Epilogue

Epilogue.

Annie is sleeping. The boys are in the van driving to Nashville. I am meeting my mother-in-law at the airport in an hour and we are taking Annie to airport via my second home: American Airlines.

I have a stomachache. I am so tired. My body hurts. We packed 7 suitcases total. And the show we did played in the dirt bowl last night in San Angelo? Three hours behind. So we didn’t get home until really, really late (I feel bad for Third Day. Mac twittered a little after 11 p.m. and said they were still not on stage. They were supposed to be on between 8:00-9:00 p.m. Wow.)

Anyways. That’s all over now and I am sitting on the couch, literally in a daze, trying to catch my breath. It feels good though. The kind of catching your breath you do after a good run or hard workout when you know you have just done something good for your body and soul. It sort of feels like that.

I am grateful for my mother-in-law this morning.

I was raised in a family of career women and I can’t say that I’ve always understood her choice to stay home and be a full-time mom. After her sons left she continued on as a full-time wife and full-time, unpaid, volunteer at church who teaches choir and leads an amazing, in-depth women’s Bible study. I never thought it was wrong; I just never understood it.

I told her this week how much her helping us with Annie means to me. How her being able to drop everything and come to Nashville while we record is the best blessing in the whole world; for us, but more importantly, for Annie Boo.

She said she had always known she was called to serve her family and the church and that in the midst of that call sometimes she felt misunderstood or judged for her decisions. When money was tight, and her having a salaried job would have made a huge impact, she held firm to the belief that God had called and gifted her to be available to her children, family, friends, and church. I think this took amazing obedience on her part.

Now she is a stay-at-home grandma. I wonder if God knew that I would desperately need the help? I wonder if He weaves our dreams and ambitions and cultivates things within our hearts so early in life because he knows, perhaps, that Ila’s son will go on to make music and travel all over the country and Jenny’s family will all move away (also following God’s call) and that there will be a big, gaping hole for someone. And then that someone gets to be his grandma who has always known her calling was to take care of her family. And now her grandbaby. That’s pretty beautiful I think.

I wonder if God really is that thoughtful? That careful? That mindful? Though I don’t believe He would ever force a certain life on us, I think He puts things in our souls that, if followed, can be a part of a very beautiful dream He had for us long before we even had it ourselves.

At least that is what I am thinking this morning.

Off to Nashville my friends.