Five Minute Friday - she

She has a lovely home.
    Immaculate yet welcoming. Matching. Interesting.
Mine is full of collected cast offs, loud, messy.

She is a fantastic mom.
   Never impatient. Always creative. Forever intentional.
I am forever biting my tongue (or not), too often desperate for an idea, missing fantastic oportunities.

She is the perfect wife.
   Always there. Passionate. Fantastic willing helper.
I am often occupied, too tired, reluctant to do more.

She knows how to dress.
   Just right for herself, the weather, the occasion.
I am glad to manage just one of these right.

She is the greatest friend.
   Open and honest. Loyal. Warm and caring.
I am slow, careful, too often wordless.

And then, I discover I am that "she" to someone.
What a marvel!
Shifts the looking glass and glasses
To see again
Perhaps more of what God sees
of Me and She.

In Pursuit of a Date

For our anniversary this Spring we had special plans.  Then I woke up with mumps that day.

For my birthday I nixed the plans feeling miserable full of a nasty cold.

Our next opportunity we did actually manage to get out, but it was necessarily low key (Michael felt sick this time), short, and combined with a bunch of necessary errands.

Today we nixed a semi-date plan in a more dramatic way...

The kids and Mommy had a bit of a biking accident on the way home from the market this morning.  Remember Jasmin's accident? (foot stuck in the wheel of the bike) Well, Grace copied it this morning in a most dramatic fashion.  Since she was wearing better shoes, her foot is not as robbed of skin; but because of the more robust shoe, her ankle took a bruising (as well as the bike). It was more dramatic also since we were fully loaded: bike trailer with Jasmin and groceries, Aiden in his seat behind me, and Grace in front. So we had Grace almost screaming, Aiden definitely screaming, and Jasmin more than a little worried. 

We got to stay home instead of going out
Grace is limping
My bike needs the wheel straightening

But all is well:

We got immediate, more than enough help from people on the street - someone got Aiden out of his seat, a biker had tools to make my bike ride-able to get it home, someone helped me get Grace's foot unstuck, someone gave the girl's a ride home, etc.

Grace is limping, but her foot is fine, and lost less skin than Jasmin.

Jasmin keeps her head under pressure and makes a good nurse/gopher

We've had a good day at home and Daddy's gotten more work caught up than he thought he would.

My computer has intermittently recharged today, making it useable.  Since our outing was triggered by the need to fix my computer (not recharging at all), this is a nice extra to the all is well.

What happened after

Well, our ill-fated return journey didn't get much better from Singapore...

Mommy had to contend with the runs (thankfully mostly while in Singapore and not on planes!)

Our flight out of Bangkok was delayed by nearly an hour - after we got on the plane - and since it was our last flight, Aiden wasn't too impressed - he screamed and writhed nearly that whole hour (thankfully people around us seemed sympathetic rather than annoyed)

Our arrival in Penang was mixed relief as our suitcase didn't arrive with us (thankfully the taxi Daddy arranged to meet us was still around!)

It poured so hard on the way back from the airport, we had to creep along as the driver could hardly see too much of the time (but we made it safely)

Because of that longish taxi ride, Mommy didn't make it to a bathroom in time...

Home and showered and ready for bed and Aiden threw up some more...

And yet, somehow the homecoming still wasn't a tumble-into-bed-flop of thankful misery after an "I'll never do that again" trip.

How amazing is that?!?! God's grace is not just for the big things but for the "little" also.  Thank you God.

Our suitcase caught up with us a day or two later, intact, with all contents, though a little wet.

Thank you God.

On the Way Home

Aiden and mommy just spent 2 weeks in Halifax with family. A fantastic time, and even the long way there went smoothly and was friendly to diving into lots of full days - basically no jet lag even. Not so the way home!

First mommy left sippy cup in Halifax, which acts like aidens lovey...

Then she left hippy seat in Ottawa, which makes airport marathon carries doable...

Then we didn't get a baby friendly seat on our first flight...
And had to share it with a man who was much more than unimpressed with his seat allocation and didn't mind sharing the mood....

And just before we landed in London Aiden threw up copiously over the both of us...

Have to stop here and list some thank yous:
Aiden didn't get it on our inhospitable seat mate.
Two ladies across the isle were kind helpers to this mommy in distress, as were the flight attendants.
Mommy had almost a full change if clothes for both of us in carryon bags.
Our snarly seat mate didn't make a fuss.

So we arrived in London a bit stinky, somewhat flustered, and mommy in wet pants. Next in the list was trouble transferring because again Aiden's ticket didn't show up. So we were late and mommy had no time to rinse out the bag full of stinky clothes...

So she did onboard the next flight - and plugged the sink so badly that bathroom was out of order for the whole flight... I did ask first and they thought it was ok....

Then, no joke, not long into the next flight Aiden did it again - this time with impeccable aim: down the inside of mommy's shirt...
With no more clean clothes - who carries more than one change of clothes carry on? - mommy had to wash her tops best she could and wear them wet along with her still wet pants...

And it was one of those freezing cold flights....

Now both of us feel sick and ragged... With two more flights to go

Thank yous :
Not as bad as the first time so Aiden didn't have to wear wet clothes.
Flying Singapore Air so soap, lotion, and even perfume in the bathroom means there is only a faint aroma of the nasties clinging to us.
Somehow mommy managed to find a laugh instead of a cry - even if it was rather weak.
Aiden had enough sense to refuse the food offered the rest of the flight.
We have a long layover here in Singapore so there is still a chance we can arrive home more or less clean and composed. Already feeling much better after a shower and a sort of clothing change - the first shirt washed in the shower :o)