Have you ever been in a place where you were anxious to connect with someone?  Perhaps you had a scheduled appointment; maybe you had an urgent question or request and regardless of email and phone attempts said person is nowhere to be found.  In frustration you tell yourself a story that you are unimportant in this person’s life, you decide that this person has abandoned you; the reality is that perhaps neither is true, maybe said person has other things going on.  Before you decide that this person is no longer on your Christmas card list, read on.

                The other day was one of those particular days falling in the middle of one of those particular months.  Chris and I had been on the road for 13 days.  We flew to Las Vegas to do a training for a group of fired up network marketers and then headed from there to Los Angeles to present the awesome second annual Power Body Weekend.  Travel in and of itself can provide a host of challenges and the fact that Baby Em goes everywhere with us simply adds to the mix.  Needless to say, between presenting, planning, organizing, tracking down the nutrition text books, taking care of baby and squeezing in time to workout we were definitely in a place where our ‘to do’ list exceeded available time.

                Baby Em decided that sleep was only for the weakest of beings and being an East Coast girl she simply refused to sleep through the night.  We were up with our beautiful baby girl at 1:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m. and then she was up for the day at 4:30 a.m.  Not only did we feel like we had been run over by Mack trucks we looked it.  Thank goodness we take care of ourselves nutritionally or there is no way we could keep up with the pace. 

                On this part of the junket our time for email and phone was very limited.  I had our team with us and thus emails and voicemails abound.  Did I leave a voicemail indicating I was away?  Absolutely yes.  Did I turn on my auto responder?  That would be ‘yes’ again.  Did I indicate in my ezines that I would be away?  Yes, yes and yes.  The reality is that regardless of letting everyone know, life does happen and Chris and I are committed to helping people get to the next level in all areas of their lives.

                Doing my best, in between trainings, to catch up I was still left with many emails and voicemails to return.  To be truthful I felt as though I was letting people down to a certain extent.  I may be a have it all woman but I am not a do it all woman.

                We returned home late on a Monday night to our 3 other happy, smiling children.  We were so happy to be home snuggled in our beds.  The next morning our oldest daughter, Avery, celebrated her 13th birthday and thankfully only wanted traditional Indian takeout for her birthday dinner.  God Bless Avery!!

                What I did not mention is that not only were we happy to be home, we were only home for 24 hours.  For Avery’s landmark birthday a trip to Disney was planned and we were putting our entire brood in the car for a 24 hour drive to Orlando.  By the time we return home we will have been travelling for almost 30 days with only 24 hours at home.  It may seem crazy, but it is our life and we do love it.  Do things often happen with the best laid plans?  You better believe it.

                On the eve before our departure I was running around doing errands.  I had scheduled 3 hours to do errands and return about one hundred emails.  While out and about I called home to check in.  Chris let me know that the dishwasher was on fire (someone had put a paintbrush in it which fell down and got caught in the motor) and that Baby Em had peed all over the bed. 

                I rushed home to help my man, opening the door to the smell of a burning motor.  I took the baby, laid out the food and somehow we managed to have a family meal.  My best laid plans of getting through all of the emails and voicemails were put aside.  After the children were snuggled in their beds it was off to do back to back training calls.

                That night Baby Em woke up screaming.  Our last flight had re-burst her ear drum so our plans to leave for Florida were pushed to later in the day after a visit to the hospital.  8 hours later than our original departure we were on the road to Florida and as the kids slept I silently thanked God for the Blackberry, of which I had two with me, simultaneously on one phone and returning emails on the other while Chris drove.

                Our life is really good.  Our children are healthy and happy.  We have an amazing business.  We love the Lord and yes, sometimes the dishwasher does catch on fire.  If you are an entrepreneur with children then you can absolutely relate and deserve a wide berth of grace.