There is no place like home.

Even if it looks like a wreck.

We got home last Sunday night from almost 3 straight weeks of traveling. First, to Kentucky for 2 weeks of Jonathan’s classes and then to Tennessee {with our teens} to help a church plant with their community outreach.

The trips went well. We were glad to go. We were glad to come home.
But on Monday, I was feeling incredibly overwhelmed. <— understatement of the year
I think some of it was because of how much I wanted/needed to do in my home after being away for so long. And I think most of it was because I was just plain exhausted. Thankfully, Jonathan realized how exhausted I was when I started making ridiculous and untrue statements. So he told me I had to take a nap Monday during my kids’ rest time instead of cleaning. I mean, I might have done that anyway. But having him tell me I had to made it that much easier to do it because – well, I have to submit to my husband. 😉

After some solid rest, though, I was ready to get crackin’ at the home stuff. Which included unpacking, mountains of laundry, and organizing a passel of kids shoes. 95% of these shoes were given to us…an incredible blessing!

After reading this book, I decided to purge through my fabric stash and get rid of things I haven’t used in 2+ years. Good decision, Christa. It took you a long time to make it, but that’s okay.

I snagged this $13 table from Walmart and put it together with the help of my able-bodied 1, 3, and 5 year old assistants.

It took approximately 49 minutes to put together with my assistants. At which point I put it in my master bedroom {in this corner}, decided it didn’t look that great, and was thankful Walmart took back an assembled table and gave me a full refund.

As you may already know from my facebook page, Jonathan came home Thursday night and totally surprised me with an overnight date. My sweet parents drove from out of town to watch our babies so that we could have a belated 7th anniversary celebration. Precious!!

One hour later, we found ourselves here:

PARTYYYYYYY!!!

Oh my goodness! It had been a long time since we found ourselves on a roller coaster! I loved it even more than I remembered. And I enjoyed seeing my husband in a different light. Let’s just say he was happier holding onto the bar in front of him than my hand for the first few rides. 😉 But he warmed up to the idea and we both loved our time together!

We rode until the park closed, drove to our hotel to drop our stuff off, then walked out to find a place to eat.

The first 3 places we stopped by were closed, so we settled for Five Guys and took it back to our hotel room. Lemme tell ya, when you wait until 10 PM to eat dinner, it tastes so, soooo good. Bacon cheeseburger goodness, baby.

The next morning, we headed out again.
I take that back. We didn’t leave our hotel until 11. So we went straight for lunch.

Nom Nom Nom. My favorite place. That hummus is what my dreams are made of.

We also tried Smelly Cat Coffeehouse for the first time. They’re known for their Chai, so we got that and talked for a while. Best chai we’ve ever tasted! So creamy + delicious.

Overall, it was a special, relationship-building 24 hours. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I am so grateful to be able to do life with this man who loves Jesus and is a hard worker. And he loves me even with wet hair. 😉

This week? I think it’s back to normal. Which means I’ll be back with Friday Faves for you to link up your Friday Fave posts!
How has your life been lately? Anyone else in the unpacking & laundering mode?