30E
The long absence is due to excessive travel. I am currently sitting in seat 30E, centre seat of the bulkhead… good for legroom! I am on day eight of a two week trip. In eight days I have spent four nights in a hotel room and four nights on long haul red-eye flights. From Hong Kong I flew to Sydney, Australia for two days -> Melbourne in transit to HK -> Hong Kong arriving @ 6:45 AM. Departed HK for Delhi that night at 10:40 PM -> Delhi and now back to HK. I arrive at 3:15 PM transitting to a flight to the US that leaves 75 minutes later. I was hoping I’d have time to see Tess & The Gang but unfortunately I won’t have time.
I have started some PYM type blogs that I’ll finish and post while on all these long flights. Believe it or not I have been either so busy or so tired that I haven’t watch TV/Movies once on this trip. Actually, in part that’s because on the flight from Melbourne to HK the entertainment system kept malfunctioning.
The good news is that while in the US I can get my Christmas shopping done!
Sebastian’s BD Party!
This afternoon we held Sebastian’s 4th Birthday Party in the playground. About 35 – 40 kids attended and twice as many adults. Good time was had by all… except tonight the kids will all have nightmares about Sebastian’s Birthday Cake. Yes, made from scratch by yours truly, with the idea inspired by Tess after Sebastian informed us he desired a dinosaur for his birthday cake. Enjoy the pics and here is the video of everyone singing Happy Birthday!
21,000 words
If a picture is worth a thousand words, we’ve slaved all day writing this essay.
Enjoy!
Hannah & Rachael
Some of you may remember a featured blog, Deeper, that I posted in August. The blog owner, Brian, is a Youth Pastor in the US.
Turns out some close friends of Brian and his wife were expecting twins. For reasons unknown the friends lost one of the babies in an emergency C-section this past weekend. They were expecting twins but only one survived. Hannah didn’t make it but Rachael is alive. Brian describes on his site how Rachael is hooked up to all kinds of machines. Brian writes how "grief seems to bring with it this dark beauty that strips things down, makes things raw" and has a request that we please pray for this family.
Please pray that Rachael is strong in her fight for survival. Pray for Tim & Becky to have peace throughout this terrible experience… for comfort during this time of mixed emotions: the grief of Hannah mingled with the joy of Rachael. And finally, pray that God has mercy on Hannah’s soul so that someday she can be reunited with her parents.
Everytime I hear a story like this, I am reminded that God blessed Tess and I with a remarkable family that survived against incredible odds… and it is very humbling. I have little if anything to complain about.
Featured Blog: Vitamin Sea
I have been visiting a blog for several months called "Vitamin Sea." Owner of said blog (Laura) is a mother living in Florida, USA who has quite the sense of humour. Last week she posted a series of stories that motivated me to write her a long comment. In one of her stories Laura wrote of "working like a dog" all day and then stopping, looking up from her computer to see her dog, who she described as having never worked hard (like a dog) for one day in his life. This prompted her to ask, "Where does that expression come from anyway… ‘worked like a dog?’ " This was my comment:
Busted by Baz!
For a long time now (well over a year) Sebastian, who will be four years old in ten days, has been nappy free at night. As long as we monitor fluid intake close to the bathroom, he can make it through the night without incident. We maybe have one accident per month. We also have the occasional morning where we ask Sebastian if he has to go to the bathroom prior to breakfast, to which he replies, "No, I already went in the middle of the night." This typically sparks debate between Tess & I about how and when that happened when the entire flat was in darkness. Maybe he dreamt it.
If Sebastian is VERY tired when he goes to bed, or has had a lot to drink late in the day, we might take him to the bathroom before Tess & I go to bed to avoid any middle of the night mishaps. (When this happens, Seb is always half asleep and we have to make sure he doesn’t topple off the toilet as he is weeing.)
To counter this, Seb often asks for water when we put him to bed. Usually we give him a small cup with a lid (i.e. sippy cup so it won’t spill in the middle of the night) with about an inch of water. Any more and we risk a middle of the night mishap. Okay, hopefully by now you have the context for this whole thing… now the story… kids have an amazing memory.
