We're Back!

We are back from our long journey. I will have many pictures and thoughts to share in the coming days as I rest, think, and find the time to share the highlights.

Above is a picture of the road on the way to the village our friends will be living in soon. Breathtaking!

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We're Here!

We are here and rested!  We popped some sleeping pills last night about 2am, and slept until 9am today.  I am a little tired, but the shower has revived me.  We took some homeopathic pills every 2 hours while we were traveling and they seemed to really help with the jet lag.  Plus, lots of people were praying for us that we would travel well.  The plane over from Houston-London was so nice and even a little spacious. 

Now we are in the nice flat of the Steele's.  Their home is really nice, but around as there are all types of apartments and construction methods.  In London we passed a sign in the airport around a construction zone that said, in a very British way, "The job's not done until everything is put away and tidy."  I don't think they got the memo here. 

They have a fabulous view from their window of the top of a hill/mountain overlooking the city.  It has a name, but I can't even begin to spell it right now.  I will update later with the correct spelling.  On that hill/mountain they have an amusement park with a large Ferris wheel and a large TV tower that looks a bit like the tower they have in old movies.  It lights up at night and I said looked like their version of the Eiffel Tower -- all of which they can see perfectly from their balcony.

We feel quite at home here, it even smells familiar.  The flat smells just like the home of the family I babysat for in Aberdeen.  It is nice to feel at home so far away.  But above all we are so happy to be here with our friends.  Can't wait to see the city too.  I'll update more to the blog as we go along too.

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Lions, and Tigers, and TSA scanners -- OH MY!

Getting ready to leave on a long, multi-nation flight is no small feat these days.  Sure, back in the old days people had to risk their life and spend weeks/months on a boat just to get from England to the USA, something we can do in mere hours now.  But, enviably, they didn't have to deal with the TSA.

So, here I am packing and sorting and weighing and praying.  May all these items fit, be in the right bag and weigh the right amount.  May the foil-wrapped bag of cheddar cheese not set off alarm bells through security, and may my liquids be no more than 3oz per container and fit into an 8"X8" clear, zip-lock sealing bag. 

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...The Result

"Don't I look great?"  Without the gnome hat and beard (which he threw on the ground immediately), we decided he looked like a munchkin from the Lollypop Guild.

Mmmmmm....CANDY!

More candy?!?

Yes, whatever mom. Take another picture. I just want to eat this candy...

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The process...

Here we are trying to fit his "full" little body into a 2T-3T gnome outfit.  I hope no one who really is 3T bought this for their child.  We almost had to dislocate his shoulder to get him in this one.

"No, I hate the hat!"

*notice the beard lying on the ground.

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Stop and smell the ... fishes

We've been so busy the last few weeks. Sander was preparing and then taking the Professional Engineer's exam, Dexter and I travelled to see family in Fort Worth, my nephew turned 1, Halloween, and now preparing to go to the Republic of Georgia.

We have been running from one thing to the next it feels, and really I just want to take time and smell the roses...or point at the fishes.

I have been reading this amazing book called Bittersweet, by Shauna Niequist. If you have talked to me in the last week or so, you have probably heard me reference it as it has so many good, concise ways to say what I have been feeling the last 2 years or so. She is sharing her thoughts on many things, but it is mainly how to accept change well and how to live a life that is meaningful, not just full.

One of the last things I read that hit home was the desire to be a woman who accomplished it all with grace and ease. She talked about her ever growing to do list that finally just said: "DO EVERYTHING BETTER." Wow. It isn't just me that feels that way? I not only want to, but feel I ought to "do everything better." Have a clean house, be creative, raise well behaved kids, be spiritual in all things, go on romantic dates every Friday, have clear skin, etc. She shared that after talking to someone older and wiser she realized that it isn't hard deciding what/who you want to be, it is choosing what you will say no to in order to accomplish that goal.

Say "no"?

Her response to that revelation was to create a "things I don't do list." Her first item -- don't garden. Yes, others gain a great tie to the earth, a sense of the seasons and God's hand in new life, but for her, it just didn't make the cut. That was the point -- say no to things that don't line up with your overall goal.

As I am writing this, I realize this is just the point made at my last MOPS meeting. It was a talk on frugality and her point, budgeting time and money, isn't about saying no to everything, it is about saying yes to your "goals, beliefs, and values." Hmmm...maybe someone is trying to get a point across to me?

But back to that "things I don't do list." It is already giving me so much freedom! Today when I walked into my wreck of a laundry room I thought, "I should be sure and clean this before I leave town." But quickly I realized this was insanity. I didn't have time, neither did it really line up with my overall goal of the week which is to leave town sane and with some energy left to make it through a 24 hour flight and 10 hour time change! So, "will not clean laundry room before we leave town" went on my "will-not do" list. Ahhhh -- baby steps toward sanity.

Off to figure out what else I won't do this week and to ponder what all I can add to my life's "things I don't do list".

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