update on the first four books I had read from my list (these books are in bold on the below list.) Since that post, I have continued whittling away on my list (while also managing to fit in several just-for-fun books along the way.)  So here is another update on my year of erudition.

1. Theology - The Mystic Way of Evangelism: A Contemplative Vision for Christian Outreach by  Elaine Heath
2. Pulitzer Prize Winner - Gilead by Marilynne Robinson; It took me a very long time to get into this book, but once I did, I felt it was well worth my effort.  Gilead is about a dying minister who is writing to his young son.  In testimony to the profoundness of the book, BJ got a couple of sermons out of me reading him some of my favorite parts.
3. Mystery - Brandy and Bullets by Donald Bain;  I was almost too embarrassed to admit this one on my list.  This book is actually based on the TV series, Murder, She Wrote.  Apparently, for the past twenty years, Donald Bain has been publishing murder mysteries staring Jessica Fletcher, and as it turns out, they're pretty dang good.  I've always been a devotee of the show, so when I needed a light read a month ago, I checked this book out.  It is set in Cabot Cove, so I was immediately enchanted with the atmosphere.  The rest was just a delightful little read.
4. Thriller - The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley; This was a Kindle Daily Deal that I bought specifically to fulfill my "thriller" requirement.  It was about a female archeologist in Scotland who is researching the site of an old Roman camp.  Of course, there were ghosts and murders and a romance with a charming, curly-haired Scotsman. Basically, I couldn't stop clicking for the pages to turn.
5. Trashy Romance - Years by Lavyrle Spencer 
6. A Vampire Book
7. Children's Lit
8. A book that has or is being made into a movie
9. A Collection of Poetry
10. A Shakespeare Play - The Tempest; Turns out that reading Shakespeare when you aren't being forced to in school is absolutely awesome!  It didn't feel like a chore I had to do to complete my New Year's resolution.  It was actually fun!  This may have to become a yearly goal.
11. A book of historical non-fiction written by Doris Kearns Goodwin - Team of Rivals; I decided that since this book was so long and hefty (and since my opportunities to read are usually short and include children screaming in the background), I would listen to it as an audio book while I worked in my kitchen.  Just 30 minutes in, I didn't want to turn it off.  I started trying to think of extra chores I could do in my kitchen.  I am not being facetious when I say this: I had the cleanest kitchen of my life that week.  And when I got to the final CD and the narrator announced that it was Friday and I knew that Lincoln was assassinated on a Friday, I put down my dish rag, set on the floor next to the CD player, and cried for the rest of the book.  Obviously, we all know how the story ends, but you can't help hoping for a happier ending even after a hundred and fifty years.
12. Biography (Currently working on this with David McCollough's John Adams.  It is so engrossing that I've hardly had time to clean house or think about my upcoming trip these past few days.)
13. Memoir - Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield; Another random find on my Kindle.  This book is written by a former English professor and lesbian who is now the wife of a minister in a very conservative denomination.  It truly is a story that is stranger than fiction.  While many of her currently-held views are a bit conservative for me, I found her humility in the face of God's divinity inspiring. 
14. Comedy - I Suck at Girls by Justin Halpern; I laughed so much reading this book that BJ would leave the room because he couldn't focus on his homework.  Justin Halpern first got famous for his Twitter feed, "Sh*t My Dad Says." This book chronicles Halpern's encounters with women from childhood to marriage, and of course, his father plays a big role in his education about the opposite sex.  What surprised me most was what an amazing parent his foul-mouthed father actually is.  I actually got some good parenting tips from this book.
15. British classic and/or a Booker Prize winner - Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen;  I read this book with my brother and sister-in-law (we have made our own book club.)  While it was quite different from Austen's other books, I still thoroughly enjoyed it.  All I have left now of her books is Emma.
16. An Agatha Christi - Peril at End House
17. Young Adult Lit - City of Bones by Cassandra Clare; My mother-in-law lent this to me about two years ago, but I just picked it up on a whim in May.  I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.  It is definitely Young Adult.  You have to accept that the character are going to seem a bit immature before you pick it up.  But once you get in the right mind-set, it is a fast-paced, action-packed ride.
18. The Bible - Read through Chapter 96 of Psalms so far...
19. SciFi or Fantasy - The Once and Future King by T. H. White 
20. Graphic Novel

