In Which We're Becoming African

My almost-two-year-old sits next to me in the back seat of the Land Rover. Looking all tiny and cute with his little feet barely stretching to the edge of the seat. His eyes are wide as he looks out the windshield. He squeals in delight as we turn off the main road onto the neighborhood road and he sees it's made of dirt. “Bumpy!!” He exclaims, waiting anxiously for the 'big bumps' (speed bumps) and giggling with every bounce and bump.

We're heading to the store to pick up some butter and little bear wants to tag along. I scoop him up, barefoot and sweaty and plop him in the car with us. He's slung on my hip with his dirty bare feet swinging as we wait in line to pay for the butter.

It's almost bed time and I look at his sweet face. His eyes are red with tiredness, legs speckled with dirt, feet red-brown from clay and dust walking around barefoot all day and hair slightly matted from sweat.

As I lay him on our bed our mosquito net remains open, it's not the rainy season and malaria is very rare in this region. With the ceiling fan and floor fan on full blast mosquitoes don't stand a chance in our room anyway.

He falls asleep within 5 minutes and we head back out to the living room to chat with the grown-ups. The thought I've been playing with in my head for the past day and a half needs to be resolved; a decision has to be made. “I'm thinking about us not taking the anti-malaria meds,” I say to Bill. “Yea, me too.” Confirming the stirring in my spirit that they aren't necessary. Just to be sure, we ask the missionaries we're staying with what they think. They share some facts with us: “The meds are horrible for your liver, and that's research that has been done on adults, so imagine what it would do to an infant's liver. Malaria is very rare in this region, and there aren't many mosquitoes right now since it's not the rainy season. In my 10 years of living here, only 2 people have ever gotten malaria, and once they took the medicine for it they were fine.” Bill & I look at each other and I can tell he feels the same peace about it as I do.

We head to bed, tired but full of peace. At about 1:30 O decides it's time to be awake. All the way awake. Giggly, happy, jumping up and down, restless, not going back to sleep kind of awake. We finally all fell back asleep around 3:30, waking up again at 11am. Oops.
I guess we aren't quite African yet. :)

Vomit and Favor

I woke up hot this morning. I mean. I knew it would be hot here. But for some reason I guess it I didn't think it would be the I'm -sitting-here-not-doing-anything-and-sweating kind of hot. It feels wonderful. Especially after trenching through the blizzard of 2013 that hit Charlotte 6 days ago. Those three inches of snow were horrendous.

Anyhow. I'm feeling well rested and ready to go. Go where, I'm not sure yet. But I know God has amazing things planned for us on this trip. Especially if our travels here are any indication.

We were dropped off at the airport with two hours to spare before boarding our plane. And it was a good thing too. There was some sort of glitch in the computer system so we couldn't get our boarding passes. After 45 minutes at the 'special services' desk, a couple of calls to Delta Global and re-entering all of O's information, we had our boarding passes in hand.

We had a few minutes before we boarded and it was dinner time so we hit the atrium food court.. Owen loved it because there was a kid playing a piano, we gave O a dollar to put in the tip jar and he thought that was cool. We finished up just in time to be the last group on the plane – somewhat intentional. Being the first on the plane means sitting there longer with a toddler – not something we wanted to do.

The flight from Charlotte to LaGuardia (NY) ended up being delayed. After we were already on the plane. We sat on the runway for an hour before finally taking off. Luckily the flight attendants were nice and they took O for walks while we waited, he thought that was pretty cool.

Once in LaGuardia I strapped O in the Boba and carried the stroller down to the baggage claim. Bill had the backpack on his back, the diaper bag slung over his shoulder and was toting the rolling carry on suitcase too. We grabbed our four large suitcases off the carousel and tried to figure out how to maneuver. Bill stacked the large rolling duffel on the large rolling suitcase, then the rolling carry on stacked on the other large rolling suitcase (that's 200lbs of luggage, incase you lost track) and I pulled the stroller (collapsed) and the large hard-sided suitcase(50lbs) (with O still strapped in the Boba). We walked the ten feet to the shuttle counter to grab the ride to JFK but were told the guy for the shuttle was on the other end of the airport. Joy. So we finally make it down there and hear the shuttle won't be back for another 20 minutes.

