grateful

 We have been to the end of the world and back, pretty close :). The last 10 days the seven kids and I headed to North Carolina, the first half with Uncle Martin and Aunt Sharon and the second half with Aunt Lisa and the cousins.

It was full (but not too full) of hiking and waterfalls, corn on the cob and motorcycle rides, evening walks and homemade ice cream, precious time with Aunt Sharon and Uncle Martin being loving and patient and good family.  Then it was full of cousin time and pizza and lake swims and paddle boarding and Sleeping Queens and skeeball and chicken wings and so much sweetness and chaos. We stopped and saw Aunt Elisa and her family on the way, and dropped Lily in Birmingham on the way home for Motion Conference. 

It was not exactly restful :) But it was all things classic summer vacation, and the time we had with Martina and Sharon and with Lisa and the girls was SO incredibly priceless. I hated missing life at home...but I needed it. The step away. The different. The family. The refresh. 

And I felt very rich. In family. In children. In teens. In sweet small things. In less busy-ness. In empty schedule days. In slowing down. In being outside all day every day. In Him and His seen-ness.

I'm grateful.