Making a Rental a Home: Part 3

When we first moved to this house, the bathroom was definitely the bane of my existence.  It had horrible brown retro tile, natural-wood vanity and cabinet doors that clashed with said tile, a hideous brown and mauve floral border that periodically had to be sprayed to kill the mold that would collect on it, and an old, tired white paint job on the walls.  There was nothing redeeming about it.  However, when it looked like we were going to stay in this house after all, I got a little excited about the creative challenge of taking the aesthetic nightmare and transforming it something that wouldn't nauseate me every time I passed its open door. After all, I didn't get a degree in art for nothing.

After researching several blogs that focus on retro decorating, I started seeing the tile less as a curse and more as a potential retro gem.  I decided to create some paintings that would function on several levels: they would be captivating for the kids, help with teaching bathroom etiquette, and exhibit retro elements that would make the brown tile look like it was all part of my original scheme.  Here are the paintings I ended up doing:

After completing the paintings, I was ready to pick a wall color.  I went with a  light blue-green.  I then painted the wonderful frames my dad built for the monster paintings in a much darker blue-green.  Lastly, we painted all of the natural wood a bright white.  This last step made such a dramatic change in the bathroom that my friend, Megan, immediately asked if we had gotten brighter light bulbs. 

Much to my own shock, this is now my favorite room in the house as far as decor goes.  Shepherd also very much approves.  He loves talking about the monsters and what they are doing.  I think that this room has become my personal favorite, though, because it represents so well what I am trying to learn to do right now: take what is given and learn to be content.  Overall, I feel like we took some lemons (a 1950s brown-tiled bathroom) and made some pretty delicious lemonade!

Making a Rental a Home: Part 2

Our camera batteries died, so this little series had to take a hiatus until I actually remembered to buy some.  But to continue our quest to make what was once a very unsavory rental a home, here is what we've done to the living room.

For this room, we obviously took out the very stained and a little musty-smelling carpets.  We painted the very white walls a neutral wicker color.  Also, we put up new curtains in a soft green-blue hue that complements the olive couches.  I've also switched up wall hangings throughout the living and dining areas just because I needed a change.

Our living room includes our dining area.  I have plans to paint the table, but that probably won't get done for a couple of months yet.  Until then, the main change is the art area I created to display Shepherd's (and one day Lydia's) artwork.  

Last Wednesday, I decided it was time to do something with this wall, so I painted the Picasso quote, hung up some clothes line, and (ta-da) we have our very own art gallery.  Shepherd gets very excited to see his most recent creations go up on the wall.  If you come to our house, It is likely that he will show it off.

That's the new living room!  Up next, the bathroom!

Another Conversation with Shepherd

(Shepherd squeezes my nose)
Shepherd: Mommy, I've got your nose!  It's got boogers in it!
Me: My nose doesn't have boogers.  Does your nose have boogers in it?
(I pretend to closely examine the inside of his nose.)
Shepherd: I don't have boogers in my nose!  I ate 'em all up!

My Illuminating Conversation with Shepherd This Morning

Me: Gus is a dog, so in Spanish, Gus is a perro.
Shepherd: No, Gus isn't a perro.  He is a dog because he eats his own poop.

I think Shepherd may have just written a very accurate definition of what a dog is.

Making a Rental a Home

Nearly two years ago, we signed a lease for our rental house here in Ardmore without ever actually seeing the house.  It is one of those crazy things people have to do when they keep moving all over the country.  As excited as I was to come to Ardmore, I was heartbroken about leaving our house in Kentucky for multiple reasons: we owned that house, it truly felt like a home, and it was the place to which I had brought Shepherd home when he was born.

When we arrived in Ardmore, we were relatively happy with our rental.  It wasn't great.  The carpets were horrible, but we figured it would do for the one year agreed to in our contract and then we would look around.  As soon as the first year ended, we started looking for a new rental.  We looked and looked and looked, and all we found was that the rentals in our price range in Ardmore, OK, are dismal.  All the looking just made us more discontent.  I started missing our little cottage in Kentucky even more, and we never felt settled.  Buying wasn't (and won't be for a while) an option because we, like so many people in America, were severally stung by the housing crash of 2008, as in we lost A LOT of money on our house in KY.  Finally, it hit us that maybe we needed to learn to be content here.  Maybe it was time to make a home out of the house God had put us in.

