I Think I'm Ready for a Real Vacation

Today at my house, tensions were running a little bit high.  I finally sequestered myself in the guest bedroom to get our tax stuff finished for 2008 so that I can take it to the CPA and wrap that up in time - our extension goes to October 15th. 

My wife is still working on processing a lot of sundry paperwork with regard to her mom's estate.  The will is not yet probated, and we are on our fourth attorney (long story). 

During a long family "meeting", we started thinking about what we have endured as a family over the past year and a half or so:

• 
  
• Death of a close friend to cancer
  
• Death of a church friend (suicide)
  
• Death of my son's piano teacher in January
  
• Death of my mother-in-law (May)
  
• Birth of our child - April
  
• Estate sale and cleaning out a houseful of stuff - June
  
• Starting a whole new church in Georgetown
  
• Trimming expenses dramatically based on having less income
  
• Potty training a toddler (I think we're done now)
  
• Counseling for our two older kids for OCD and anxiety issues (some of this stems from the above)
  
• Taking care of my mother-in-law at our home for about 1.5 years leading up to her death
  

When you take this stuff in addition to taking care of four kids, homeschooling, running a brokerage with 16 agents, trying to sell enough homes to keep things afloat, hosting a radio show each week, and the normal day-to-day routine stresses, I have come to one conclusion:

I want to go somewhere.

We have talked about renting an RV, which we have never tried.  The kids are stoked about this idea, so we might try a mini-trip first, maybe to Dallas or Houston to see relatives, then we can plan a bigger trip later. 

Despite the challenges we have had of late, I am eternally grateful to God for the blessings he has given me.  I see people who face things that are a lot harder than this.  I love my life, truly, but I could use a little downtime.