When we finally got to JFK and found our ticket counter (on the complete opposite end of the place we were dropped off) the lady at the counter says, “You're going to Amsterdam? You didn't give yourself very much time, they're boarding in a few minutes and are about to close the luggage gate.” I (ever-so-politely, even though I didn't want to be nice) said, “I'm sorry, our flight from Charlotte was delayed an hour, and then we had to wait for the shuttle to get here.” Sheesh lady. Thankfully, another ticketing agent came up and was much more helpful and kind, letting us leave our bags as we took them in a more manageable way to the luggage drop. We ran (literally) to our gate and were among the last to board the flight. We found our seats in the middle section of a 3-4-3 seating arrangement. We were behind the toilets which meant we had extra leg room and walking-around room for O. AND the only other person in our row was a lady that had a little lap dog. Proof that God thinks of the big things (us catching our plane, despite the odds after a late flight and shuttle ride) and the small things (having an extra seat in our row, extra legroom for free and a puppy for O to be entertained by.)

O did a great job on the 7 hour flight, sleeping most of the time. Toward the middle we hit some serious turbulence, and it lasted for about an hour. After which O woke up vomiting profusely. It was everywhere. All over his shirt and pants, some on me (since I was holding him while he slept) on his puppy, his blankie, everywhere. The poor kid was terrified. It was the first time he'd ever thrown up and he was awakened by it. After we got things cleaned up, got him changed and settled back in, he fell back asleep. And then woke up vomiting again. Luckily we had a blanket (courtesy of KLM) draped over him so he didn't get too much on himself this time, but he was still shaking, cold-sweating and scared. We went through the clean up process again and opted to keep him in the outfit he was in since it didn't get too much vomit on it. We found another blanket and tucked it up under his chin and he fell asleep. This scenario repeated I think three more times (I lost track after the fourth time), eventually he was only throwing up stomach acid. He was such a trooper though, he really was a big boy about it all, and slept in between it all. We finally touched down in Amsterdam and put him in the stroller to go find our gate. He was super happy to be on solid ground again. Luckily it was on the same concourse and only a short walk away. Until we got there and saw that it had been moved to another concourse. Awesome. We turned around and headed to the gate, looking for a phamacy-type store along the way to grab some motion sickness cure for little bear. He asked where we were going so we told him we wanted to get him some medicine so he didn't get sick. He said, “Owenbear crying. Yuck yuck..” and pointing to his mouth. “Yea honey, you were crying and it was yucky.” That sweet boy.

So we found a place but they didn't have anything for infants, so we kept going to the gate. Once we were on the plane we discovered it wasn't a full flight. There were probably only a couple dozen people on the entire plane. We had an entire row to ourselves and there wasn't anyone three or four rows in front of or behind us. It was awesome. I told the flight attendant that O got sick on the last flight so we might need some napkins or something and she went and grabbed some medicine she had, we broke it up and put it in some juice for bear and he drank it right up. The flight went awesome. He got to play and walk around, and he was happy as can be. He didn't get sick once, and he was such a big boy the entire time. He asked once, with about four hours left in the flight; “Ready?” Telling us he was ready to get off the plane, but after that he fell asleep for a while on me. Toward the end of the flight – the last hour and half or so, he was getting pretty antsy (to be expected after 24 hours of travel!) With about 45 minutes left in the flight he started asking again “Ready? Go down?” so we said, “we'll be going down soon. When it's time to go down you'll have to get your seatbelt on and not walk around anymore, okay?” And with that he got up in his seat, asked us to buckle his seatbelt and sat there perfectly still for the rest of the flight, just waiting for it to land. We got in, got through customs without a hitch, grabbed all our luggage and headed out to meet Peter & Brian. The drive home was quick and we went to bed right away since it was almost 1 am (Tanzania time.) O slept with us and we stayed with Peter & Mary for the night since it was so late. We all slept great – O probably the best out of the three of us. He was knocked out and thrashing all over the place, giving Bill & I black eyes and kidney punches all night. :)

God's grace and favor was all over this trip. We felt it so strong, and know it was because of all the prayers being sent up by our supporters. It's so clear to us that this is where we are supposed to be, not just later but right now. It's a feeling that's mostly indiscribable – being right in the middle of God's will and plan for us. And we pretty much love it.

Praise Jesus!