Since then, we've been slowly changing all the things that made this house feel so cold and utterly un-homey.  We started by painting the walls, and then (with the generous help of BJ's parents) we were able to take out the carpets and have the gorgeous hardwood floors underneath redone.  To celebrate this whole process, I thought I would start a brief series on my blog looking at each room and showing what we've done and what we've yet to do.    First off, Lydia's room.

I have loved setting up Lydia's room over the past few months.  I'm a girly-girl, so making a girly space has been great.  In Lydia's room, we've painted the walls a soft, creamy yellow, and of course, we've taken out the orange-brown carpet. 

Here is a really good shot of the floors:

Also, I sewed the curtains using some beautiful, bright fabric I found at Hobby Lobby.  The tie-backs for the curtains are just ribbon glued around belt loops. 

As far as our to-do list for this room, we have a bookshelf that we are planning to put in after we paint it peach.  The bookshelf will be for toys, books, blankets, and some clothing items. In all of our rooms, we still have to repaint the base boards, but that is waiting until grandparents come to watch the kids while I get down to work. For the most part, though, Lydia's room is done, and I'm so pleased with her little space!

Speaking of Lydia, here is my new favorite picture of Lydia.  Shepherd was sitting at the dining table painting, so she crawled under the table and poked Shepherd in the belly button.  She was pretty proud of herself.  Seriously, can you look at that face without smiling?  I didn't think so.

 

On BJ and His Lydia

A year ago, I made this prediction on my blog:

"BJ is often thought of as a harsher personality.  This is in fact not true at all when it comes to being a husband and father.  I predict that when he holds this little girl, he will basically turn into a giant bowl of mush."

So, I was mostly right.  BJ has a hard time with the newborn stage.  All the crying and neediness is terrifying for him.  But as the newborn phase quickly passed and Lydia's little personality started to shine through, I have thoroughly enjoyed sitting back and watching BJ fall in love with his daughter.

When Lydia was about 2 months old, I caught BJ walking around with Lydia in his arms and an uncertain smile on his face.  I asked him what he was grinning about, and he responded, "I just realized she's kind of cute."  They've been making googly eyes ever since.

Here is BJ and Lydia's relationship summarized down to a few points, all of which offer ample evidence for the mush that Lydia has planted inside of BJ:

-During meal times, they have staring contests.  Intermittently throughout the games, she offers BJ bits of her food which she quickly retracts when he leans in to get a bite.

-When Lydia hears BJ come in the front from work, she immediately starts crawling in that direction while making an odd, whining, needy sound.  BJ eats it up.

-BJ spends 7:00 to 8:00 every night in the bathroom giving Lydia and Shepherd their baths.  During Lydia's bath time, Lydia sings while BJ rapidly flicks his finger over her mouth making vibrating noises.  Every time we are around people, BJ tries to get Lydia to do their little trick, but she is too shy to do it for anyone but BJ in the privacy of our bathroom.

-BJ likes to hold Lydia while he greets people after his sermon.  I'm not sure if it is so that he can show her off or if it is because it is so entertaining watching her stare people down.  (I believe I've mentioned her impressive social skills before.)

-They do baby acrobats all of the time:

-BJ loves to make her mad by picking on her.  Last night, he dipped her feet for a milla-second into Shepherd's frigid kiddy pool, and she just about had a conniption.  BJ often shows his affection through mischief.

-But perhaps the greatest proof of BJ having been turned into mush by the very existence of Lydia is this: He now uses the word "cute" on a regular basis.  And seriously, who can blame him.

