Wow, June was quite a month! We left our house on May 31st and returned on July 1st, only stopping into the house for a nights sleep in between those dates. I am very excited to see next months utility bills, they should amount to almost nothing. Hooray! Although, amazingly, a clean house can get dirty, all by itself, when you are gone that long. I have no idea how(well...I'll share with you a few reasons later). We really had a lot of fun while we were gone. We met lots of new friends, did many fun activities, and got to see and do things that we wouldn't normally get to see or do outside of these circumstances. Although if we are being honest, it wasn't all giggles and grins. There were a few times I thought "We've lost our minds. What in the world were we thinking?" There were a lot of "Are we there yet's" and just about as many "enjoy the ride's". All in all, it was probably just about one of the best experiences we have had as a family. We have never been on vacation so I guess this could qualify as a vaca with a little(or a lot) of work mixed in!
You know when you go on vacation you try to prepare your house right? You eat all the food that will spoil. You turn off any unnecessary electronics and other energy eaters. The checklist goes on and on. Well then you come home... your tired, hungry, and have a mountain of laundry about the size of your house to complete, yet you have no food, and no laundry soap(well, at least I didn't). I thought... "Man, I thought I had this well planned out. I should have had someone here set up to greet us with the necessities(toilet paper, milk, bread, LAUNDRY SOAP)" Well, a girl can dream right? There are a few other things that went wrong with my "perfect prep" for our house sitting empty for a month. So, I thought I would make a "Top 5" list of things that our travels taught us. If for nothing other than making you laugh!!
1. Check and double check that all toilets are flushed before you leave!! Trust me, after being gone that long, in a house with the a/c turned off, that's a nasty thing to come home to! I thought I had checked all of them but someone had obviously gone upstairs after my final re-check and used the bathroom. I thought someone had died in our house while we were gone!
2. Arrange for the neighbors to somehow get your trash out on trash day. Month old dirty diaper smell in your garage is not coming out anytime soon.
3. Take DVD's that will entertain your kids but not drive you up the wall while you are driving!! I can only listen to certain veggie tale songs so many times before I want to use an ice pick on my ear drum.
4. WE HAVE WAY TOO MUCH STUFF!!!! If my kids can live for a month in the same 10 outifts, and with only a backpack full of toys we need to get rid of some stuff. That exactly what I did when we got home. I went through closets and toys and picked out things that didn't fit anymore or just never get worn or played with or are broken.I do this on a monthly basis with clothes and toys anyways but this time I was really picky. When I was done we had a pile of toys for nana's new house, a bigger pile of toys for the goodwill store, and a bunch of clothes to donate. I feel much better now, but we still have way more than we need. This was a great way to have an eye opening conversation about people who are less fortunate than us and may not have as many nice things as we have. We should be grateful for all the Lord has given us!
5. You need at least a few days to recover your house when you get home. We came home Monday. We have been working non-stop since arriving home to get everything ready for our first preview service this Sunday for The Journey Baptist Church!!! As well as, taking a break in the evening for same patriotic family fun. Enjoying the holiday and the price that was paid so that we could live in this great country! Needless to say, I should have hired a maid. This house is a wreck and it is just getting worse and worse. This is not good for an OCD person AT ALL!! I just keep looking around me wanting to freak out and then I have to tell myself, PRIORITIZE. There is so much to be done. I will be happy to have things settle down next week so we can et our feet under us again!
There are so many more things that could be listed but I will spare you.
However, what I take most from our month of travels, are the many blessings and privileges that we experiences along the way. God taught us to truly rely on him. When we were taking each step into darkness, not knowing what was next, or how he would provide, he would gently whisper, TRUST ME. Our real faith was found when we were at the end of all that we could do, and we watched God provide time and time again. Not only for our needs, but for most of our wants as well. Just another reminder that God is so gracious to me, even when I don't deserve it, when I'm doubting myself, and when I have come to my end... That's when he can use me most!
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