I put myself in Time Out.

I’m a firm believer that women need Time Outs.

I remember when the kids were littler + life was super crazy busy, I’d think from time to time, “Someone please send me to my room for a time out.” Or, “Please send me to bed early.” John was always really good at noticing when I was about ready to swing from the ceiling fan and would take over so I could get some no-kid away time for a bit. And even though the kids are pretty much grown and gone, there are still times when a Time Out is very appealing, so I was super excited that I got to go to Time Out for Women (TOFW) in Birmingham, AL, this weekend! And while I’ve gone many times before, this one was definitely one of my favorites. One reason is that Kailen got to go with me, and we had an awesome girls’ weekend. The other reasons it was one of my favorites? I’m not exactly sure. I only know that I laughed, cried, laughed, cried some more, and came home totally inspired and motivated. All of the presentations were awesome, but there were definitely those whose messages I’m pretty sure were meant just for me. And of course, hearing David Archuleta sing was the icing on the cake for the weekend. That boy can sing!

There were a couple of tender mercies that happened over the weekend which made me even more grateful for this Time Out.

Tender Mercy #1: We got to the hotel early and were able to get into our room early, which was a blessing because Kailen really needed to lie down for a bit. For those of you who might not know, she came home early from her mission 4 weeks ago due to some stomach issues she’s having. She was super sad to leave her mission, but we all knew that she needed to come home and figure out what’s going on so that no permanent damage occurs and so she can feel better. We’ve been to our family doctor and a GI and are hoping to find some answers soon. She’s been a real trooper through all of this, and even though she feels pretty miserable most of the time, you’d never know it!

Anyway…she laid down, and I did a bit of work. I was sleepy too, but didn’t think I had time to take a nap until I looked at the hotel clock and noticed it was an hour behind my clock. Yes…we were in a different time zone. So, not only did Kailen get an extra hour of sleep, but I got a very much-needed nap too!

Tender Mercy #2: We woke up from our awesome naps, got ready, and went to get dinner before TOFW began. Kailen said Olive Garden sounded good, and when anything sounds good to her, that’s what we go for. And Olive Garden is one of my favorite places to eat. ? We got in the car, and I noticed that the “low tire” indicator was on. Awesome. Our hotel was in a residential/business area, with no gas stations in sight, so we asked Siri to help us find a gas station. As we were driving, we could hear the tire, and it didn’t sound good. I was very worried that the tire would go flat, we would have to be towed, or we wouldn’t be able to find a place to get the tire fixed that late in the day, and we’d miss the evening session of TOFW. And David Archuleta. And one of the presenters who I was really looking forward to hearing. We finally found the closest gas station, pulled in, and their air pump thing wasn’t working. I went into the gas station, told the very nice man what was going on, and asked if he knew of a gas station close by where we could get some air. He said, “There’s a Shell station right around the corner, you can go there.” We drove around the corner, and not only was it a gas station, it was a full-service gas station with a mechanic’s shop! I pulled in by the air pump, and one of the attendants came right to the car and said, “I could hear you coming. I think you’ve got a nail in your tire.”

Awesome.

I asked him if he could fix it, and he said, “Yes!” So A.D., one of the nicest gas station attendants ever, pulled out the screw, plugged the hole, checked the air in the other tires, and we were on our way. We got to Olive Garden in time to eat and we got to TOFW in time to get awesome seats!

And what a night it was! That presenter who I really wanted to hear? Life. Changing. Her presentation (all of the presentations, actually) will be available for download on December 1st, and I will definitely be buying that one. And I’ll be watching it over and over again because I really want to “get it.” Saturday’s presentations and music were amazing too. I didn’t want the weekend to end!

We got home safely last night (no more screws in our tires), and I felt refreshed and ready to take on the world again.

Starting tomorrow.