Memorial Day Weekend

 

This weekend was so good for my soul. When we worked at WillowBridge, one of the biggest lessons we both learned was how much we needed regular cycles of rest – true, deep, soul rest, and I knew a few weeks ago that both of us were reaching a point where we needed to take a break before actually breaking. I didn’t have vacation days for the first 90 days of my job, and once I received them, we were hurtling toward Holy Week, which was followed by spring speaking, and this was the first time I had a chance to truly take a day since starting in this role.

                I’m excited that I feel recharged after this beautiful Memorial Day weekend, and I’ll give you a peek into what made it sweet.

                Ryan actually took last Friday off work so he could be at the house for some HVAC work we had done. He and Lexi had a grand time, full of visiting garage sales, fixing something at Mom and Dad’s apartment, and overseeing the HVAC work. I think a day with her dad was something she needed!

                Meanwhile, I took part of Friday and drove my parents to a funeral back in Marion. We had a beautiful day to drive, and I was thankful for the flexibility to be able to take them.

                Saturday was a sweet day for us. You may or may not remember that back on my birthday, I had an extra full day (week!) of work, so we weren’t able to go out to celebrate. Ryan wanted to take me thrifting, so that’s what we did this past Saturday! We looked up some thrift stores and went shopping. (Found some great deals while we were out!)

                We had been given a gift card to Texas Roadhouse, so we enjoyed a super early dinner and had a special jamocha shake dessert.

                (We did our grocery shopping while we were out, too!) Made it home in time for sunset and resting. We declared we had no idea how much we needed that time out until we had it.

                We went to church on Sunday, where we set up the new-to-me lamp I found whilst out thrifting. Isn’t it so Narnia??

                We took a proper Sabbath for the rest of Sunday. We napped so hard, we took a walk, I scrapbooked, Ryan watched the Pacer game…it was great.

                OH! And check out our pretty flowers!

                That evening I did some meal prep, enjoyed a stunning sunset, and took a trip down memory lane from a girls trip I took twenty years ago.

                All I wanted out of Monday was a jammie day, and I got it. I did some scrapbooking and reading, Ryan grilled chicken for our lunch, and I baked some asparagus a couple of friends gifted us. (We even ate outside for the first time. We were bundled up in sweatshirts and blankets, but we were outside!)

                We enjoyed an afternoon on the patio, I watched some podcast episodes, did some laundry, and worked on vacation planning, while Ryan made pretzels from a fundraiser kit we bought!

                After dinner, we went for a walk, watered the flowers and garden, and enjoyed the patio again for sunset.

                It felt nearly perfect, and we are grateful for the way the calm of home filled our souls so we can get back to work today!