I want you to read this when you're older.
Maybe when you're a teenager struggling with the concept of faith, or maybe when a bump in the road comes along trying to derail you.  I want this to be forever documented so you can remember.  So you can see what I get to witness in you, tears brimming my eyes, every. single. time it happens.  (which is a lot these days)

The other day you asked me to put some music on so you could play your guitar.

I put on the Laurie Berkner Band station on Pandora (you like watching her 'dinosaur' video a lot).  As soon as the first lyric was sung you said, "No.  Praise Jesus" and put your hand in the air.
"You want praise Jesus music?" I asked.
"Yeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!" You exclaimed emphatically, jumping up and down with your guitar strapped over your shoulder.  As soon as that Fee song came on, you started dancing and singing and raising your hand every once in a while shouting "Praise Jesus!" with an ear-to-ear grin on your face.  Proof that joy, true joy, comes from no one but Him.

In the car ride this morning I flipped on the radio, just because, and the Hillsong CD was in.  You've only heard this track one other time, but you immediately raised your hand in the backseat and shouted "Praise Jesus!"
"Yea, this is praise Jesus music honey!  You want me to turn it up?"
"YEEEAAAHHH!!" you exclaimed, with that smile spreading over your face again, and your hands beginning to clap along to the music.
As the track started to fade out your smile faded too, and I saw a concerned look came across your brow as I glanced in the mirror to see you.
"More?" you asked.
"Yes, honey, there's more."
It only took you three songs to figure out that you didn't have to keep asking for more, that it would keep playing.  Eventually you began to recognize that the end of the song didn't mean the end of the music and you would clap right along with the audience from that Live CD, with a smile on your face anxious for the new song to start.

Your love for worship is so sweet, so child-like, and so wide-open.  I love the way you want "Praise Jesus" music.  I love the way it fills you up with joy and the smile that comes over your face.
I try to stop it, but I can't.  Every time I see you praising Jesus, it brings tears to my eyes.

You, my son, are anointed by God, just as your middle name implies.  And someday when it doesn't 'feel' like it, I want you to read this and remember, it has always been so.  From the very beginning.  And you recognized it before you were even two years old.

Riding in Cars with Boys

My new job puts O and I driving around a lot together in the mornings, which leads to lots of fun and interesting conversations.  Mostly it's about the water.  Both of my routes take us over lakes and he loves looking out at the boats and the water.  But today's conversation was a little different - and it was my favorite. I promise I didn't make any of this up!  

O: Momma? 

Me: Yea?

O: a-pan.

Me: What?

O: A.PAN.

Me: (thinking really hard at what he could possibly mean as we are whizzing down the highway...)

O: A.PANE.

Me: Oh! Airplane!  Did you see an airplane?  

O: No.

Me: (defeated) Oh.

O: Airpane.  Ride?

Me: Oh! You want to ride an airplane?

O: Yea!!

Me: Oh okay.  Yeah, we'll ride on an airplane in a few more weeks. 

O: Papa ride?

Me: Yup, papa will ride the airplane.

O: Momma ride?

Me: Yea, momma will ride.

O: Owenbear ride?

Me: Yep, Owenbear will ride the airplane.  We're gonna ride it to Africa.  Wanna go to Africa again?

O: YEAAA!!!!    Momma?

Me: Yeah?

O: Apane? Ride?

Me: Yep.  We're gonna ride on an airplane.

O: Ah-kah?

Me: Africa?

O: Yea!

Me: Yes! We're going to ride on the airplane to Africa.  Good job buddy!

O: Yea!  Papa ride.  Momma ride.  Owenbear ride?

Me: Yep, papa, momma and Owenbear will all ride the airplane. 

O: in Ah-kah?

Me: Yes, in Africa.

O: YEEEEAAAAHHHHH!

(pause as he looks out the window)

O: Wa-wa? 

Me: Water? 

O: Yea.  Dive. Wa-wa?

Me: Oh, you want to drive over the water?  Yea, we'll drive over some water in a little bit.

