Re-entry.

Re-entry after a vacation is tricky. Logically, I want to talk with my neighbors, unpack, go thru mail, pay bills, put away clean clothes, mow the grass, grocery shop, wash, dust, spin, pivot and race.

Reality? Yah. Mountains of laundry and a very comfy sofa calling my name. And all I really want to do is go thru pics, relive and relaugh at every sweet moment of an amazing trip.

Who puts the pressure on me to do more and more? Mostly just me. So who can make the choice to do less and less? Definitely me.

Today I am listening to my kids, going for a walk and contemplating scrapbooking.

Laundry Schmaundry.

By the numbers.

3 years of planning

427 days of actual 'countdown'

17 friends

1 big boat

7 days at sea

16 lbs of chocolate consumed (maybe per day!)

8 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night

2 children staying with grandma and grandpa

1 handsome man making it all happen

How about you? What are your numbers?

Here's hoping you don't have to wait 427 days to Get Away.

No way.

I had spent the week caring for my friend, Sheila, in another state and her family while she recouped from surgery. During that week, I just did all the natural mom-things:

• played with her kids
  
• took them to school
  
• occasionally remembered to pick them up
  
• served Oreos for breakfast
  
• "decorated" her van
• and may have misplaced all the veggies in her home. 
  

I also spent time with her friend and neighbor, Julie, in the yard, on the phone, getting ice cream and going to the pool (gotta love the south!)

A few days after I left, Sheila mentioned to Julie that my husband John is in ministry. Julie almost blacked-out. "SHE's a minister's wife?!!" It took some convincing, but she eventually believed her.

Sheila called me. Her first question, "What did you do? WHAT did YOU do??" She wanted details of what happened while she was medicated and why on earth would Julie be shocked that I was 'one of those'?

Whatever Julie's stereotype of a Christian Minister's Wife was, I had completely shattered it. 

And it was a good thing. She was willing to believe I was in Christ, but the married to ministry was too much.

Makes me wonder what Julie thought I was. 

Given a week with you what would a stranger guess you to be?

Rocket Dogs.

I've hit that less than sentimental point in my life where priorities have shifted. The things that define a good day are radically different than a few years ago. 

A good day then included:

no spills

less than 7 band aids

happy meal (left over fries for me)

naps all around

a great rehearsal

late night movie

A good day now includes:

a comfortable pair of shoes

and a nap... for me.

Ok, the great rehearsal is still good and you can never go wrong with a movie. But the day that comfortable shoes became important was the day I saw my mother in the mirror. 

small sigh.

Save the man.

My dad's best friend was named Don. He was a larger than life kind of guy, with a laugh kind of like a volcano. I mean it truly erupted in a room and caught fire. In a good way. His love of life was highly contagious, which is probably why my dad was so drawn to him. 

For a couple years Don's business was in jeopardy. He stood to lose everything. For those few years Dad and Don would talk for hours every week. Repositioning, thinking, exploring and searching for solutions. A way to save his business. 

In October one year Dad's best friend Don died in a car accident. He was living life fast that afternoon, and paid a terrible price for it.

My dad was devastated. The loss was so great.

Because you see, my dad is a great man of faith. His personal relationship with Jesus is the center of his life. And although Don knew that about my dad, it was not the primary focus of their discussions. Not in the decades they had known each other, and certainly not in the last two years of intense financial crisis.

My dad later said to my mom, "If only I had spent those years trying to save the man, rather than save the farm."

Save the man. Always choose to save the man.

It is easy for me to lose site of Christ when the crisis hits. How do we spend our time when crisis hits? Problem solving? or with the One who can solve the problems?