Meltdown

I totally had a meltdown the other day. It lasted a matter of minutes...Joel was glad. But, here's the deal...

I NEED A VACATION! :) This is the time, the season in my life, where, if I was in the United States, I would get a few friends together to go do something. Take a mini-vacation, go somewhere for a weekend, etc. Why is it time? Here is a history of my "vacations" over the past 4 years.

--Grady spent the night away once in Phoenix. But, that was only because I was in labor with and birthing Hadley...not exactly downtime.
--The kids spending the night away didn't happen again until we lived in Saline, our last 6 months in the states. But, even then, we had Asa still since I was nursing.
--While we were spending time in the Boston area with Joel's family before we came here, we went on a little weekend getaway at a beach in the Cape Cod area I believe (I don't even remember the details). But, again...still nursing so little Asa was with us.
--After we got here, before Priscilla left to go back home, we spent the night in a hotel in Brasilia since Joel had to go there for some evaluations. Again...nursing...Asa there.

Before kids even, we didn't do any vacations. Our "vacations" were always spent going back to Louisiana or Boston to visit family. The only vacation we ever went on was our honeymoon. We have traveled ALOT, but always for visiting family, never for vacation. The last vacation I took with friends was, wow, I guess back in '99 when Fuller flew me, Sanja, and Carrie May in a little 4-passenger plane from Longview to Pensacola for a couple of nights. SO FUN. Seriously one of the best vacations ever. We camped in a campsite one night, slept on blankets on the beach the second night, ate at some great beachside restaurants for our suppers...ahh...now, that was relaxing.

Anyway, that's why it is time. It's not that I need time away from my kids. I truly love spending time with my kids. Even when I can go somewhere without them (to the store or whatever), I always end up taking at least one of them. I like them. They are fun to be with. They are NOT like that little boy in the European commercial. But, of course it is a lot of work taking care of 3 small children. That and taking care of the house (laundry, dishes, cleaning, cooking, sorting, etc.)...it's constant. You all know exactly what I mean. Everyone needs a vacation every now and then, right? I seriously have not been without a child or those work demands for 4 years now (before that if you count pregnancy). :)

Oh, Joel and I did come to Brasil without the kids. But, it was in no way a vacation. And technically I did still have a kid with me since I was 8 MONTHS PREGNANT. We had no downtime during our candidacy. The only downtime was on the planes and I was busy just trying to get comfortable and keep my feet and ankles from swelling to 4 times their actually size. :)

I had a dream last night that we lived in Phoenix again. I was getting ready to go to my friend, Julia's house. I was going to spend the night with her and just have a girls' 24 hours...relax, go out to eat, etc. I was really excited in my dream.

So, proposal: Asas (and all of Brasil) takes Dec. and Jan. off for vacation. Joel gets out Dec. 12th and doesn't go back until Feb. Craziness. He hopes to actually still do some flying during that time if possible. But...who of my close friends wants to fly down here and go on a vacation with me? There are some really great places around here...REALLY great. Come...relax...soak up some sun. Tempting isn't it? You know you want to.

I didn't grow up going on these extravagant vacations every single year. If we did go on vacation, sometimes it was just to Shreveport (60 miles away) to spend a night in a motel, swim in the pool, and eat breakfast at The Kettle. Good times. Or, we would trek to Houma to spend time with family. So, I'm not a person who is used to vacations on a regular basis or anything...and nothing major. Those were sufficient for us. Even now, I don't want/need something extravagant...just something.

It may not happen, and that will be O.K. We are pretty picky about who our kids stay with...in fact, just family is what we have decided. That'll be hard probably on the mission field, but that is just a "sacrifice" we'll make. That is extremely important to us. So, that means we are limited to family vacations only, or waiting until family comes down, or just going on vacations alone. :) I have actually thought about that...just going somewhere by myself. But, it's just not very practical at this point. We'll see what happens. I'll have to do something before March though...otherwise, another little nursing baby (which is something to be thankful for and I am...but, just a consideration for scheduling a vacation, you see).

Today happens to be a holiday for Brasil. So, my wonderful husband has given me the day off. I am in my bedroom, alone...sort of, most of the time. :) So, that's nice. I am still here, but I'm forcing myself to do as little as possible, even though it kind of throws things out of whack when I don't keep up everyday with the things that I need to do. It's still a nice break and gives me time to do other things that I need to do, like some Portuguese work, some communication follow-ups, etc. Not a vacation, but nice just the same.

Again, who wants to come take a vacation with me in January? :)