Quiet

The kids have returned to their homes away from home and all is quiet.  Never gets easier to say goodbye.  Harder with Hannah heading to Istanbul for a month and it will likely be difficult to communicate with her.  And Joel as he has a crazy busy semester ahead.  We will see him for sure in May, already have the plane tickets and hotel reservations to see him graduate.  We didn't get to spend as much time with Leah over break but other than weather, we can go see her when we'd like.

It was a good visit overall.  Good to meet Hannah's fella and get to know him.  Some great memories and fun times.  One was Joel the last night asking me for lots of general "mom advice" and his many hugs goodbye.  And just being with Hannah who is always entertaining.  It's fun to watch the kids interact with each other as they are all very close.  It was great to have them get to know Jeff and Alexis and vice versa.  Loved having the kids go to church Christmas Eve.  We had lots of great meals together and games galore!  We had some good times with the extended fam over the holidays, too.

It was good to get back to work yesterday.  And to get back into a better eating and exercise mode.  Good to go back to one laundry load and one dishwasher load per week.  And it'll be good to get the house in tip top clean shape this weekend.

But dang it, I miss them terribly!  I love you, my babies.  God be with you!