I missed my peeps.

For the past three days, I've been on hiatus from my "real life." E and I took a trip north to babysit for some friends who have a rather large bunch of kiddos and were going to be out of town for a few days. We've done this before, but this would be my first time just me - since L had to stay home and juggle work and home for us while I would be gone.

I was looking forward to the small break from the usual routine - it had been a while since we had gone anywhere, and even though babysitting seven kids plus my own while being six months pregnant isn't exactly a vacation, it was nonetheless a change of pace and therefore exciting to say the least.

And probably because it was being covered in massive amounts of prayer, everything went very smoothly, and I would dare say it was even a lot of fun. :) The kids were all on best behavior, the little girls (E, E, and E...no kidding), played like best friends, no one broke anything (albeit one bloody knee), relatively few tears, lots of laughter (and drama), and not one person got out of bed even once during the night for the three days and two nights I was there. Totally miraculous in my opinion.

One thing that I did NOT expect though was how much I would miss my community back home during those few short days. Because I tend toward the introverted side, added to the fact that this has been my first opportunity to "run away" in a while, I honestly expected to not really miss being away with the exception of a few obvious things - including snuggling with my hubby at night. What I found, however, was that I very much missed the community of folks that I normally bump into each day, and the ways they encourage me through the conversations we get to have along the way. I didn't realize how much I had changed and have become someone who depends greatly on the relationships I have with others, and because this is something that I have prayed for God to do in me for several years now, it was refreshing and exciting to see and feel the progression in my life toward becoming a more relational person.