I just realized that the post below isn't really finished :) Hey, it's late, I'm pregnant and I'm tired. :) When I get back into town, I'll finish it :) Be patient.

Emily and I leave tomorrow for home. Our train leaves Union Station in Washington D.C. at about 4pm. It arrives in South Bend, Indiana at about 8am on Thursday. Then my train leaves from Niles, MI at about 11 am Thursday and arrives that evening in Ottumwa, Iowa at about 6:30pm. Dan will pick me up from there, we'll stay in Ottumwa for the night and head back home the next day after he's done with work. Sooo... I leave tomorrow, but I won't be home til Friday. Yay : / . Well, lots of time to read, reflect, journal, and study God's word, right??

The Battle of Gettysburg

"The Battle of Gettysburg. The third day. Pickett's Charge. The air hung heavily. The acrid smell of gun powder and the stench of the dead."

- Quoted from "Thomas" in the movie "Heart and Souls".

In the 11th grade, I thought I could handle AP US History. First of all, I have a mother who is absolutely in love with US history. Practically every vacation we ever took growing up was to an historic location. Many times to Gettysburg. So you'd think I would do well in this class. No, for all intents and purposes, I failed it and took regular history over the next year. To this day, I'm not entirely sure why I failed it. I'd imagine I simply didn't take it seriously enough or do the work needed to do well. I wish I could get a re-do. What's interesting to me is that all throughout college, I loved to take history courses - and I did very well in them. I hope to take more! I just enjoy learning about our history. Now, again, I couldn't tell you how many times I've been to Gettysburg. My parents currently live in Middletown, Maryland and I could probably go to Gettysburg anytime I'd like to. But it wasn't until this trip to Maryland that I truly began to understand what happened there. It seems I could never wrap my head around it before. There was much I didn't understand, and among them, the most befuddling question I had: why on earth would Pickett make that kind of seemingly suicidal charge?? Well, as mentioned, on this trip, I began to see Gettysburg with new eyes. I better understand what Lee intended for this fight, why certain pieces of ground were so important, and why Pickett would do something as seemingly foolish as his charge. I know that there is so much more history to understand there, but this is a very good and hopeful start for me!

General Lee won at Chancellorsville in May, 1863. Like many folk, he was ready for the war to end. When he laid his sights on Pennsylvania, it was with the intention of obliterating the Northern army by invading the North. He understood that the Northern army would follow him, which Major General Hooker was encouraged by President Lincoln to do. Lee intended to surround the Union military and pick them off one by one. On the first day, he was in a very good position to do just that.

You can read about what happened on the first, second and third days on Wikepedia. I won't bore you with all the details :) But I mentioned in my last post that I learned quite a bit and that I would share a smidge on here. You're welcome!

Trip to Maryland

Well, I made it! I met my cousin, Emily, in Michigan on Tuesday. Wednesday, we headed out by train to my parents' home in Maryland. We arrived Thursday at Union Station in Washington D.C. at about 2pm. From there, we took the Metro train to my mom and dad's, took showers, and then headed to the Cracker Barrell for dinner with the family. Today, we went to Gettysburg - and it was great! I'll have to get on and blog about what I got out of it. But I need to cut it short today. Tomorrow we head to Mount Vernon!

Waiting in Ottumwa

Dan has been working in Ottumwa exclusively since about the middle of August. Ottumwa is 2 hours away from where we live in Des Moines. Yes, so he has to drive 2 hours to work, work an 8-12 hr shift, and drive 2 hours home. On his 12 hour days, he usually spends the night to save energy and time. Tonight is one of those nights. And since I'm traveling by train from Ottumwa to start my journey to my parents' home tomorrow, I came along with him.

I used to HATE coming with him down to Ottumwa. Sure, at first, it was kind of fun, being in a new place and all. But then I decided that there was nothing for me to do while I waited the 5 hours for the hotel to allow me into our room. There was one horrible day when I had to be in this town for about 8 hours with what I thought was literally nothing to do, but to walk around maybe Target and sleep in the car. That day I was forced to find something. To my delight, there actually is more here than I thought. There's the library, where I can take my computer and use the free wifi. There's a movie theatre. Yes, I can walk around Target, Walmart or the Mall (although the mall isn't very impressive). They have a beautiful central park. There are restaurants and fast food places where I can eat and read or use the computer. No starbucks though. I do know people who live in Ottumwa, but to this day, I have never run into anyone. Sad.

