insta friday - alone

Since I last wrote you 

the most glorious thing happened.

You see it has been a little dream of mine

to be in my house all alone

over more than a day.

To just be able to dig into

things that need to be organized

and work on those projects that you don't

start because you know you won't have time to finish

because of all the interruptions.

you know well what I'm talking about right.

Well, this dream, it happened.

For the first time in 11 1/2 years!

My husband was able to take my kids away for a long

weekend road trip last weekend.

And this left me 

ALL ALONE

for four days.

And you know what.

It was kind of weird... at first.

I thought for sure I'd be doing a happy dance.

But the emptiness was kind of eery.

Until I got into a groove

organizing for the school year

prettying up my side of the office,

and painting away on custom orders.

This one, oh how honored I was to work with this family.

Their daughter has spina bifida. 

Her mom contacted me months ago to see if I could

do a print of a girl in a wheelchair.

I pray a lot through these prints

and ask the Lord to lead me to the right

scripture.

This hillsong song just kept coming to me.

So I gave it to her as an option.

Which inspired her to ask for

lyrics from their daughter's favorite Christian band.

So this is the finished product.

I'm so very excited for them to gift it to her.

It's so awesome to be able to be a part of something

you know will just make someone's day and to know

it was all for God's glory.

Meanwhile, the kids were

having a blast in Arizona, riding around,

rock admiring

and collecting.

Oh and killing wasps.  That's a wasp zapper 

thingy.  Youngest daughter was very upset.

Saying wasps are God's creatures too.

Love her heart.

But still don't like wasps.

Especially these Arizona sized wasps.

On my last morning alone I had definitely

gotten used to the quiet. 

And was soaking every last second up.

And within minutes, that clean, empty room 

turned into this.

So we begin again.

We had one last hurrah for summer

and went to sky high.

They nearly had the place to themselves.

That was pretty cool.

something looks wrong with that picture up there.

And this week..school began....more on all of that soon.

It's a little surreal having all three home this year.

And I haven't quite found my footing yet

with our schedule and how to manage it all.

Can I be quite honest, I've already shut myself

in my room and cried.

Cause this isn't for the faint of heart.

My oldest is actually being so surprisingly good and independent

and going the extra mile.

The girls are sweet and hard workers too.

But having a struggling learner with dyslexia

and working memory problems.

It's just hard. 

Hard for her.

And hard for me.

And we've had some hard days.

So if you think of it, 

keep my sweet middle girl in prayer. 

I'm praying the Lord will break through walls in a big and mighty way.

Oh and endurance for me.

Endurance and good health.

Cause with God's help

I gotta keep this ship running!