hold up! wait a minute

i woke up this morning breathing a big deep breath.

a huge sigh.

last week was one for the books- some good, some great, some bad and some scary.

life-changing really.

it was a full, productive, meaningful, eye-opening and busy week.

so, that makes us good and active people, right? 

contributing citizens to our society. hard workers, conscientious and diligent do-ers. 

Starting last Sunday night:

Superbowl watch party with the parents- lowkey, but still something to do.

Monday- We find out we are having another son!

(little love)

I have high school girls bible study that night at our house.

 GT is busy with work conversations until late

Tuesday- I have clinicals at the pediatric clinic, Judson goes to Mothers Day Out.

around 3pm, GT calls and tells me that his dad is at the hospital with chest pain.

I start cooking dinner around 5 in between studying, we have company staying with us for a few days.

that night, it is confirmed that my father in law, Mark, had a heart attack.

around midnight, we take JR to my parents.

I stay up until late to continue studying for a test. 

Wednesday- 5am GT's brother, Garrett is at our house-we leave for Huntsville to go see my father in law.

I study most of the way there, and catch some sleep.

930-arrive at hospital, Mark is doing really well, praise God!

130pm-go to Starbucks for some free WiFi and take test...yikes.

3pm-back to hospital, Mark is getting out of ICU!

6pm-drive back to West Monroe

1030pm-clean house, visit with company staying at our house

prepare JR's bag for next day

Thursday- planning on clinical, JR's Mothers Day Out is cancelled-change plans.

GT gets up early to lead bible study at work

comes home for lunch and we both pack our bags

he flies out to Vegas for work after a meeting with Under Armour here

JR and I head to Tyler 

Friday-spend an awesome and super fun day with Jake, Jamie, Beau and Luke!!!

hear that Mark gets to go home!!!

GT has busy day in Vegas

Saturday- i head home from Tyler

GT heads home from Vegas

good to be home. stay up late doing homework

Sunday- church, which is wonderful

homework 1pm-1am (my fault, assignment was due at midnight...should've done it last week)

GT cleans the house/does laundry/takes care of Judson/rubs my back during study breaks/is awesome

and i didn't even go to work one day! how is that for productive?!

Monday morning.

new week. 

refreshed

taking care of business.

Mark is home and doing well! the best news. 

It was a busy week.

usually, we are busy.

we always have been, always are, always will be.

That's our M.O.
we do things we enjoy. we are with people we love. our relationships keep us moving.

This week, though, was pretty atypical.

going from finding out that our life will be filled with brothers! to learning your husbands dad had a major heart attack. 

what a range of emotion!

at that point, our priorities changed and our focus was precise. we needed him to be well.

he is healthy, strong and active. not a typical candidate for a life-threatening event.

his health-his life-was our only concern. 

we praise God for his quick recovery and healing that is already taking place!

obviously, in this life there are events that occur that required busyness and action.

illness

school

work

children

but, on what can i alter the speed?

what can slow down?

what if productivity is not the indicator of a good day?

what if saying "i got a lot done" is not the sign of a successful week?

Jessi from Naptime Diaries shared a wonderful and encouraging post this morning (per usual). 

Just what the Dr. ordered.

Notes From a Blue Bike is written by Tsh Oxenreider, founder and main voice of The Art of Simple. 

i'm not sure what "slowing down" looks like for me, for us.

i really don't know how to do it.

or if we need to do it

i feel like i always say... "we will slow down after i finish school"

"we will slow down this summer"

"we will slow down after we finish working on the house, the barn, the yard, blah, blah"

"we will slow down when _______"

maybe our speed is just right for us?

it usually suits me just fine.

but, i want to slow down and be more intentional about what i teach my son, what i say to others, what i do for others, how we care for others, how we love one another, where we go and who we are with.

not what needs to be done, etc, etc.
i never want our busyness to invade our time for relationship with others

Tsh Oxenreider says it best, for me.

so.....yeah, what she said!