Lesson Learned: Enjoy Occasional Trips w/out Your Kids

(Written this past February)

Greetings from Hawaii!  I am writing this as I sit on our hotel balcony, overlooking the ocean.  I was lucky enough to be able to tag along with Doug since he had a conference here for a week!

We wrestled with the thought of taking our kids on this trip.  We have missed them so much but I can ConFideNtly say I am glad we went on this trip alone.  I am amazed with the depth of our conversations simply because we had time to THINK.  No distractions. No diapers to change.  Just us, having conversations that can last longer than 60 second because there is no one around to interrupt!

I won’t lie.  I had anxiety about taking this trip.  Being a Mom (and a bit of a worrier), you can only image the type of concoctions that I came up with on why I needed to stay home with the kids.  I can’t tell you enough how GooD this time has away has been for our marriage and for our spiritual life.

We all need time for ourselves and with our spouse.  If I’m at home I come up with a million things I have to do.  Forcing myself to be away from cleaning a house and taking care of the kids allows me to clear my thoughts and become Re-eNerGized.

Has it been a while since you have stepped away from your normal routine and environment?  You don’t need Hawaii to eScaPe.  Be creative, but most importantly, don’t talk yourself out of it!

~Lara