3D Art Museum: Fun Pics 2

 Let's add a little sweetner (Gabrielle) to my coffee.

3D Art Museum. Fun Pics 1

March Miscellanies: An eventful trip out

 Mid March had us gearing up for a trip to Thailand.  Since we would arrive back with just a few days before Tobin's birthday, we had to prepare!
Enter the Light Saber! Ever since Uncle Herschel brought us the Star Wars movies (the old ones) Tobin has been a huge fan!
And this girl too, with her big brown eyes and attempt at a Princess Leigh hair-do.

Tobin works on his stance.

 David left a week early to have dental surgery (FUN). While he was away we hit homeschool hard and felt ready for our break!
Sophia wanted me to take a pic and show David "all the writing I have to do for Latin".

We did a little pre-piano class mommy date.

And often when I am done with a run I come back and get these two stinkers and run small loops with them on their little cars. They love to pretend crash at the end and feign injury. Oh, the drama!

This would be the first time I traveled with four kids solo, so I had to prep well!
I bought the kids these phone erasers! This was their 'school store' treat. They couldn't wait to trick the stewardesses on the flights.

 Nice fuzzy picture. We did all carry-ons, which I thought a fabulous idea, until it wasn't. The one thing I did not foresee: busing to a different tarmac in KM and having to walk up stairs to get on it. The older girls and I were rolling big carry-on suitcases. They rolled them fine but could not manage the stairs. Our newfound friends helped me tremendously here. And this suitcase event was the least of our problems...a problem which these same friends had rescued me from only a few hours before.

But let's back up a bit. In our hometown airport you can go outside on a patio at the gate. A great place for fresh air and even run around if you want. They became a spectacle of course...

 All of these men were talking to and about these kids and Sophia graciously fielded their questions.

Here is another poor pic but it captures Bella in her element:

And this is where I became friends with the people God sent to help me with my bigger problem.
In our hometown, when we boarded, the stewardess said she had to put an adult with the two kids (Sophia and Bella) across the aisle, per their policy. Sure, go for it.

In the capital, when I approached the desk for boarding passes and asked to make sure our seats were together the lady hesitated and then told me plainly that their policy to fly is 3 children/1 adult.
 "Let me call my boss". Oh no, I said, you don't need to do that. I still didn't think she was quite serious, I laughed and explained how they handled it on the last plane, no problem.
Then I glanced at the American family that we had just made small talk with and told the lady at the desk that she could seat us together (at the same time I winked at the American lady), 'they will help me.....'

She went with that and started issuing boarding passes and making sure that we would be seated near each other. Then her boss did come up and they had a whole discussion about the situation. She started talking to the American man of the other family at the other desk.

I heaved a big sigh of relief and got my crew through security. Finally the other family joined us at the play area (pictured above) and we got to know each other. They were very kind, we had mutual acquaintances and our kids had a great time together. Come to find out they did ask the man if we were friends and he said: 'we are all friends'. He didn't have to say that, but he did. And they both carried our girls bags up the stairs. And that is how the trip went, or almost didn't go at all.

The town we entered into in Thailand was chaos in customs. The airline had no arrival forms. The arrival hall had no arrival forms, and it was filled with hundreds of people. "You four stay here and do not move." I ran around, finally butted all the folks in line for arrival visas, and asked the lady at the window for some forms, lots of them. She handed me 8 or so. I ran back to find the kids and get in the mad line. There we waited for thirty minutes with no end in sight. I judged we would be another hour at least. David was supposed to be arriving in this same city an hour after us so I figured it may work out, though I dreaded the wait.

Then I saw the empty 'special' line and once again asked the kids to 'stay put'. I told the man at the customs counter that I had four kids could I get in his line. 'Yes, yes!' And why had I not thought of that before? Because once we stopped carrying strollers and no longer had a 'baby' I forgot I still needed help!

And what to our wanderings eyes did appear? David right there. Tobin said he saw him as we exited but I said, 'Nope his flight is not here yet!' He had caught an earlier flight and thought we had missed ours as he waited for us for an hour!

Whew. Reliving that experience was exhausting....let's move on.

My David, At Fourteen Years of Marriage

My David, At Fourteen Years of Marriage

You have…

Taught me….

-the meaning of the word 'discipline'

-how to read the word more intently

-what sacrificial love looks like

-how to parent with the end in mind

-how to organize my life for maximum efficiency and effectiveness

-that relationship matters more than my sense of 'right'

-about the science of human nutrition

-how to work out efficiently and injury free (enter the kettle bell)

-how to love in midst of hurt

-that my black and white vision of life ends in judgments that hurt

-how to speak calmly when my heart wants to yell

-self-forgetfulness

-how to die

-to die is to really live

Sought me…..

-when I manipulate with emotion

-when I yell (and cuss sometimes)

-when I am closed and cold

-when I have wrecked it all

-when my heart is aching

-when the world overwhelms

-in tender romantic love

-in patient love

-as a best friend forever

-as always wanting more and not settling for less in our marriage

-with physical, tender touch as a way to soften and remind me

  you are seeking me still

Washed me…..

-with encouraging words

-with difficult words that I needed to hear

-with God's word for me

-with time and rest and laughter

-with your utter sacrifice

-with forgiveness and grace

-with unrelenting love

-with reminders that you would choose me a thousand times again

-with reminders that life is better in our story together

-with the words: 'I Love doing life with you'

Protected me….

-from the worst parts of myself

-from tearing down people I love the most

-from the drunk man at the restaurant

-from the home invader in tengchong

-from laziness and waywardness in my Christ walk

-from gossip, jealousy, and envy

-from pride and selfishness

-and our marriage from any impurity

Bettered me…..

-by communicating kindly and patiently and helping me do the same

-by not letting me settle for the status quo in my walk with Jesus

-by helping see the gray and not mete out my own justice

-by gentling me with our kids

-by helping me be intentional in every area of our life

-by reigning in my pride-induced rants

-by giving all of you to me and taking 'all of me' (including my ‘smart mouth’)

-by leading well and helping me follow :).

  

Loved me…

-by always choosing me

-by being trustworthy in every aspect of who you are

-by being my very. Best. Friend.

-by reminding me why I was made, for you and for HIM

-by taking all of me and knowing redemption is for me in EVERY part

-by trusting in FUTURE GRACE for me

The best part of our marriage is that it is YOU and ME forever,

but it wasn't made entirely for us.

True, we are partakers of all the gifts of marriage,

but the YOU and ME forever is not mainly FOR us, but FOR Him.

His glory in HIS picture of Christ and the Church.

A mystery quite mysterious, yet not so evasive, it is real.

We can live it, go deeper in it, forage his meaning even more

to KNOW HIM more by living in communion with each other

and most of all with our creator.

I know you will keep teaching, seeking, washing, protecting,

bettering, and loving me in these same ways and in new ways too

as Christ draws you even closer to him.  I am confident of this,

because I trust in HIS FUTURE GRACE for you too.

The best is yet to come.

Thanks for choosing me, David. I still choose you a million times over.