Monday, January 05, 2009

a manless journey of 16 days and nights

So tomorrow's the big day. The beginning of a 16 day challenge for my girls and I. Mitch is leaving on a ministry trip~ the longest he's done since we've been a family. God's always poured out grace when Mitch goes away. And I expect this trip to be no different, it's just longer so it makes me feel a little nauseous when I really think about it.

The kids will be kept busy with school for the better part of the days, so that's good for them. And in planning for this time, I have developed quite a list of things to do that, hopefully will spread throughout the weeks without me losing motivation. That's my key: keep busy.

These are the times I wish a had old college buddies to hang out with. That I didn't really take Colossians literally when it says {amplified style} "...wives, adapt to your husbands...." I've adapted to him and my life is entangled with his. I don't have a separate life ~ like the kind where you have a job to throw yourself into or friends you chat for hours with or whatever. Nope. My Beloved and I do life together so it makes 'doing life' challenging when he's not here.

But it's all okay. Because I have another Lover. One that I can throw myself into loving even more so without the 'distraction' of my earthly lover. I anticipate many hours basking in the intimacy of this Lover for the next weeks. With the blessing of IHOP's webstream and a quiet house, I can take advantage of My Beloved being gone and having all kids in school and spend much time loving on My Jesus.

So that's the plan, Stan. A long list of organizing and cleaning {and maybe even painting} at the church and home. The glories of spending some extra time with My Jesus. For the evenings, the kids and I plan on working on some scrapbooking. Projects long neglected. A quick trip away this weekend~possibly with hotel room since a couple from church just dropped off money for 'those left behind'. A couple guys offered their services should any 'man-sized jobs' come up. (I asked one if he would come take out the trash everyday - he said yes.) But seriously, I have awesome church guys who would come if I had car trouble or house issues. And most importantly, the abundant grace of Jesus. I think we might have everything we need to survive our manless journey this month.

2 comments:

Sarah said...

Praying for you and your 16 days!

Jenni at talking hairdryer said...

Ugh! 16 days is long...staying busy is my strategy when Honey is gone too.

The longest we've ever been without him is 10 days. Bubba was 4 and the girls were 9 months old. After that experience, I totally understand the nausea that overtakes you when you think about him being gone for more than a couple of nights.

Praying the time will fly by. And that the ministry is blessed so you feel like the time apart was worth it.