Slowing down!

Our adventures basically came to a screeching halt this week. The flu virus, or whatever abomination took over our family last week, lingered too long with David and became a severe bacterial infection. He ended up staying in the hospital for five days while being treated with IV antibiotics. He is home now, still on oral antibiotics, and still not 100% recovered.

Of course, we were disappointed to miss out on time with Melissa, who went home yesterday. I missed out adulting in Berlin with her and taking her to Rothenburg. We missed out on taking her to Bavaria, although she went alone, and she and David both missed out on going to Oktoberfest together. Oktoberfest was one of the highest things on David's list as far as coming over here was concerned. That isn't happening for him, now.

I keep hearing the words "Slowing down" in my head to the tune of "Love in an elevator" when they sing "Going down." I can't help it. I've heard it all week.

We really slowed down this week. And it isn't all bad. I'm hopeful that David got some rest while he was alone in his hospital room for five straight days. I only visited him about an hour each day, so that amounts to a lot of alone time for the entire week.

One of the things that I missed this year was my annual opportunity to play stay-at-home mom. I usually send David to FL without me during spring break so that he can get some sun and hang out with his family. That didn't happen this year, obviously, and I missed my time alone with the kids without work days. I usually plan activities and try to see something we haven't seen. Although this week was stressful with worrying about David's well-being, I was certainly able to enjoy my time with the kids and to enjoy being at home for a nice change. It's true that I enjoy my job and am very grateful for it, but the ultimate truth is that I've wanted to be a stay-at-home mom my entire life. That didn't change even with my success at work. This week, I didn't have anything fun and special planned for the kids, and I couldn't go very far away, but we still enjoyed the day-to-day. We carved Alex's pumpkin, we went to the playground, we watched a movie and had some popcorn. I did some cleaning around the house, got all caught up with laundry (which I am forever behind on), made muffins (my new favorites), and actually, truth be told, slept more than usual.

It was nice.

The other thing about these challenging times in our lives is that we really get some great support from our friends and family. It is heartwarming. Thank you all for your prayers, encouragement, and

help.