Today was a BEAUTIFUL DAY here in Spartanburg, South Carolina! The temperature was up in the 50’s, and the sun was shining all day long!

This morning’s church service went great! I enjoyed having the opportunity to preach for the Open Door Wesleyan congregation!

It was great to get a chance to see old friends and some new ones too! I did get a couple great photos with “my brother” Andrew, so those will go up when I can.

After church we headed to Fudruckers for lunch with Bob and Linda Moore. It was Jess’ first time at that restaurant. We had a wonderful meal there and then came home to relax for a bit.

Instead of relaxing, Jess and I headed out for a bit – me to the Radio Shack and her to the CATO store for clothes shopping. I wanted to pick up the Radar Detector that Craig got before Christmas, but they’re $20 MORE now that Christmas is over – so I’ll check a few more places before heading home.

NOTE: I DID NOT get a ticket on the way down here or anything like that – I just want the possibility of that happening on the way home to be even LESS!

After our “shopping expedition”, we came home and then we were off again for an evening of caroling with the Open Door Wesleyans. At 5PM, 14 of us hit up a couple local stops and sang some great day-after-Christmas carols. We ended the evening back at the Moore’s home for some coffee/hot chocolate/spiced cider fellowship!

The cookies sure were good!

First of all MERRY CHRISTMAS to all stevansheets.com visitors!

Stevan and Jessica REALLY wish each of you a joyous holiday this year as you celebrate firstly, the birth of the One who makes all things possible.

Now, here we go:

Jess and I left on Thursday at 2:51PM after we finished up at the funeral home and the graveside service. We got through Fort Wayne and down into Indianapolis without any trouble.

Once we got onto I-74 is when the trouble started. What SHOULD-HAVE taken a maximum of 3-hours to drive from Indy to Cincy ended up taking us more than 8-hours!

We were down to one-lane most of the way, with HUGE piles of snow on either side of the road and throughout the evening, we counted 57-vehicles off the road along the highway! 50 of those were BEFORE Cincinnatti!

At one time, we sat for nearly 2-hours on I-74 behind miles of traffic as supposedly 2-tractor-trailers were doing their best to climb a small hill and were unsuccessful in their attempts, delaying those behind them. It was terrible.

We finally decided to stop for a hotel soon after we eventually got onto our NEXT highway – I-75, heading South. We had to try three different exits and finally settled into a pretty nasty Knights Inn in some random city in Kentucky. Thankfully the bed was clean and they had running water to satisfy our needs. We slept for a few hours and were back on the road at 9AM. We didn’t settled until after 1AM, so we rested well!

The view the next morning was absolutely incredible and the roads were absolutely gorgeous, too! We were able to make GREAT time on Friday and arrived here in Boiling Springs, South Carolina before 3PM!

We enjoyed a great dinner with Mom and Dad at Steak & Ale on Christmas Eve and then a great time at the local theater watching “Christmas With the Kranks”, too!

We came back home, drank some egg-nog, and enjoyed opening our presents together on Christmas Eve.

This morning we all got to sleep in a bit and then Jess and I made breakfast around 9. We had French Toast, eggs, and sausage. Good times here at the Sheets’ household!

In a couple hours we will have a much-needed conversation with my sister, Sherilyn who is in Bosnia right now. That will be good for the soul.

So, what did we get for Christmas?

Here are the highlights…

Stevan & Jess: a globe from Sherilyn

Stevan: DVDs and a new sweater from Jess (and my toy that I told you all about weeks ago!), a new rolling toolbox from Mom and Dad, some games from Mom and Dad, some odds and ends from my sister, and of course my yearly Hess Truck from Mom and Dad!

Jess: two Josh Groban DVDs/CDs from her “best husband in the whole wide world”, AND this: a 1-hour Swedish massage, a manicure, and a pedicure from the “West End Spa” here in South Carolina – she and Mom will both be going to the Spa on Tuesday for some much needed pampering! Jess and I helped Sherilyn in getting the same spa-treatment for Mom. Jess also got some pretty cool stuff from Mom and Dad and Sherilyn, but you’ll need to ask her what they all are.

It’s been REALLY good to be here so far. I got to teach Mom some finer things of copying and pasting and cutting and pasting files and images on this – their personal computer. Bless her heart, she’s still typing with just her two index fingers!!!

Thank you to all of you who have been praying for us! The trip was QUITE the adventure as you probably saw if you were watching the news anytime this week! We were safe the entire time and were VERY glad to arrive here in South Carolina in one piece!

I will post pictures as soon as I can – I’ve got some good ones of the road and the ice storm that we woke up to in Kentucky! I couldn’t connect to anyone’s wireless internet, so I’m having to use Mom and Dad’s wonderful (sarcastic) dial-up internet today.

Sad.

Well, I made it through the day without anymore “episodes”.

Thank you, Lord!

I actually ate a 6-inch Subway sandwich at 3PM and managed to keep it in my system. That was my first food since Monday PM.

Tonight was theBOX Christmas Party 2004 – we had a great time. 39 came out tonight for fun, food, video games, and a gift from “Santa Stevan”.

“GQ”


Nate & Craig – sponsors or just old teenagers?


“Show me your intense gamer-face”


Callie-Jo visits from Wyoming!
So, following our party upstairs in theBOX, after everything is thrown away and cleaned up, I head downstairs to throw away 8 pizza boxes and walk outside to the dumpster and what do I see?

Chevy Impala
I see THE coolest car in the church parking lot – and I’VE got the keys to it! That’s right – the Sweeny’s (Momma Sweeny on the comments pages) have allowed us to borrow their car for our trip to South Carolina. It’s gorgeous!

What an awesome gift from God!! We had planned on renting a car and were even saving to do so, and then the Sweeny’s offered their car AND THEN Jess’ car broke down and we ended up using the “saved rental money” to fix her car!

God is awesome!

I told Jess tonight shortly after the smell of Papa John’s pizza wore off and my nausea subsided that I am really feeling like tomorrow’s trip to South Carolina will be a smooth and “all the way” trip! That means, theoretically, if we leave at say 3PM (the earliest), we should arrive in Spartanburg by like 2AM on Christmas Eve.

Pray for us – and stay tuned for updates – I’m hoping someone in Mom and Dad’s neighborhood has wireless internet!

I’m still sick, haven’t eaten since dinner on Monday and am downing Hi-C juice like it’s air or something.

The thought of eating makes me nauseated, so that’s not happening anytime soon.

Today I am enjoying the comfort of Immodium AD (atleast the Wallgreen’s version of it) and am here in the office trying to play catch up.

The funeral is tomorrow at 1PM. After the service at the cemetary, Jess and I will run home to change, and then it’s off to the warm South (hopefully).

Pray for us. We’ve got a huge BOX party tonight with the teens. The pizza has been ordered, the white-elephant gifts still need to be wrapped, and the soda purchased!

My wife is awesome. (you could tell her that you think so too! 574.269.9129)

Well, it finally happened- until last night I had a three-plus-years record of not “throwing up”.

At approximately 5:30AM, I literally hugged my porcelain friend. Jess was awesome! She set up the couch for me with 100-blankets, lined a trash can, and even stood by me during the “next episode”.

I have married the most caring woman ever!

Please pray for this sick guy today – I have WAY too much work to do today & tomorrow to be “attached” to my porcelain friend!

And for goodness sake, STAY AWAY FROM EL ARRIERO’S!