 

The Past Two Weeks in Bullet Points

• We spent an entire week in Alton, IL with Nana and Papa.  Shepherd had a wonderful time playing outside and "driving" Papa's red pick-up truck.  Unfortunately, Lydia got a virus while we were there, so she spent much of the week as a grumpy, limp noodle.
• On the drive home, we arrived in Norman, OK at the same time as a tornado.  It was terrifying.  We could not find any cover, so we scootched up against a bank building and waited it out.  I covered Lydia with a pillow, and BJ put Shepherd in between him and the car seat.  Once the danger passed, I broke down crying.  I've never been that kind of scared for my babies and our family.  I said a lot of prayers during that 15 minutes, and I feel so grateful that we came out unscathed.  I can't say the same for our van, though.  It is likely that our insurance company will classify it as totaled once they get around to our claim.  
• Being an Oklahoman is a mixed bag of emotions right now.  I feel anxiety about the ferocity of our weather, and I saw that anxiety mirrored in the faces of my neighbors every time clouds have blown in this week.  (The tornado sirens went off for us Monday evening, and BJ could see rotation directly above our house).  I also feel in awe of the heroism and courage exhibited by so many during these storms.  And of course, I feel sadness and mourn with all those who have lost their homes, and worst of all, a loved one.    
• On a happier note, my parents are visiting us this weekend, and once again, Shepherd is having a blast.  He hasn't napped since they arrived, and I don't think I've ever seen him go full force for so long.  Lydia is getting in on the excitement, too.  She is even occasionally letting people other than me and BJ hold her.  Occasionally.
• Also on a happy note, my brother, John, and his wife, Stephanie, came up to Ardmore today for the first meeting of our three-person book club.  We all read Northanger Abbey over the past week, and we sat down to a lovely discussion and some hot tea and coffee at Ardmore's local coffee shop.  Yes we are nerds.  But we are happy nerds.
• Last but not least, a picture of Lydia in her St. Louis Zoo cap Nana and Papa bought her last week before she got sick and a picture of my son doing his goofy picture grin:
   
  
  
  Okay, okay.  If you insist, here are two more pictures.  One of Lydia experimenting with how large she can make her eyes while eating.  And one of Shepherd with a bucket on his head.
  
   
  

He is totally my son!

Shepherd has a very different temperament from me.  While there is a stunning resemblance between him and pictures of me in my toddler days, it sometimes seems that the similarities stop there.  Now let me be clear: I am completely okay with this.  I love that little guy to pieces, and I don't want him to be just like me.  I want him to be just like him.  But it has still been fun the past month seeing a little of me peeking out in Shepherd.  Here are three recent moments when I had to sit back and admit that we might be more alike than I'd realized:

1.  I am known for being neurotically careful.  It is a trait I inherited quite honestly from my father.  My dad puts so much stock in being careful that he would stop at nothing to make sure my brother and I followed suit.  For example, when he was teaching us how to drive, he would sit in the passenger's seat telling us stories about wrecks that had happened in whatever location we happen to be driving by.  Twisted? Maybe a little.  Affective? Absolutely.  But that was a tangent.  Back to Shepherd.  So Shepherd was playing on the wood beams that make our raised garden bed.  He was walking very, very slowly and concentrating completely on each move. After making it around a few times, he proudly announced to me, "Look, Mommy.  I be careful."  That's right.  My 2 and a half year old is careful while he plays.

2. I have always warned Shepherd to stay away from very dangerous objects by saying that they could hurt us. What can I say? I've got my Dad's parenting skills. It's never been much of an issue, but now that Shepherd is getting older, he is a little more aware and frightened of pain.  While working at the church garden a couple of weeks ago, I warned Shepherd to stay away from the tiller because it could hurt us.  Throughout the evening, he pointed at the tiller repeatedly and said, "That can hoot us."  I didn't think much of it until a week later when I told Shepherd we were going to work in the church garden, and he immediately said, "The tiller can hoot us."  That level of anxiety can only be attributed to my side of the gene pool.

3.  And lastly, I'm not just a ball of neurotic anxiety.  I'm also really good at positive reinforcement.  So the other day, Shepherd asked me for some "swawberwies."  I told him I'd be happy to get him some and went to the kitchen to wash and cut them into bite-sized pieces.  Shepherd followed me and was watching me when all of the sudden he said, "Good job cuttin' swawberwies, mom."  Thank you, son.  I do have some superb strawberry-cutting techniques.  Since my kids are too young to get me anything for Mother's Day, I'm considering that compliment my Hallmark card. 

I won't be posting for a bit because we're heading out of town tomorrow to spend the whole week with Nana and Papa in Alton, Illinois.  Shepherd has been talking about it non-stop, although he hasn't yet realized that over 10 hours in the car proceed actually getting to see Nana and Papa.  We'll see how that revelation goes tomorrow afternoon.