The Murray Family: Joe and Jessica's wedding

The sign up at the Rehearsal dinner.

It's difficult to know how to start this post. So much happened. There were so many different emotions: joy, excitement, worry, gratefulness, and exhaustion.

So let's start with joy. As I know I've mentioned before, I love, love, love my new sister. Watching her make my brother so happy and seeing them form such a strong relationship over the last few years has been nothing but exciting. Joe really found a great girl. I was so thrilled to share in their wedding weekend and honored that they asked both Madelyn and I to be part of the ceremony.

The first night in Austin we had a great dinner at Moonshine. Madelyn was one good little girl and passed out hugs and kisses to Uncle Joe and Aunt Jessica.

The rehearsal dinner at The Salt Lick. Do we look a little bit Texan?

All dressed and ready to go! Jessica was a BEAUTIFUL bride. I mean gorgeously stunningly perfect.

The happy couple!

We stopped for pictures at the State Capitol

A married man

My new sister

Where to head next....maybe gratefulness? Madelyn and I flew down to Texas on our own Thursday morning. Casey wanted to get in a full work day and planned to meet us that night in Austin.

Madelyn was PERFECT on all four of our flights, three of which she had to ride in my ever shrinking lap. She stayed seated, entertained herself with her shoes and water cups, colored, painted, snacked, and even slept. I was so thankful that she was such a great little girl despite getting pulled out of bed at 5 am and kept up until 11 pm to make our flights.

As I'll mention when I get to the worry section, Casey was unable to make the trip due to an accident at work. In his absence, my parents stepped in and generously helped me with Madelyn. I couldn't have done it without them. Having this glimps of single-parenthood made me realize just how tough it would be to raise a child alone. Thank God for Casey!

I was so grateful for this part of the night. Madelyn did her part. She was back at the hotel with a sitter, and the rest of us partied. My dad and Dona sported props from the photo booth.

Exhaustion. Little miss Madelyn was not on her best behavior this weekend. She didn't sleep as well being away from home and came down with a minor cold the day of the wedding. The rehearsal at church with Madelyn went terribly. She ran around, bossed around Papa (while sitting on the steps at the front of the church she yelled, "Papa. Come. Sit down. Right here.), and cried for me. While practicing her big moment of walking down the aisle, she walked five feet and took a left hand turn into a pew. Ran the length of the pew and came up front via the side aisle. Things weren't looking good!

She looked cute, but her personality is normally just as adorable. Not so much this night.

Mama's smiling because she is going back to the hotel to sleep with a babysitter!

I committed a cardinal sin, well at least in my book. I took Madelyn to the spa with us. I wholeheartedly believe that children have no place being in a spa, but I had few options. We ended up having the entire place to the wedding party so I took relief in the fact that everyone there was aware of the circumstances as to why I had my toddler with me. I wish I could say she was an angel, but she was in desperate need of a nap. My mom ended up taking her back to the hotel after her services so I could get a much needed massage.

Prior to the ceremony. I was so nervous about how Madelyn would do. Our plan was to have Steve take her out as soon as she went down the aisle......thank the lord, it worked perfectly!

So if this post seems somewhat disjointed.....it is. While the weekend was filled with joyous moments, I was missing my man. I never realized how hard it would be to parent, go to weddings alone, vacation solo, etc until put into this situation. I never want to be single or a single parent. Ever. You see, moments after Madelyn and I landed in Texas, I received a frantic phone call from Casey. He was scheduled to meet us that evening after work. He told me that we wasn't going to be able to come to Texas any longer and that he 'lost his thumb.' I was dumbfounded. "You lost your thumb?" What he was referencing was a crush injury to his thumb that left it partially separated between the first knuckle and the nail. After spending 4 hours in the ER, he had it reattached and was off to see the hand surgeon. He was intense pain and the Doctors warned of the heightened risk of infection which would lead to amputation. There was nothing we could do but pray he healed well at home while we were in Texas. He was suppose to be bringing my bridesmaid's dress for me, so needless to say I spent most of the first afternoon in Texas checking on him, arranging for my dress to be shipped down, and calling his family members.