The other night as I was putting Sebastian to bed he asked for some water. I nonchalantly said, "okay, I’ll get you some later." Meanwhile, he brushed his teeth and went to bed. After praying, Sebastian claimed that he was "soooooo tired." I took that as a signal that he didn’t really need some water. We talked a little, exchanged hugs and kisses, and a short while later Sebastian was sawing logs.
Cut to next morning, when Sebastian often comes into Tess and my room to wake me up for breakfast… usually around 6:45 AM. I saw him come into the room and said in a quiet voice so as to not wake Tess, "good morning, Sebastian." He replied…
"You…" and I thought, "Okay, me, yes…"
"didn’t" and I thought, "Yes, I didn’t wake you up because normally you wake me up. So I am fine."
"bring" and I thought, "Bring him what, a toy from my business trip?" (I had just returned the day before… "what is he talking about?")
"me water…" and I thought, "AHHH… I am SO busted. I can’t believe the memory this kid has… I thought FOR SURE he would forget!"
Apparently not.
I apologised profusely, Sebastian sheepishly said, as he crawled into bed for a few minutes next to me, "that’s okay" and I made a mental note, "never break word with little kids regardless of how tired they are when you make the promise." Actually, never break word with anyone (but especially little kids.)
It’s Saturday night in Hong Kong and we just had a fantastic day with the team, including going to a fair in Hong Kong where everyone lasted until 3:30 PM (!) without naps with few if any complaints. Trips went to bed at 7:30 PM but we let Baz stay up a little later to watch a smidgeon of Buzz Lightyear. He is now in bed… with an inch of water in his little cup. Break my heart, what a great little guy.
Okay, I saved your blog offline. While flying from Shanghai to Hong Kong this afternoon I re-read a bunch of your posts because I felt a need to clarify a few things.
First, "working like dogs" comes from Northern North America (that would be Canada – note, only a Canadian would point out such an obvious link, duh!) when dogs used to pull sleds all the time for a living… v v tiring work and a dying pastime, literally. So, YOUR dog has a cushy life in Florida (along with probably half of Northern North America’s retired population) because it never snows down there. (There maybe other reasons – will get to them later.) Send your pooch out someday in search of Northern North American dogs, accompanying their retired folk from the Great White North, who might be former sled dogs. The Canine Canucks could share Polar Bear stories with your lazy lab.
Second, pastors and spiritual leaders eat garlic to keep evil away.
Third, I laughed at your daughter’s Grocery Rule about the conveyor belt automatically stopping courtesy of the electronic eye. Been there, done that, cause feared the eggs’d roll off the end and upset the new cashier who was OBVIOUSLY having a less than stellar day. The whole moving belt thing would be a v v funny skit for Mr. Bean. Especially if there was NO electronic eye but instead Mr. Bean watching beneath the counter through the electronic eye peephole.
Fourth, getting hit on at Church? Yeah, that’s a sin for sure. Nasty. Tell them to eat more garlic bread and stay away from the Pina Colada cupcakes.
Fifth, the US is going to invade Canada for our oil? Should I be worried here? What kind of oil do you need – vegetable, olive, castor?
Actually to be honest, none of those Northern geriatric people are THAT retired… they work for the Northern North American government – a divison called the RCMP (Righteous Carrier of Mountie Petroleum) and every spring secretly haul OUR oil back to Canada… but not on dog sleds now that the Northern North American dogs were forced to unionize. Not sure, but had something to do with the Northern North American dogs finding out their canine brothers south of the border had never worked a Northern North American dog’s day in their life. Actually not that either… "worked like a dog" refers to Northern North American dog’s working hard to help themselves, and their oil-carrying masters/mistresses, escape from being eaten by Polar Bears. Like teenagers, grumpy polar bears are always at the ready! And you thought Redneck Dogs of the South have it ruff, you should see what Canadian frostbite looks like on fangs, where the snow contains flouride.
Actually, crafting this comment has been very therapeutic… I see common currents in the Vitamin Sea.
Woof!
Vitamin Sea has some funny stories and is worth adding to your daily list… even if Laura IS from Southern North America. Enjoy.
Meanwhile, updated pics of the family can be found here.