All By Myself

So for those who don't know, I have been a single parent for the last 24 days. Joel and our good friend RC went on a Mission trip to Togo, Africa, to help build roads at a hospital compound, for ABWE.

Joel and RC driving the backhoe is Africa

So I have been alone at home with Phil (3 1/2 years) and Thomas (3 months), which has been a great learning and growing experience. Believe me when I say I have a whole new respect for military wives and single mothers. So I thought I would share with you some things I learned about myself though it all.

I have a awesome family (okay so I already knew that). Nine months ago when I first told Joel that I thought he should go, I knew that I would be okay, because I had an awesome support structure in place. With my Parents , Joel's parents and many siblings and awesome friends in 15 mile radius (some with walking distance), I knew I could count on them to help with support, whether it was a listening ear when I called, Babysitting, or an invite for dinner. My heavenly Father was indeed looking out for me when he put my family in place here.

That being said, My social life is waaay better without Joel. I never had to check with Joel to see if we could go or wait around for him to finish with work, whenever we needed to go, I just packed up the kids and went. I went to a high school football game (haven't been since before Phil was born), the movies twice, and a lovely fundraiser banquet, and again dinner with family and friends.

My good friend Joselyn and I Dressed up for a fundraiser event. (Joselyn is RC wife)

The other thing I learned... I would take up the entire Queen size bed if given the opportunity. I found myself sprawled all over the Bed entering and exiting on either side of it when I needed to get up in the night for the boys. Usually I am pushing Joel off my 1/3 of the bed, telling him to move over, so having the whole bed to myself was quite a treat.

As I say all this I sound like a self-centered, selfish, country socialite, but believe me I am not. I realize as much fun as it was to spend time with family and close friends. I really miss talking to Joel at the end of my day, I miss having someone to share in the decision making of daily life (like should I call the paramedics after a shopping cart with my infant son in it, pins my other son underneath it, and the estimate on the car repairs were a little high, how do we proceed). Our schedule was busy, very busy, and kept me shuttling Phil all around the county, after life in the fast lane, I am ready to have some time in the slow lane with Joel for a while.

While having the bed to myself was nice, I missed having someone to help me with getting up in the night(believe me when I tell you you feel torn when the baby is crying, the little boy needs a snuggle at 3am, cause he was cold and all you want to do is sleep), someone to yell at the dog when it was barking, and help me feel safe at night when funny noises arose.

While getting in the habit of having full and complete meals on the table every night of the week is going to get hard getting used to, I look forward having someone to talk to at the end of the night, to play with the kids while I am getting dinner ready and cleaning up.