Mercy #923: The Gift of a Getaway

A few months ago, BB's dad and his wife emailed us, saying they'd like to work it out so we could have a long weekend away together. Here is how it went!

Granddad and BB (we'll call her Grandma BB for clarity's sake) flew in on a Thursday (flew in! to babysit my six!), which was EG/MK's last day of school. The next morning, BB and I left early with a packed suitcase. I took him to work, then was off to a couple of appointments and errands all by myself. I had a few moments before my first appointment and slipped into a place we call The Secret Garden and spent time with flowers and the Nikon. What a treat!

That afternoon, I got so many long-overdue errands handled, by myself, such as going to a very out of the way post office to deal with our non-functioning mailbox key (as in, we couldn't check our mail regularly). While there, they showed me the current stamp designs. Oh, wow. Love stamps. Love mail. I bought 4 little sheets, all different kinds...even had a cash card from a rebate, so it really didn't cost me anything!

In the interest of maximizing our time on this amazing opportunity to be just the two of us, we chose to just stay at a hotel locally. I checked in by myself. First order of business: clean out the purse! Another one of those things that isn't a priority most of the time. Ahhh, what a relief.

Got to eat lunch by myself before checking in. What an enormous blessing, to have have a chunk of the day alone. It really allowed me to be relaxed and ready to just enjoy BB. By nature, I recharge by being alone, and as you can imagine, that's a rare occurrence around here!

Keeping it simple: for breakfast and lunch on Saturday, we just went to the grocery store and got a little of this and a little of that and ate it in our room and talked in the quiet.

Cheese, crackers, olives, plastic forks and knives. It was all good. We had some really wonderful conversations. During this little lunch, we told each other ten things we are thankful for in each other.

 Got to have dinner at a favorite downtown spot. We took a short walk while we waited to be seated.

 Coming back home to the sweet craziness that is our family. Oh, I cannot thank Granddad and Grandma BB enough times and with adequate words for the gift they gave us and the children, because not only did the time away allow us some quiet and rest and reconnecting time, the kids had a really special and fun weekend with their grandparents.

 Knowing the children had such a happy time was wonderful by itself, but then to see the surprise that Granddad orchestrated for me...he took the five big girls to the store and they chose flowers for me, then helped plant them! What a blessing. I joke to people that my love language is spoken in flowers and in food.

 Granddad and Grandma BB took them to a park that is situated on a lovely, calm creek. Parts of the park are under interstate bridges. Granddad walked them up so that they could put their hands on the bridge and feel the traffic above. Adventures!

 Sweet photo of CA and Granddad

Those splendid flowers. They are thriving and bringing me joy every day.

And since I've already put a gob of photos here today, why not one more? Dimple Wimple is 10 months. She's getting closer to walking and she is imitating words and sounds we make. After Granddad and Grandma BB left last Monday, I let the kids play in the sprinklers for a while. CJ loves splashing!

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Thank you, Granddad and BB. Thank you so much!

And thank You, Lord, for such lavish and undeserved mercies...