{"id":1222,"date":"2013-10-20T21:58:09","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T01:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/?p=1222"},"modified":"2013-10-20T22:06:55","modified_gmt":"2013-10-21T02:06:55","slug":"burn-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/burn-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Burn Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Sunday evening and instead of feeling refreshed and ready to charge into a new week, I really just want to crawl under the covers and not emerge for days. \u00a0I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t work. \u00a0Running away might be more effective, but it would take too much energy.<\/p>\n

I am burned out.<\/p>\n

I thought we did crazy earlier this summer with all the mess that surrounded Adam’s broken arm. \u00a0Actually we did. \u00a0This is just more of the same. \u00a0Six doctor’s appointments in one month between Adam and checking in on the baby-making project. \u00a0Seriously? \u00a0You would think someone was acutely ill. \u00a0We’re not. \u00a0Add ridiculous amounts of travel and the burnout all starts to make a little sense.<\/p>\n

We were so excited about October 9th and getting to see our baby. \u00a0I wanted to see all the healthy stuff, you know, four heart chambers, fingers and toes …. but we were shamelessly excited about the gender reveal. I felt absolutely giddy drinking that pumpkin spice latte to avoid any sleeping with your legs crossed shenanigans. \u00a0And then there was the reality of fuzzy, fuzzy in-office ultrasound machines. \u00a0Blurry pictures of a head, moving, moving, moving the probe to visualize the heart accurately, blurry pictures of the bladder and incredibly blurry pictures of the definitive parts. \u00a0Yep, no guarantees on that one. \u00a0The doctor said he thinks it’s a girl, but he certainly wouldn’t take out his life savings on it. \u00a0Frankly, it looked completely non-definitive to me which could mean girl depending on what angle you were checking. \u00a0But this? \u00a0This was just non-descript. \u00a0We walked out, incredibly grateful for a healthy baby, but still dying with suspense. \u00a0I knew I was getting phenomenal ultrasounds with my obstetrician in Virginia, but I had no idea just how superior his equipment really was until I experienced this. \u00a0Seriously, we used to watch blood flow through the heart, count fingers and toes instead of only ensuring there were arms and legs and see baby’s face in color well enough to see that Liam was going to resemble Adam! \u00a0Thankfully, they offered to do a quick gender peek the next time I come in which is great. \u00a0I just wonder if we’ll actually be able to see anything more the next time. \u00a0Don’t tell me I’m going to have to keep guessing until February!<\/p>\n

\"Oct<\/a><\/p>\n

We barely got back to camp in time for the end of session party night. \u00a0The next morning at 5, camp staff rolled out the lane on a big bus headed South for the annual conference. \u00a0Conference is always over Labor Day Weekend, but since the boy’s camp in Florida was hosting this year, they postponed it until the October home visit to keep the Northerners from dying of heat stroke. \u00a0Adam worked super hard on his school work before we went and did all five days work in three so that he wouldn’t have to take his books along. \u00a0I was dreading the traveling with a passion. \u00a0Liam gets carsick any time we travel in the morning and my mornings are still touch and go. \u00a0Throwing up is never fun. \u00a0Throwing up on a bus sounds like pure misery. \u00a0Plus, I knew we couldn’t just stop to get food when the cravings demanded it.<\/p>\n

\"Oct<\/a><\/p>\n

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But traveling on the bus as opposed to driving it by ourselves turned out to be a good thing in some ways. \u00a0For one thing, we didn’t have to drive. \u00a0This is enormous on a long trip, especially. \u00a0The boys were so excited about traveling on the bus they woke up at 3:15 that morning, an hour earlier than needed! \u00a0They didn’t need to sit in car seats which made traveling a breeze. \u00a0Only once did I hear the question, “Are we almost there?” \u00a0and I’m convinced not being buckled made all the difference in the world. \u00a0They had all the snacks they could wish for, books to read, a new coloring book they loved, movies to watch, and people to talk to. \u00a0Best of all, neither Liam or I threw up thanks to many, many people praying!<\/p>\n

