For twenty-two days, Eric and I have been away from home. And I'm not just talking about the physical aspect of home. I mean its comfort, its familiarity, and its pace. Life these last three weeks has been...well, busy! And busy is good. There are times in my life where I thrive on busy-ness. But there's also a point in time where you long for slowness and simplicity. And I think it's safe to say Eric and I both reached this so-called "point."
As some of you may have figured out, we JUST arrived home (like HOME HOME...not just United States home) late last night from a week in Daytona Beach with my family. Say whaaaaa?! YEP! You read that right! Let me break it down for you as to how this exactly happened...only because I can laugh about it now. Our plane from Hong Kong/Dallas landed in Detroit at 11:45PM last Friday night. We claimed our baggage and rode a shuttle to a hotel near the airport...where my mom and our three other kiddos were sleeping. (Well, my mom probably wasn't doing much sleeping.) At 5:30AM we re-loaded said shuttle with all our previously-claimed baggage and all of our kiddos and our grandma...and we flew to Orlando. Well, actually, we had a layover in Charlotte...and THEN we flew to Orlando. THEN, we picked up a rental car and crammed into it like a bunch of sardines and drove an hour or so to Daytona Beach to stay with my sisters and their kiddos in a three bedroom/two bathroom condo on the beach. For a week. After a two-week stay in China. With a different time zone. Yeah. Crazy, right? Probably.
BUT! We did it and we have no regrets! (Well, unless you count the time we chose to have Eric patted down at the airport on the flight back to save four Capri Sun pouches for the kids...there may have been regrets about that part, ha!) But, I digress. Eric and I were careful not to share too much about this decision for a couple of reasons. One, being judgement by other people (we knew we would do what we thought was feasible for our family)...and the other reason being that we were fully prepared to back out of this trip if we thought it would be too much for Josiah. The biggest reasons we chose to even consider this trip were Sydney and Landon. My parents own a timeshare that comes every other summer. We've known about this vacation for a looooooong time and they've been looking forward to it for equally as long. The other reason it seemed to make sense (if that's possible?) is that it literally butted up to our China trip...so we weren't bringing Josiah into our physical home...and then ripping him out of it and confusing him with a trip to Florida which he won't remember. It seemed to be the best timing for making this vacation possible. And our bigs were SO EXCITED...which made it totally worth the effort.
Eight flights in three weeks. That's gotta be a record for someone NOT in the business of flying planes, right? Maybe not. But I know I'll never be able to say that statistic again. Do you remember that I don't like flying? I still don't care for it...but I definitely feel more comfortable in the air. HA! Again, a huge answered prayer! We joke that Josiah is going to think we're some jet-setters with all of this flying. He became a pro by the last flight home!
We took it easy and did what we thought was best during our time in Florida. Some times we swam...sometimes we didn't. Sometimes Eric went down...sometimes I went down. And sometimes, we both went down! My family was SUPER helpful with Sydney and Landon as Eric and I tended to the "twins" and tried to recover from jet lag. It hit Eric pretty hard the first couple of days...and then it hit me. Once the little kids were in bed...so were we! Honestly, the only way we survived was because of my family pitching in with the older two kiddos. We were extremely grateful for their care and attention throughout the week to make sure Sydney and Landon were having fun! Eric and I also got to enjoy time with all four kiddos at the beach and the pool. Josiah did pretty amazing considering everything. He LOVES kiddos! That was super helpful as he just got in line with his siblings and cousins and did all of the things! He also did his share of crying too. Don't go thinking this was some super easy trip. We're still talking about two very young toddlers! Ha! But all in all...we had a great time and we're glad we could spend time in Florida as a family of 6.
We hit the ground running this morning as Eric was on the schedule for sound booth at church. I stayed home with all four kiddos to lay low and continue to work on bonding. Josiah definitely cries when I leave the room and likes me to hold him...especially when I'm holding Emmaline! The "twins" are perfecting the antagonizing relationship that siblings tend to exhibit. Josiah likes to "tattle" on Emmaline who has turned into quite the stinker! If there wasn't a dull moment before...there's even LESS of those moments now! HA! We're having fun and laughing along the way. And again, there are also moments when I'm ready for a large coffee at Biggby...which is where I went today...with just Sydney. It was so nice to have some quiet time. We even grocery shopped! Fun stuff! Seriously.
All in all, we've seen so much improvement these last few weeks and can't wait to continue to watch Josiah grow and learn. The other kids have handled all of these changes well too. We're just very grateful! Thanks again for everyone who has prayed for us these last few weeks in particular. Every time I look back upon all that has happened...I have to give all the glory to Him! How else are we still alive!? God is good!
I hope you all have a super week- whatever it may entail! I know the kids and I have some things we'd still like to accomplish these next few weeks....as Summer is quickly ending!
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