Two, Which Is Really One

Day two has held tears. This is our sweet friend who helps us in our house each week. She has really become dear to my heart and Maya has wormed her way deep into our friend's heart. Today when we were talking I told her that we would miss her very much and she started crying. Folks here are passionate and emotional, but they will rarely let you seem them show vulnerable moments like this. So special!

Threeeeeeeeeeeeeee is the magic number! (feel free to sing that song in your head now)

Today we need to:

• pay a parking ticket
• pick up dry cleaning
• buy a toilet seat
• go to the bank
• get someone power of attorney on our car
• pick up maya's medical records from the pediatrician
• go to the hospital eye clinic to get a glaucoma test
• go to another bank
• check our post office box
• get a haircut (we both need to do this)
• buy a cover for our car
• finish packing

We've decided to divide and conquer. . .

Four More

Well, we're finally coming down to the wire. Today will be pretty chill. America lost last night to Ghana, so we no longer have anyone to cheer for in the World Cup. Yesterday I wrote that I wished I could fast forward through the next few days. We realized in discussing who would take us to the airport, yesterday that we actually do have one day less than I thought. Our flight leaves at 2 am on Thursday morning, so we're not even really here on Thursday! So four days includes the day when we will actually go to the airport--I got my wish! We knocked off a whole day of waiting!

Seven, Six, Five . . .

Five days until departure day. Matt asked me last night if there is anything I want to do before we leave. In my head I answered, "Fast forward through the next five days!" We still have a few loose ends to tie up. I have to be tested for glaucoma, we still have some clothing to pack, we need to decide which Arabic study materials we will actually study while we're in the States, etc.

Our wonderful Laura who lives with us now came home from a long day yesterday and said she wanted to watch Maya for us so we could go on a date. It's been too long since we went on a date, so we jumped at the chance and had a great time. When we arrived at the mall (where we ate and saw a movie) the place was packed with Brazil football fans! We had forgotten about the game! It was crazy--every restaurant has either multiple big flat screen tv's set up, or a huge screen that they are projecting onto. Many of the people were decked out in their Brazil fan-gear. We caught about the last 8 or so minutes and it ended in a tie. Many, many people from here have immigrated to Brazil, so there is a special connection for the people. No one is really cheering for the U.S. (except us, of course). They play tonight against Ghanna. . . we're pumped! The World Cup is a good distraction from the waiting and the U.S. team has done well this year. I will never start packing 15 days ahead of a trip again! It's way less stress this way, but it just feels like the waiting is longer this way too. But five days! It's really going to fly by fast now! (In Sha Allah!)

Eight Days . . .

Day eight. I don't have a picture b/c my computer doesn't have a card reader and Matt is gone and so is his computer. So I started the below post yesterday because we had a good internet connection, and you can't waste those moments. Little did I know how true her onesie message would be today. "I'm helping my mommy practice FOCUS values." The FOCUS values (if you don't already have them memorized to an army boot camp kind of tune) are: loyalty, integrity, worship, flexibility, trust in God, initiative, servant's heart, team player. I love FOCUS International (and really it's the people that are a part of FOCUS that I love). The values are still posted on my fridge, even though I haven't been on a FOCUS trip in many many years. I love this onesie that the FOCUS folks sent to us this summer.

Today I had a moment where Maya helped me practice a FOCUS value. I won't go into detail, but basically, last night while Matt was feeding her and I was out of the house, he had flicked her cheek when she spit her food at him. I was taken by surprise. I wasn't ready for this stage. For discipline. So then in a conversation today with a friend who has a one year old, she made the point that it's a whole lot easier to mold behavior than to have to un-do something that they've learned to do. So then I'm home alone, feeding Maya and she spits her food. Without really stopping to think, I flicked her cheek and said no in a firm tone. I'm still not convinced it's not too early and that we aren't rushing it a bit, but that is for another post. Right after that she looked at me and her face just fell and she started crying big tears! So I picked her up and held her close and told her I love her--and then the waterworks really started--but it was me! I wasn't prepared at all for how it would feel to hurt her feelings. I also felt insecure about the whole thing possibly being too early and rushing things and I hadn't thought through everything yet. But that's usually how life happens. FAST. Before I've had a chance to think through everything. After I got her calmed down and stopped my own sobbing, I started to think about 2 things: I need to trust in God so much more, in order to know how in the world to properly train up this child (trust in God--a FOCUS value!). The other (and maybe bigger thing) is how much it grieves God when He has to discipline us, but how loving and kind He is to do it. And how when He disciplines us, He is not mad or angry at us afterward, and He doesn't love us any less. Just like I held and kissed and rocked and calmed Maya after my discipline made her cry. Wow, I love this kid so so very much and how much more does a perfect God love me?

Who has time to pack with all of this going on? . . .

Nine Days

Nine is a lot less than ten. I got a lot of folding and choosing and piling done yesterday, but still. Nine. It's a small number! I really cannot believe we will be leaving for the states in nine days. Three years (plus) is a long time to be away from a place. I was daydreaming the other day (actually, let's be honest, I was worrying. I was worrying about airline regulations that exist in other regions and whether or not we need to pack all liquids in our carry-on in a little ziploc bag and whether they have to be under a certain number of ounces, and whether or not you can bring a bottle of water through security with you. We don't worry about these things at our airport here. We're lucky if they actually have the metal detectors turned on. . .) so like I said, I was daydreaming about our trip and as I pondered about whether I could bring a bottle of water with me through security at whatever European airport we will fly through, the thought suddenly hit me--water fountains! We are going to the land of clean and drinkable tap water! And water fountains! I spent several more minutes on that idea. I acted it all out in my head. Packing my empty Nalgene bottle and at the first U.S. airport stopping to fill that whole darn thing up with nice cold water-fountain-water. Then I had this funny thing happen. I questioned whether that water really was safe. And whether we really should be drinking it. And then thought, nah, we'll probably not want Maya drinking that water, we'll probably keep buying bottled water, you never know who has been drinking out of that water fountain. . . Funny, huh? The things we grow to distrust, just because they are not our "normal". Pretty sure there's a good lesson in there about how we treat people who are not "normal". . . but I have to save any more energy for packing!

10 Days

Ten days. Can you believe it? We're almost out of double digits!! Lots of progress yesterday. I was going to take pictures of all of the piles but I need to be working out and showering, not photographing piles. But do notice, I managed to clean off my fridge. It takes me by surprise every time I walk in there now. Shiny. . .

Today will be insane. Our friend Laura, who will be living here while we are gone (and whose awesome parents are loaning us a car for our six months in the states--THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!) is moving in today. Until we are out of her hair, she will be going from an entire apartment into a small (and already cramped with our stuff) room. Bless her. She is very flexible. She is also very wonderful and sweet and I will miss her a lot (she and I are both introverts and so we poke fun at extroverts together). It will be fun going through the chaos of the next few days together, but today will be crazy. . .

Also, in case you forgot, we have a six month old. Packing is really different with a six month old. You have to pack for them. And you have to try to pack at times that they are feeling independant and happy. And asleep. It's a challenge. . .

Ooh, look. My paragraphs ended with shiny, crazy, challenge. That about sums it up.


Laura and I cheesing it up at the wedding