Rest.

Not too shabby for our week away.

Scotty and I played some frisbee golf during our retreat.

Today Natty woke up in a foul mood.  She entered into what I call the crazy or irrational cycle during which she works herself up into more and more emotional angst over absolutely nothing and there is no known successful method of getting her out of it until she is ready.  I usually end up very weary and quite annoyed in the process.  Then I took a walk.  It was a cold morning, but clear and beautiful and quiet.  I put on some music and started walking- fast.  The songs seemed to speak to where I was at and I had some time to pray, listen and process.  It was just what I needed.  Scotty and I spent 8 glorious, child-free days at a bed and breakfast last week.  We were taking part in a SonScape retreat (highly recommended for anyone in ministry) and we were given a gift of free time and an encouragement to take a technology fast for that time.  It was so worth it.  We slowed down- a lot.  We read, we slept, I took baths, we played, we walked, we talked, we sat in silence, we processed and we were filled.  God did a lot in those quiet moments.  And, he used our leaders to remind us of how important it is to just be.  To rest.  To slow down.  And, to fight against the frantic, crazy, always buys, always connected life-style that most of us have gotten used to. We learned a lot about ourselves in the process and made a lot of decisions about how we want our future to look as a family in Bolivia.  We were able to see how we got to the very unhealthy place we've been in and God, in His immense grace, was able to move us further out of it and help us to think about preventing ever returning there...hence, the walk this morning.  One of the best weeks of our lives.

Slow down and smell the spaghetti sauce.

Chayila trying to pull all 3 in the Flyer.

Sitting at the breakfast bar on my parents-in-law's kitchen island, I can see a large skillet bubbling full of Papi's famous home made spaghetti sauce.  Jubilee and Natty are playing with their only 2 cousins that they see only once every few years.  Toys are scattered on the floor and even though we've had a rainy day, the skies have desisted long enough for the girls to be out in the flyer wagon enjoying the cool fresh air.  My sister-in-law, mother-in-law and I went for a mid-day workout, which will make stuffing far to much spaghetti in my face later a little less of a guilty pleasure.  The kids are all sleeping in the upstairs loft together at night- something that made me a bit nervous at the beginning but as it's on the other side of the house from my bedroom, I am doing my best to not worry about it since I can't hear what's going on up there anyway.  Papi and Mimsie have graciously gotten up early with the girls every morning that we've been here, and although I'm up as soon as they are (just their boom boom footsteps on the ceiling wake up my sensitive mommy-ears), I know I can lounge under the covers for a few more minutes before I get out.  The intense maternal instincts have made sleeping so far from them a bit tricky at times, as I wake up in the middle of the night wondering if I didn't just hear a cry far away from the kiddie loft.  Like last night, for example, when I sprang out of bed and launched into the intense darkness of my room (like, can't even see my fingers in front of my face dark) trying to remember what house I was in and what my room looked like and where the door was.  The joys of travelling...  I about headed into the bathroom before realizing I was off a bit and then adjusted my route and managed to make it out into the hallway.  It was so dark in the hallway that I found myself inexplicably tottering over to one side or the other and bumping into the walls.  I guess seeing helps with balance.  I tiptoed to the bottom of the stairs where the girls are, listened, heard nothing, and returned to my bed.  I've done this almost every night.  It feels so good to be in a place where not hearing my kids at night is my greatest concern.  The days have been laid-back and enjoyable, just being with family.  Since we don't have a hard-core travel schedule this home assignment, it's such a relief to just be.  To slow down and enjoy the wind and the sun and the trees and our families.