In mid-January, our music minister resigned his position at our church to accept a job in Texas near his three children. As a church musician, this makes things a good bit more stressful as adjustments have to be made to new people, new styles, and 1001 opinions on how worship should be "done" in the church.
This particular situation was even harder for us, since Terry and Sharon were some of our dearest and closest friends. So, the stress wasn't the only factor, we have truly grieved the loss of their weekly presence in our lives. I know I have cried more in January than I have in the past year...it has just been hard. Mark and I don't socialize with others a lot, choosing to spend our free time with each other in a sort of detox from our busy lives and demanding jobs. Terry and Sharon were the perfect friends for us because they were a lot like that too!
I will never forget their presence in some of the toughest and happiest moments of our lives - standing beside my hospital bed for each of our two miscarriages and sitting in the waiting room with Mark preventing him from being alone as my surgery began before my parents could make it to Montgomery. I also see their faces so clearly, standing by my hospital bed approximately 3 hours after Turner's arrival into the world. They absolutely prayed her into this world and have adopted her as their own first grand-daughter. If you are familiar with the text of the song "For Good" from the Broadway musical Wicked, it's the precise description of how Mark and I feel about them and the sweet friendship we've enjoyed for the last 8 years.
Poor Mark. Not only has he had to deal with an emotional and stressed wife, he is the chairman of the deacons for this calendar year so the additional stress this places on him in this leadership role is quite heavy. We have struggled in balancing our individually different roles in the church - musician, deacon - and in our communication with one another in light of this situation. As I stated earlier, it has been plain hard.
January and February also bring one of the most hectic training schedules for Mark, with him being out of the house on Tuesday and Thursday nights at training until almost 7:00pm. Church keeps me out until at least that time on Wednesdays, so that leaves us Mondays and weekends where we actually have time at home to just "be".
Thankfully, before Christmas we started planning a first weekend of February getaway to Atlanta to see the Broadway musical Memphis when it stopped at the Fox Theater on it's national tour. We saw Memphis in New York last Christmas and it quickly rose to the top as my favorite musical I've seen...and seeing it again only solidified that fact. It is simply incredible. Mark and I enjoyed a delicious dinner at The Peasant Bistro and a restful stay at The Ellis Hotel in downtown Atlanta. I am so thankful that I have a sweet husband who treats me to weekends away where we can recharge together, and for sweet parents who look forward to these opportunities where they get to come and spend time with Turner.
We shopped for a while on Saturday at Atlantic Station, which strangely felt like we had been magically transported out of downtown Atlanta when we stepped onto the shop lined streets. On the way home, Mark was kind enough to stop in Newnan, GA to indulge me in a shopping experience I had been advised that I needed to have...a visit to the store Charming Charlie. Y'all!! Why has no one told me about this before?? It was like mecca for a girl like me who has a penchant for reasonably priced gaudy jewelry and accessories - I could have stayed in there all day!
Like I said, it's been a whirlwind in the past several weeks. Weekends have literally been our salvation, as we've stuck closely to our house and enjoyed family time together. While the weather hasn't been particularly "wintery", we've hibernated a good bit in trying to protect ourselves from the "elements" of a busy season of life.
When we are home and enjoying family time, we've enjoyed playing the board game Sorry and two new games Alpha Bug Soup and Wild Word Adventure, both encouraging Turner as she is really showing an interest in reading. We have continued to tackle a variety of Orb Factory Mosaics, and I got in on a super deal on Zulily and bought enough to keep us busy for a year!
This butterfly is our hardest attempt yet and we hope to have it finished by tonight!
Turner is itching to break open the mermaid mosaic box!
These are a couple of random pics my mom took while they were here keeping Turner for us and helped us get her ready for church on Sunday morning. She loves to have her picture taken with pink poodle purse!
This is just a little glimpse into our lives, letting you know we are still alive and well...next post you'll get a glimpse into our Valentine's Day fun!
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