The last three months have been rather challenging for the Winter family. At the beginning of February, we found out that I'm expecting, which is beautiful news! but not what we were anticipating, and it meant that we won't be fostering like we had planned; not for quite some time. Shortly after a positive pregnancy test, Justin's dad had a stroke. Saying goodbye to Alan over the next few weeks was the most heart-wrenching time of our lives. Life finally started to get back to normal, but then on April 30th my mom was in a golf cart accident; she was holding my 4-year-old in her lap in the passenger seat when they went around a curve and got thrown off. She protected Silas but took a concussion, whiplash, and 4 broken ribs for herself. Right now, a week later, she is still in the hospital (and clearly not in a condition to help watch the kids). Two days before Justin and I were supposed to take our lovely trip away, my 2-year-old developed a high fever, which turned out to be RSV. Ok now, how in the world was I supposed to go away and relax!? How could I leave my mom and my baby and ask Justin's mom, who has been through such loss, to watch our kids solo!? And yet we were lovingly supported by everyone to try to carry out our plans. Thankfully Patrick's fever broke the morning we were going to head out, and with our destination being only 30 minutes away, I knew we could head home in case of emergency. So off we went to Serenbe.
Our place.
Our place was next door to the Blue Eyed Daisy, a lovely cafe to grab a bite to eat (without breaking the bank like the other delicious restaurants in Serenbe... we ate so good, SO GOOD, and I didn't wash any dishes or cook anything!!!).
Our view down to the courtyard.
A lovely place to sip a cup of coffee.
Gardens at the Farm House
The street lights, stop signs, trash cans, and benches are one of my favorite things about Serenbe. They are our everyday objects that are usually made cost effective = not very attractive. Investing a little more to make these things beautiful works of art makes such a difference - beauty inspires.
This goat didn't know the meaning of a fence. She was everywhere and soon felt like our little friend. She even watched us play a gave of bocci ball.
There are hiking trails throughout the community, and Justin and I took the roughly 5-mile hike around all of Serenbe to see an old ruin of a dairy farmer's cooling house along with his family cemetery. We also got to see a small but darling waterfall by a granite outcropping.
Ruins
Justin took a little rest in this tree.
Nature has such charming ways.
The waterfall.
Justin and I tried out some little kayaks for the first time ever. I look more relaxed than I feel. They were SUPER tippy.
We left our weekend adventure as Serenbe was gearing up for their Mayday celebration, which meant whimsical decorations were here and there, and we got to enjoy a live sculpture, which is one of my favorite things (yay street performing!).
I managed to enjoy our time away despite the difficult decision whether or not to keep our plans. When we left to come back home, I was very ready to see my kids again and very ready to check in on my mom. She is recovering a bit more each day, and we will likely get to visit at her home instead of the hospital before too long.
May your day be serene... no matter what sorts of crazy life stuff is thrown your way.
What a well deserved weekend, and maybe Mamai and Grancy can both go there soon for a retreat. Love your blog, Friend! 😘
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you were able to get away and have such great time together!
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