We overnighted in a small community in Georgia who completely outdid themselves in their hospitality. \u00a0Seriously, their church had weekend meetings scheduled and they changed it so they could host our group. \u00a0Not only did they host us overnight, they offered to serve us supper when we got there. \u00a0I haven’t been away from normal Mennonite church life to forget just how busy those kinds of weekends are and I was blown away by their warmth and generosity! \u00a0It was such a gift getting to talk with friends I haven’t seen in years and then to stay with the lovely Clarita overnight. \u00a0I almost had to pinch myself as we drove in the lane to convince myself I was actually about to walk into the charming cottage I’ve admired so often on pictures! \u00a0Pictures rarely do justice to a place and her house is no exception. \u00a0But the one thing that pictures can’t tell you is what the atmosphere feels like in a home. \u00a0Some things you just have to experience in order to know. \u00a0Clarita’s house is so restful. \u00a0Beautiful in so many ways, yes, but also infused with such a spirit of rest. \u00a0It made me think a lot about our home. \u00a0About me. \u00a0Because you can’t have a restful home without being at rest in your own spirit. \u00a0Being at rest doesn’t necessarily mean the absence of crazy demands on your day, but it does mean boundaries. \u00a0That balance is something I constantly wrestle with. \u00a0When does saying no mean I’m being selfish and when does it mean I’m looking out for our health and the emotional health of our family? \u00a0When is too much really too much?<\/p>\n

And then there was day two of traveling. \u00a0It’s so obvious to say we were delighted to get there it feels redundant to say it the first time! \u00a0Florida is so warm and beautiful and seeing camp in a completely different setting was so fascinating. \u00a0Aren’t the thatch roofs absolutely charming? \u00a0I told David I’m pretty sure we’re living at the wrong camp. \u00a0He said that was up to God and I thought maybe I should start chatting with God about that. \u00a0Then I heard about the alligators and the black swamp and the wierd amoeba that hangs out in the still water and causes a brain eating disease and got completely bitten up by the mosquitos and I thought I’d probably better get back on the bus for Maryland. \u00a0I’ve always said there is no safer place than in the will of God, but I think maybe you’d want to be really sure it was God’s idea and not yours if you lived there!<\/p>\n

\"Oct<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Oct<\/a><\/p>\n

Less than forty-eight hours later we were on the road toward home. \u00a0Yep, you read that right. \u00a0Seventy-two hours on a bus for less than forty-eight on location. \u00a0It’s the name of the game. \u00a0We drove straight through on the way home and arrived at our own house around 9 a.m. feeling like we’d just walked out of the spa. \u00a0Not. \u00a0Thankfully, the campers didn’t come back until Tuesday so David helped get things put away and the laundry started before the boys and I diligently plowed into our school work for the week and he went downstairs to work on the basement project. \u00a0Less than twenty-four hours after we got home the laundry was done and the suitcases were re-packed and loaded as the boys and I headed to Virginia to see Adam’s surgeon. \u00a0He also needed to see the orthodontist and I knew there was no way I could pull off six hours on the road and two doctor’s appointments after the long trip so we broke them into separate days and overnighted at my mom’s house where we got royally spoiled. \u00a0The orthodontist gave us good news and said Adam’s mouth looks so much better and while he’ll need braces eventually we can wait and come back in a year. \u00a0This is huge after hearing that he would probably need surgery. \u00a0The surgeon on the other hand said pretty much the same thing they did last time. \u00a0There’s a stubborn little spot in Adam’s ulna that is not meshing. \u00a0Surgery to do the rod removal is scheduled for the end of the month and he’ll have to wear a splint for ten days. \u00a0If it still hasn’t meshed, he has to go back into a cast for awhile. \u00a0Who knew a broken arm could turn into a four month ordeal?<\/p>\n

We returned home Wednesday night and Thursday night Adam saw David walk upstairs with a suitcase in hand. \u00a0A look of absolute horror crossed his face and he said, “PLEASE don’t say the word, travel!” \u00a0Luckily for him it was just David heading out for a two day job in DC! \u00a0Meanwhile we stayed home and did school attempting to catch up for all the lost hours on the road. \u00a0And did more school. \u00a0And did more school. \u00a0And more school until we were both completely burned out. \u00a0I’m not sure which of us is dreading tomorrow morning’s Math lesson more. \u00a0The spirit in our house isn’t restful tonight, it’s dread.<\/p>\n

So whether or not you homeschool, I’m sure you’ve hit burnout on something ….. work, exercise, parenting, art, dieting, writing……whatever it is. \u00a0What’s your go to for getting out of the funk? \u00a0I will take any and all suggestions and the sooner the better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s Sunday evening and instead of feeling refreshed and ready to charge into a new week, I really just want to crawl under the covers and not emerge for days.… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39ynQ-jI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1222"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1238,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222\/revisions\/1238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}