If you wondered why I pretty much disappeared from the face of the earth a few weeks ago, well, I’m back. The last few weeks have been just absolutely crazy. So much has happened!

Of course, we’ve had weeks and weeks of Nutcracker practice {since the end of September} and I’ll be honest, this is our third year and it hasn’t gotten easier for me to juggle the schedule. Because we live over two hours from the ice rink in Knoxville, Tennessee and because during Nutcracker season we spend 4 days a week at the rink it’s really hard for me to do much else.

Add on top of that, Hannah needing twice weekly physical therapy and multiple trips to the orthopedic doctor, podiatrist, and others – she’s kept me on the road nearly every single day of the week. Her doctors are two hours north of us in London, Kentucky and the rink is two and a half hours south of us.

We had family and friends visit several times and I so enjoyed having my kids home.

And then there’s Laura. She had her violin recital on my birthday this year. She did so great! She played four pieces – two solos and two group pieces.

We go to the barn at least three days of the week. And our barn is an hour south of us in Virginia. But then two weeks ago on November 26 we drove four hours up to Blacksburg, Virginia to try out a new horse and she ended up having a bad fall and breaking her arm just below the shoulder. After hours in the emergency room and lots of testing to make sure her neck was okay {it was} we left with her in a sling and in lots of pain.

Because the break was so high up on her arm – about two inches below her shoulder – they couldn’t put it in a cast. We followed up with an orthopedic doctor three days later and they said to keep her in the sling and come back for weekly xrays to check the break. A week later we drove to Somerset, Kentucky for more xrays.

As a side note, I specifically drove an hour further that day because the doctor was not in his regular office on Wednesdays and I wanted to drive to Chattanooga, Tennessee to see my daughter Emily in a Christmas opera on Thursday. Wednesday was also the opening night of the Nutcracker.

The xrays showed us that the bone had shifted out of place slightly. Not what we wanted to hear. So, they made an appointment for us on Thursday afternoon in Lexington, Kentucky at the Shriner’s Children’s Hospital with a pediatric orthopedic specialist.

We then drove down to Knoxville just in time for Hannah to get ready for opening night.

On Thursday I left Hannah with her coach because I was pretty certain I’d be late getting back and I took Laura up to Lexington to the doctor. They put her in a special cast – a hanging cast – designed to hopefully pull her shoulder and the bone downward and back into place. Otherwise she may need surgery. We’ll go back to Shriner’s this coming Thursday for more xrays. We’re really hoping she won’t need surgery.

After we left Shriner’s we rushed back down to Knoxville for the second night of Nutcracker. And, we missed Emily’s Christmas opera that morning – I was so sad!

Thankfully, we were able to drive down to Chattanooga on Friday evening for another performance of the Christmas opera. It was fantastic! I’m so glad we were able to go. Emily had wanted us to come to the Thursday performance because her boyfriend {almost one year} had one of the lead singing roles. Unfortunately he was not in the Friday evening performance, but Emily was and I’m so glad we drove down to watch it. After the opera we went to my daughter Sarah and her husband, Ethan’s house and she fed us dinner. We drove back to Knoxville after visiting for a couple hours and got back to the place where we stay after midnight.

Hannah performed in the Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon Nutcracker performances. We had friends and family come out to see her at the Thursday evening, Saturday evening, and Sunday afternoon performances. We enjoyed fellowship and food afterward and so many good memories were made!

Hannah, Laura, and I went back to our room, packed and got home Sunday night around 9:00 pm. I have to say I was worn out. I was pretty unproductive on Monday. I mostly wanted to rest. And sleep. And to cook homemade food.

These last few months have been a whirlwind. I’m so excited to be home and able to focus on decorating for Christmas and enjoying the holiday with my family!

Oh and at the end of October we found a puppy, lost, scared, and hungry and she’s been such a sweet addition to our family. Annie is sooooo cute and we try to take her everywhere with us as far as possible. She’s been fantastic.

Instagram

I would love to have you join me on my new Instagram account. You can find me @purposenotperfection where I’ll be posting pictures of my family and our many adventures, home, decor, Bible journaling, our sweet puppy Annie, and more. I’m also hoping to begin posting video stories now that things are slowing down and I can focus on social media more.

P.S. If you are waiting for a planner to be shipped, they are going out Tuesday afternoon!