This week was Spring Break for our kids. It was COLD most of the week. I handed them off to my parents on Monday and Ben retrieved them from New Martinsville on Friday. (I went to a women's retreat this weekend so I didn't see them again until Sunday afternoon!) They spent some time with each of our parents doing way more fun things than they would have done if they stayed home with a babysitter this week. You'll hear more about their adventures as soon as the kids finish their guest blog. It's slow going, but we're getting there.
In the past, they've spent time with our parents on more regular intervals for shorter amounts of time. But this school year has been different for various reasons. This week happened to work beautifully for both of our parents. There was a part of me that felt bad about sending them away when we should've been doing something fun over Spring Break. But the honest truth is that both of us still had to work and I would've ended up paying a sitter for 3 of those days. Plus, our parents and the kids were both so excited to get to spend time with each other. Why wouldn't I want to give them both that gift of spending time with their grandparents/grandchildren. It's one of the most special relationships in a kid's life. And so if our parents are able and willing and our kids are so excited about it, why not?
And that left us home without kids for 4 days! It was a working vacation for us. Some highlights of the week included:
- waking up 1.5 hours later every morning and walking out the door at the usual time
- working late a couple of days and still having plenty of time in the day to do whatever we wanted to do
- being out after 8pm together and not having to pay someone to be able to do that
- my first YL college club and then going out after
- doing things spur of the moment
- going for coffee with a friend whose kids were also at their grandparents
- dinner out two nights, and leftovers the other two nights (no cooking!)
- a house that stayed clean all week
- no globs of toothpaste in the bathroom sink
- being a little more flexible with my schedule; not living by the bus, school and bedtime schedule
- spending several evenings in a row with Ben
- going to a pampered chef party while Ben went to a committee meeting
At one point during the week I said, "I remember who we were!" I remembered the days of doing ministry like crazy, never being home, not cooking and doing life together in a really, really different way. It was encouraging to me that we enjoyed this week so much and that we could find plenty to do together and on our own. It was a complete gift to us.
So, thanks John Pap, Doh, Gary Pap & Grandma. Thanks for loving our kids and creating great memories for them. I'm so thankful that we were all really excited about this week and it was a blessing all the way around. The kids did lots of new and fun things, and made memories with you that are precious and lasting. Thank you!
to be continued . . .
- waking up 1.5 hours later every morning and walking out the door at the usual time
- working late a couple of days and still having plenty of time in the day to do whatever we wanted to do
- being out after 8pm together and not having to pay someone to be able to do that
- my first YL college club and then going out after
- doing things spur of the moment
- going for coffee with a friend whose kids were also at their grandparents
- dinner out two nights, and leftovers the other two nights (no cooking!)
- a house that stayed clean all week
- no globs of toothpaste in the bathroom sink
- being a little more flexible with my schedule; not living by the bus, school and bedtime schedule
- spending several evenings in a row with Ben
- going to a pampered chef party while Ben went to a committee meeting
At one point during the week I said, "I remember who we were!" I remembered the days of doing ministry like crazy, never being home, not cooking and doing life together in a really, really different way. It was encouraging to me that we enjoyed this week so much and that we could find plenty to do together and on our own. It was a complete gift to us.
So, thanks John Pap, Doh, Gary Pap & Grandma. Thanks for loving our kids and creating great memories for them. I'm so thankful that we were all really excited about this week and it was a blessing all the way around. The kids did lots of new and fun things, and made memories with you that are precious and lasting. Thank you!
to be continued . . .
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