This morning, I drove us here so that Dan could sleep on the way. When I dropped him off at work, I was soo tired - I slept for a good three hours in the car :). When I woke up, I went to Walmart, got some snack supplies for my trip and assembled everything into my carryons. And now, I'm at the library, using my computer and their free wi-fi. Here is my view:

It's the Wapello Courthouse. I'm sitting on a stool, working, facing the windows, and the courthouse is just across the street.

From here, I'll probably go check us into the hotel. Maybe sleep some more :). I do need to make some phone calls, etc. We are in the middle of trying to sell our house, of course. There is still a lot to do, even if I am escaping for a few days. *sigh* I wish Dan could escape, too. He needs to more than anyone I know.

So tomorrow morning, my train leaves from the amtrak station at about 10 am.

I have never before been on an amtrak train. My dad says he enjoys it. I hope I will, too! Again, I know I've said this before, but I'm just so glad I don't have to drive.

Did you know that Tom Arnold is from Ottumwa?

That is SO weird to me, because I just can't imagine him walking along the streets of this town. Or .. shopping here or going to school here. It's like I imagine he just appeared in Hollywood one day, without a past of his own :) You know, I love the show 'Roseanne'. And, of course, Tom Arnold was on that show for awhile. Do you remember 'The Lunchbox' from the show? It was the restaurant that Roseanne and her sister Jackie ran together? Well, there is a little luncheon here in Ottumwa called 'Canteen Lunch' that 'The Lunchbox' was based on. It kind of makes me want to stop by there on my way out of town! Miss Universe of 1956, Carol Morris, was also from Ottumwa.

Neverending Travels

By the end of the summer, I'm usually ready to be done traveling. And yet, here I am going on a trip again. I'm driving with Dan to Ottumwa, Iowa (about 2 hours away from Des Moines) and he's going to drop me off at the train station Tuesday morning. I should arrive in Niles, Michigan that night. Then my cousin Emily and I are leaving by train from South Bend, Indiana on Wednesday at 9:19pm and should arrive at Union Station in Washington D.C. on Thursday. I've never traveled by train before, but I am looking forward to it. I'm just so glad I don't have to drive! And it's way cheaper than flying. It will be good to see my parents and my brother, but I'm really going to miss Dan. He has to work all week and won't be able to go with us. I should be back on Thursday, Sept 24. Sheesh, that feels so far away. And then the rush to pack the house begins. We have to be out of the house by October 8, 2009, so long as everything goes well. So the current tentative plan is to pack the house up, move the weekend before the 8th, drive the house filled truck back to Indiana, unpack into a storage unit, and then Dan and I have to be back by that Monday so that Dan can work and we both have to be present for the closing on the 8th. Oh Lord, please let the inspections go well!

We're Moving!

We've finally sold our house! Hooray! We still have a ways to go, though. We have inspections on Monday and Tuesday of this week. We expect everything to go well, but you just never know. If everything DOES go well, the closing date is set for October 8, 2009. Doesn't that seem SO soon? It does to me. From there, we have a few options:

• Move back to Indiana (which we will eventually)
• Stay with our pastor and his wife while Dan finishes up in Ottumwa
• Stay at the parsonage in Ottumwa while Dan finishes his work there

It's just such a great thing that we've gotten this far. Please keep praying for everything to go smoothly. We can't tell you how much we appreciate your prayers!!

I've been having fun updating this blog! We hosted a paid site for awhile: "thehartsteins.com". But I didn't use it often enough to justify paying for it. So we're back! You know, when blogs started to become popular, I used them for two reasons: as a journaling source for myself and a life updater for friends and family. It seems like everyone I know is on Facebook. And it does a fantastic job updating everyone on what's happening in everyone's lives. So I ask myself, do I really need a separate blog, then? Maybe I should explain something before I answer that question. I am a journal junkie. I LOVE writing in journals, I love blogging in journals - and I love lots of places to do it! Actually, that's not entirely true. It would make me incredibly happy to stick with just one place to journal. But I love journaling so much that I love to try anything new that enables me to journal. Which is why I end up journaling over the place. And it's a chaotic mess. I'm ready to settle down. Back to the question: do I really need a separate blog? Yes, I think I do. But rather than blogging for both my own personal joy and to update friends and family, the purpose of my blog will be simplified down to "for my personal joy". I maybe need to think this through some more before I just dive right in. Although, I'm excited to!