On vacation and mommy boot camp

Exhaustion and Relaxation
The last two weeks have been a doozie for us. Matt and I have been working crazy long hours, spending tons of time doing church stuff (this does fall under Matt's job but my involvement is voluntary), and we have had very little time to spend with each other. Last weekend we and 5 other adults drove 25+ students to the Sierra Nevada mountains for the annual youth group snow trip. Matt went into that event being completely exhausted and depleted of energy. That is not a great way to enter an action-packed, responsibility-heavy weekend. Yet in the midst of the activity, we were blessed once again by the wonderful relationships we have with the students and the amazing youth staff. We love the youth staff and consider them all to be such good friends. We came back from the trip on Monday afternoon and jumped right into a crazy, hectic week that included a church activity every night. Then, to really round out a completely exhausted Matt and Alina,...Matt went to the San Jose area with our Pastor for the bi-annual denominational meeting with other pastors in the region. This was an overnight excursion. Yeah...we are beat. And now we are going to crash. The two pastors of our church basically ordered Matt not to come back to work until Wednesday. I love our pastors and am so glad that they fight for Matt's sanity (and therefore mine as well). What do I plan to do in my two days off with Matt? There are really three basic items on my agenda for Sunday and Monday. 1. Go to the Coast and soak in some of the natural beauty, 2. Watch the Oscars, and 3. Watch some of the Oscar-nominated movies. I plan on eating a lot of popcorn and getting some ice cream to go with the movie watching. I figure there aren't too many more days of freedom, pampering, and relaxation left in my future so I might as well eat it up while I can.

Youth leaders should never curse!
...especially in front of one of the youth. Long story short--I was driving to the mountains this weekend and another driver was driving recklessly beside me and almost caused me to get in an accident. My brain freaked out and before I could apply the filter to my mouth, it was spoken. I felt horrible! I apologized a number of times to the one youth who had heard and then shared what happened with the youth staff later. It was awesome because I saw grace in action as they consoled me and sympathized with the situation and assured me God even forgives youth leaders who curse.

Mom boot camp
Lately, I feel that I am being trained for mommyhood. Yesterday, I was awoken to Matt coming in and waking me up in a panic saying, "I have to leave on this trip in 30 minutes and I need you to get up and take care of Keller." Let me explain what Matt was referring to. Keller got into the trash a couple of days ago and ate some raw pork that I had thrown away....gross, gross, gross. But it gets even grosser because raw pork sitting in trash overnight does not mix well with our dog. What Matt was referring to by saying I needed to take care of Keller was that there were 5 "piles" in his office due to Keller's sickness. I spent much longer than I wanted to cleaning up the mess only to say goodbye to Matt for the night and then head to work myself. The morning was tiring and hectic and I felt like a mom juggling many responsibilities. This morning I woke up to Keller being sick again, and this time she had also thrown up as well as leaving some more "piles." I had to attend traffic school this morning (which was a bummer to begin with), and so I spent the little time I had early this morning cleaning up Keller's mess and praying that she would be ok as I left her for the day in her kennel. I didn't have any choice, but as I sat there in traffic school I felt like a single mom caring for a sick child while still having to go to work. Matt was out of town, and I alone had to make a decision to let Keller ride out her sickness. I dealt with some serious guilt while I sat there learning about traffic signals and safe driving speeds. But fortunately Keller seems to be doing ok, and I don't feel like such a horrible dog mom. I managed to weather the storm alright, and the Lord was very gracious to answer my pleas to keep Keller alive while I was gone.

Well, I am exhausted and headed to bed. Matt and I just finished watching Little Miss Sunshine. It was awesome and I highly recommend it. Enjoy the picture from last weekend of me with the girls in my cabin. They were awesome and we had such a great time together. I love all of these girls.