Jumbled Thoughts

It only took us a week of daily combing to be lice free thankfully. Whew!

It is hot. Nap-most-of-the-afternoon hot.  Even with the unseasonable occasional thunderstorms, it is hot. Don't-dare-check-the-thermometer hot. Perhaps only so for a far along pregnant mom, but it is what we are living right now.  Extra thankful for a pool we can use any time.  For a cruel week or so, we were without two of our fans as they were in for repairs.  The girls enjoyed the nights of air con (they have the smallest room), but the parents didn't enjoy the fantastically increased power bill that came with it!

We did get my computer fixed! A mac savvy friend thought it might be such-and-such a manufacturing problem that Apple actually was paying rebates for fixing.  Some extra checking uncovered that my computer fit within the time qualifications (just barely!) to receive a free repair.  So, we found a mac repair shop (and a new mall in the process) and, with a little bit of patience, got a repaired computer nearly for free (we had to pay the service fee)! Considering that the motherboard had to be replaced and the alternative was to wait for a few months without a computer, that is pretty exciting.

Only 4 and a bit weeks until we fly out to Canada now.  That really frustrating time of needing to get things sorted, packed, sold, stored, etc. and yet having to hold off on so many things because we are still using them.  Having older girls is both a help and an extra frustration: they gladly help pack a box (of all sorts of mismatched things!) but then shortly after they rummage through it for something they just need for their particular game!  I think the bulk of their teddies have been packed at least 5 times now...

Two of the 4 weeks left we are spending in Cambodia and Chiang Mai.  We leave on Saturday.  When we planned it, it seemed like a great idea. Now that we are days away and still have so much left undone... well, it better deliver the promised oasis of rest...!

Grace had discovered just how to make paper snowflakes all by herself.  She has binges of practice... and each one must be admired, discussed, and collected for some later activity that never happens.  At least by now, the practice of catching all the cut bits in one place and getting them to a garbage can has also sunk in.  I think if we had kept them all, we could have our very own snow storm!

This baby is a crazily active kicker!  He is quite capable of waking Mommy up and keeping her awake for an hour or so while he works out.  Other days he seems to be at it most of the day. Hopefully he is working it all out in the womb and this isn't an indication of his preferred activity level!

Easter.  We attended our church's Good Friday evening service.  It was late for kids, but we wanted to be there as a family.  It was a meditative service of readings and songs. Grace really felt the mood, and told Mommy she felt a "strange sadness" about Jesus dying.

Grace's narration:
In the end of church, we looked at the candles. They were on every table in different colors. The table of candles near us had wax dripping down making waxicles. We started picking them off. We did it on other tables too. We didn't know that we were helping the church until the end, when the pastor told us. We brought home a big collection of waxicles.

Easter Sunday church was special too.  Who ever decorated really worked hard.  The entrance to the church was a tunnel of "rock" into the empty tomb, and at the front of the church was a tent made to look like a tomb...  The kids all loved it!  After church we had a potluck lunch, and there was a egg hunt for the kids.

Grace's narration:
In the end of church, we get to have an easter egg hunt.  Some kids didn't want to but we were in.  We got lots of eggs. They didn't have anything inside!  We could exchange them for candy in the end. While we were egg hunting, we went int he church's main place. the lights were off. They gave us flashlights. That was really special. I never had an easter egg hunt like that. They were all over the place!  Under the chairs, behind the stage, behind the tomb.  There was flowers on the cross too.

We did our own egg hunt at home too - with symbols of different parts of the easter week in them.  I think this might be the last time we can do it effectively: the girls told us the story bits  - and more! - as they opened the eggs. Of course, they still enjoy finding the eggs and discovering what is in them.

We missed hosting a passover meal and our Emaus walk this year, and the making of an Easter garden.  That comes of Easter falling just before we leave... hopefully next year this time we will be more settled.