After the last few crazy months, Ben and I felt like we needed a little family refreshment. Ben just started his last 3 classes of seminary (hurray!) and we thought what better place to sit and read than on the beach. So when some friends invited us to join them for a couple of days at their beach house, we were excited for a little getaway.
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| Colin sleeping on the beach |
Have I mentioned that Colin hates his carseat? or that I get carsick?
or that Eli is potty training? Our supposed to be 3 hour car ride
consisted of nonstop crying, my hand arched behind my seat trying to
find something to calm the screaming baby which resulted in feeling
carsick, and stopping every 30 minutes because Eli is crying, "I HAVE TO
GO POTTY!" and would not pee in his pull up under any circumstances.
I admit I had hesitations the days leading up to leaving. Colin still
has been pretty fussy and I was nervous that he would just make everyone
miserable...
just like Eliot did
when we took him 2 years ago. Ben encouraged me to not set
expectations on the trip and just enjoy being with our family. I prayed
it would give us uninterrupted time to just play together-time that I
wouldn't be preoccupied with thinking about my to-do list. I thought
for sure the sound of the ocean would keep Colin calm the whole time.
Little did I know that the calming sound of the ocean would come from an Ap on my iPhone and not the actual ocean. It rained every single day that we were there. Alison kept saying, "it's not supposed to rain at the beach". You're telling me! We played candyland and ping pong, did a puzzle and watched movies. But I think we only made it down to the beach a total of 2 times.
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| building a sandcastle with Megan |
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| Eli very sad that daddy went down to the water without him |
The time we did have at the beach, the kids had a blast. We buried eachother in the sand, collected seashells, ran to the pier, and jumped in the waves. It made me look forward to the day that we can stay down at the beach all day long.
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| short family walk on the beach...in the rain |
I was thankful to have some time away, but after a couple of days, Colin made it clear that he was done sleeping in the pack n' play and we were all ready to come home. And as we packed up to leave, I realized how thankful I am to have a home I'm excited to get back to. What a comfort home can be.
On our way out, Ben took Alison and Eliot out on the pier to do some sight seeing while I fed Colin, in hopes that it would make the car ride home a little quieter. It worked for awhile-the boys slept for a good hour while Alison played the iPad. Then we hit some traffic and Eli started wailing for the potty. I don't understand how the boy will poop in his pants every single day, but tell him to pee in a pull up and he looks at you like you're crazy.
3 comments:
I don't know the answer to your question, but I think you do the joy thing already :)...Obviously, there are going to be times when it feels like too much and we want to scream and it doesn't feel like joy...not even a little bit. But overall, I think you have the ability to snap out of it and quickly refocus that even though this season is hard, it's jam-packed with blessings. Is joy really being sing-songy happy all the time? I don't know. But it's definitely not walking around feeling defeated and worthless and shameful because your day didn't go how you would have chosen, and you don't do that. You parent with a greater purpose...you friend and family folks with a greater purpose...as a child of God, always looking to Him in all of it and knowing with all of your heart that He is always the answer. That's joy! What's more joyful than that?!
I definitively have my moments where I need to do something for me, so when that 15 min break comes, I forget laundry and read or take deep breaths, watch a show, go run. Time "off" helps you appreciate and is needed! We can't go, go, go ALL the time. There is this country song called "you're going to miss this" and I think about that quote and how true that is. I also remind myself that I could be doing X, Y and Z but with a chronically ill child and count my blessings these are healthy. Being a mommy is a tough job!
It's late so I'm not going to write a long comment tonight, but I just wanted you to know that I'm right there with you with few answers for the really hard days. I feel your pain, but I know that you know (and I know) there is a lot of joy in the day as well.
Also, if you haven't read the book Loving the Little Years by Rachel Jankovic you should. It is so, so good.
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