Peace out

That's what I said Friday night as I headed out of town to go on our church's women's retreat. This was only my second time to leave Annie overnight and my first time to leave her for a full 24 hours, but I was not sad, this mama was ready for a break. I had a good time hanging out with old friends (Elisabeth and Martina) and meeting new people and talking to people that I normally don't get to have much of a conversation with on Sunday morning because I'm making sure Annie doesn't make a mad dash for the parking lot.

During 'free time' on Saturday I was reading my book out on the deck and happened to be sitting next to two women in our church that have FIVE children each. They were talking about how they were working on reading through the Bible with their older girls. I realized how often I seem to get stuck in 'survival mode', worrying about things like whether Annie is eating enough, that she isn't talking enough, when should I start potty training her, and where am I going to find that second dose of H1N1 vaccine everybody seems to be out of? Being around all those women this weekend that love God, love their families and are a little further down the road than me was a real wake up call that not only am I responsible for guiding, protecting and caring for Annie's mind and body, but also her heart.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Annie and Jeff enjoyed some good daddy-daughter time. They hit up McDonald's Friday night and went on a hike with some other dads from church on Saturday. This is the only picture we got from the weekend and it is from Jeff's phone.

I always get her the fruit cup with her Happy Meal, but Dad let her get the fries this time.