10 LOOOONG days!

Well we have almost made it!! Tommorrow Daniel gets home from Mexico! He took the youth to serve in an orphanage/safe home in Mexico and is returning home tommorrow (sunday) from a 10 day absence! 10 days is a long time, we have never in our married life had to be apart for that long, then add three kids, 3 and under to the mix, I can honestly say I am exhausted!! There are many times where Daniel is pretty busy between the 2 jobs and it feels like we only get him at supper time, but even in those crazy days, he still comes home and warms up the bed for me! 10 days with the kids by myself and a cold bed is looong! I am a weenie and a bit spoiled with my hubby, and I can't imagine being a single parent, or even a parent who's husband works away regularly. I know several mom's who do it, and do it really well, and I really have a TON of respect for them! I took advice from a mom of one of our youth kids, and PLANNED my week!! I intentionally made a lot of plans at the beginning to make the time go faster, then had a few unexpected invites. by Wednesday I kinda fell out of the "lets make this fun" mode and slipped into "survival" mode, I was so exhausted from little sleep and early mornings, that I just didn't want to be fun anymore. Thankfully dex insisted we went to playgroup thurs morning which after we made an impromptu trip to armstrong for a "special lunch" (McDonalds.....what can i say i had coupons, haha) then home for some much needed "quiet time. The kids were so impressed with their french fries and cheese burgers that they actually played happily for quite some time. By that evening I was again tired, feeling a bit sorry for myself and not wanting to be fun, but ended up with visitors all day the next day. (although tiring, it made the day go fast:) It was very cool how God filled the days that I hadn't with plesant surprises (visitors, a meal brought over, sleepovers etc) when I had no desire left to "play". Friday bedtime was by far the worst, and by the time I got to "chat" with Daniel on the computer I was in the crazy, over-tired mode that may have been funny for him, but I really don't even remember our conversation! Tonight, however has been sweet!! I was dreading bedtime all day, but it went so smooth, and even Lyla had a happy evening. Its amazing how a sweet semi-relaxing evening can erase all the crazy, chaotic preious ones and leaving me feeling like maybe this wasn't so bad afterall!! (not to be mistaken with "i want to do this again anytime soon"-cause I DONT!)
I am looking forward to tommorrow being the last day! I have clothes laid out for the kds for church, I have "extra-special" snacks planned to bring to church (ie popcorn and bear paws;) and I am anticipating a quiet morning getting ready for church, followed by a good "quiet time" after church so I can maybe get things a little cleaned up before supper.........a girl can be hopeful right!?!