Week in My Life: Tuesday, Nov. 14

Once a year, I document our life for seven days. I share the real stuff, the hard stuff, the funny stuff and everything in between. Mostly, I do it because our lives are full and I fear I’ll forget the little things we do that really form our family. Maybe someday the kids will enjoy these posts as much as I enjoy writing them. Ha! You can read all about it: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I arrived in Dallas/Richardson early evening on Monday night and got to squeeze some cute nephews, a niece and my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. Armed with ibuprofen, water and cough drops, I rallied on Tuesday morning and made my 5:45am Pure Barre workout, but this time in Richardson.

My body needed to wake up so my brain could function! A quick shower and a review of the talk and I was off to St. Ann in Coppell. It was a tremendous blessing to visit with those young moms, just starting out on the motherhood journey. It reminded me of all my sweet – but hard – days at home in the trenches when the kids were little. We forget, as moms, how far we’ve come. How many life lessons and opportunities God has given us to grow. I’m grateful for those mamas and their big and wide hospitality!

I even got to enjoy adoration and confession. What?! That never happens on the same day! I was especially thrilled to see the parish ascribes to the Strengths Finder and the priest had his five strengths, listed next to his name. It did not go unnoticed that Harmony and Includer were two of his top five. What a kind, gentle, forgiving priest he was.

After my talk, I joined my niece and sister-in-law for some top 50 BBQ at Lockhart Smokehouse. The ribs were fantastic, but that brisket was meh. I was so disappointed! But, the company was pretty great. I did have to laugh because as I left Austin yesterday, Scott handed me the BBQ passports and said, “Don’t come home empty-handed.” Yessir.

The girls and I took a quick tour of their new house, currently under construction, and rounded out the afternoon watching a little Phineas and Ferb. As you do. Evie and Gigi are only six weeks apart so it was fun to see the similarities and differences between them. Namely, that Gianna is behind in everything. Ha!

Our evening was filled with me getting a lesson in Instant Pots 101, sumo wrestling videos, FaceTiming with the cousins and a lovely couch convo with my BIL and SIL. They are good people y’all – kind and patient parents, a marriage filled with respect – and I am beyond grateful my kids get to call them aunt and uncle. Thanks so much, Cory and Jen, for letting me crash at your place. Y’all really are the best.