Deployment #2

What a crazy few days it has been!! This past weekend Kaden and I decided to take a quick little road trip and drive 6 hours to The Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Neither of us had been to Minnesota before so we both decided it would be a fun state to tackle together as we marked another one off our list. I've become slightly addicted to crossing off another state and I believe I am at 31 states. However, there are more that I want to "re-do." As we started traveling together, we wanted something we could remember each state by. We finally decided on buying magnets from each state! We have a great collection of them so far: 12. I want to find a magnet set that has molds each state together but I don't know if they make one or not! During each visit, we continually thanked God for letting us have the opportunity to see such marvelous sights and eating at nice restaurants. I realize that there are people out there that would give anything just to get out of the state they live in. I have a whole new insight about traveling and I definitely don't take it lightly. Kaden knows as we enter into a new state, the first thing he does is pull over the truck so I can get a picture in front of it.

As we drove to Minnesota, we first passed through the state of Iowa. Iowa is beautiful with some rolling hills and plenty of farmland. Old barns is the number one thing I saw on our trip to the mall. Absolutely beautiful, let me tell you.

The mall was INSANE, consisting of over 520 stores and 50 restaurants. The parking garage was labeled by states. We parked in Nevada, section P. The mall had it all, and even duplicates of many stores: Old Navy, Bath & Body Works, Victoria's Secret, etc. My favorite store was Godiva where we indulged in chocolate covered strawberries. Kaden enjoyed the Lego store where there were HUGE things made out of Legos. We finished the day riding the roller coaster that went straight UP and straight DOWN, followed by a upside flip. I love getting adrenaline rushes but let me tell you, I am terrified, petrified of roller coasters. I am so weird, I LOVE the roller coasters at Disney World. But roller coasters anywhere else, I become the biggest scardy cat. I guess I feel safer at Disney World than anywhere else. I finally agreed to ride one since I wasn't seeing any little kids flying off. I was so scared but I had to suck it up because there were 8 year old kids jumping up and down because they were SIKED about this roller coaster! As we turned the corner, I had one last chance to bail but considering Kaden had my hand in a death grip, I was stuck. In no time, I was strapped in but not until I checked my seat belt 50 million times. Kaden was a great support system as he laughed at me the whole entire time. I am here to say I survived, and God willing, I will tackle on Six Flags (one day)

Yesterday morning at 3 AM, we were getting ready to head to the airport when I realized I had left my wallet at Buffalo Wild Wings the night before. We went to the airport as I boo-hooed my eyes out thinking I would never make it back to Sweet Home Alabama. Luckily, I found out that you can fly on an airplane without a Driver's License: you just have to be patted down by the TSA. We changed my ticket for a later time and headed back waiting on BWW to open up. Around 8, I called the store hoping someone would be there and to my surprise the manager answered. We retrieved my wallet, called a taxi, and arrived with all of our bags. Kaden kept reminding me, "Catherine, thank God for this day. Tell him how thankful you are for everything. It's going to be okay." I realized Kaden was 100 percent right about the terrible day I was having. God was going to work it out for the best and smearing my mascara was doing me no good. We said our final good-byes as we knew it wouldn't be too much longer before I saw him again.

After being stuck in the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport for 10 hours yesterday, it feels so nice to be home. I became a little shook up at the airport because the weather was extremely dangerous and people were being too lackadaisical. I politely told one older lady that tornadoes are VERY real and in seconds, it can wipe out a town. Coming up on a year of the Tuscaloosa Tornado, I made sure to tell her how devastating tornadoes are. With over 400 flights cancelled, and 110 planes damaged by the unbelievable hail storm, I made it to Alabama last night around midnight.

I had a day of lots of praying and lots of thinking. How Great is our God? Like me, we may not always respond to mishaps in the right way, but in the end....It's gonna be okay.

Please continue to pray for Kaden. He called today from Turkey. 3 more months, 3 more months (fingers crossed) He has a wedding to attend :)