Imagine this....
You've driven yourself and your 3 kids to Charleston, SC (a 4 1/2 hr drive) all by yourself to spend a couple days with your bestie and her 4 kids. You spend 4 days with just two mommies, 7 kids 7 and under and of course stayed up late at night to catch up on life and share lots of laughs. Only to start the journey home and get stuck in traffic turning your quick trip into a 6 1/2 hour trip home. *Side note: we didn't stop once on the way home. Not even to potty. ; 0 The kids did awesome!
So you get home late on Friday night and sleep in on Saturday morning. You decide to not even get out of your pjs and let the kids destroy the house while being lazy and decide you'll just clean everything up while their napping. Your kids are running around looking like you've never brushed their hair and your boys are feeling free in just their underwear.
Then...you hear a knock at the door. You run to the door and fling the door open thinking you've been left a package and there stands your brother with 5 out of town guests lined up behind him. (Kalei's friend isn't pictured.)
He looks just as surprised as you are. Your mouth is hanging open in a half smile and you're reminded that your standing there in your pjs, no make-up, and your hair is grossly in a messy bun. Your daughter is standing there in her pjs while your boys are standing there in just their underwear with tattoos around their bellybuttons. Could it get anymore awkward? Oh, why yes, it can.
Your brother has brought his new girlfriend and her two kids to introduce them to you for the first time. What a first impression! ; 0
In God's sovereignty what started as a messy mess turned into such a blessing. My brother showed up a week early for our family Thanksgiving get together. His first words were, 'Are you surprise?' I'm sure he was wondering why in the world I looked like I had just gotten out of bed at 2:00 in the afternoon when we were suppose to be sitting down to enjoy a hot meal. After he and I both got over the shock of what had just happened we went with the flow and had a great weekend together. I quickly threw us together a pot of taco soup, cornbread, and some banana pudding and we enjoyed just getting to spend time together. My brother is 10 years older than me so these moments are so rare. I grew up only getting to see him once a year when he would come home from serving in the Navy.
They all stayed late while we chatted and facetimed with mom and dad who were coming up the next weekend and then they got a hotel for the night. The next day they all joined us for worship before heading home.
It really turned out to be a GREAT weekend in spite of the messy mess we started with! : )