(O inserts his paci, snuggles his teddy and looks contently out the window, no doubt waiting for the water)

It's moments like these that make me oh-so-thankful that I serve a God that cares about even the little things - like getting me a job that I could bring Owen with me to so we could have these little conversations. It might just be a small thing - but the small things add up in the heart of a momma. :)

A Short Story

One day O & Papa were playing upstairs in his room after nap.  Momma came downstairs to take care of some things and before long Papa was trotting down the stairs, alone.  Upon seeing Momma was on her phone, he turned around and went back up.  Then came back down.  And went to get his phone.
"What are you doing?" Momma asked.
"I need to take Owen's picture.  He's up there sitting in the chair with all his animals and he wants me to take a picture."
"Oh, well use the real camera!"
So Momma & Papa both went back upstairs, hoping that O was still sitting (cute as could be) in the rocking chair surrounded by his animals.
Indeed he was.  So Momma proceeded to click away as he sat there patiently, saying cheese here and there. As she did so, Papa chimed in: "So he asked me to sit in the chair so I got up and he sat in it.  Then he wanted Bear-Bear.  So I gave it to him.  Then he wanted Teddy.  And kitty.  And turtle.  And he kept saying more and naming his animals one by one until they were all sitting there with him.  And then he told me to take his picture."
"Wow, that's stinkin' adorable," Momma replied in a whisper to Papa.
And it was.
 
 

A Confession

Dear O,

You're almost 21 months old.  That's getting awfully close to two.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  Excited and happy to see the boy you're growing into, but sad to see some of your 'isms' and mispronunciations fall away.  I confess, I haven't taken very many pictures of you this month.  I've been soaking up every moment with you and I've just forgotten to get out the camera.  I wanted to tell you though, how much I absolutely love spending every moment with you.  The other day when you lifted up your shirt, showed me your belly and said "eat!" was so cute!  I love it when you get all playful and want to be chased and tickled and let me 'eat' your belly and cheeks.  The smile you get and the cute look in your eye when you are acting 'sissy' (silly) or when you see something silly is A. Dorable.
I also love the way you learn, the way you remember things, pick up on things.  Like when we tell you some one is going to come over and see you, it always prompts you to say "knock knock?" And when I tell you that yes, they will knock on the door, you run to the door and knock on it, then expect them to be there.  It doesn't quite work that way, but it's cute that you do it anyway. :)
You've also picked up on how we always ask "Are ya ready?" when it's time to go somewhere.  And it's really cute how now, you always ask us first, "a ya ready?" and get all excited and run to the door.  And most of the time you say 'bye-bye' to things along the way - like your kitchen, your guitar, your car.
I like the way you know how things are 'supposed' to go, or when things are supposed to happen too.  You like to remind me to give you your vitamins at night, you put away your toys before going somewhere and you always have to be covered and have your teddy and puppy at night.  In the morning when I bring you into our bed for snuggles it's so unbelievably sweet that you always ask me to put my arm around you, then you pull the covers up over us and give me your puppy so I can snuggle him.  
Your favorites right now are snowmen, bulldozers, dinosaurs and airplanes.  Your gramma got you some snowman PJ's that you absolutely love.  You cry every time we have to get you dressed, that's how much you like them.  And your aunt got you a shirt with a bulldozer on it, and you ask to wear it several times a week.  And whenever you see one while we're out driving the way you so excitedly shout "bo-bo!" is so cute.  I don't know how you do it but you seem to have a radar for airplanes.  You hear/see them before we do sometimes and always point them out!  When we talk to you about how we're going to ride on an airplane to go back to Africa and you get excited and tell us to put our shoes on, it's cute.  But it breaks my heart a little when I tell you we aren't leaving yet and you get upset and cry a little.  But don't worry little man, there will be many airplane rides in your future, I promise!
My favorite thing right now is watching you worship.  Every morning you ask me to put on music and you make rounds between dancing around with teddy and clapping along with the music, to your drums, and then your guitar.  And when you lift your hand up and say "praise Jesus" my heart overflows, little bear.  I love the heart you have for worship and the understanding you have about praising our Creator.  I tear up every time you do it because it's just so sweet.  The way you go running into the sanctuary at church after we get you out of kids' church to worship with the next service is super adorable.  It's amazing to me- watching you take it all in, looking at all the instruments and lights. And I wish it could go on forever because I know you would stay there that long because of how much you just love worship.
So, I confess, I haven't captured many images of you through my lens this month, but my heart is overflowing with all the amazing things you've learned and expressed the past twenty-something days.  I love you little bear, and I love watching you grow, learn and change every day!
~Momma

When Will He Learn?! Alternately Titled: Thank You

Seriously.  This is getting old.

So the other day (Jan.12th) to be exact, hubby got home from work (somewhat) early, so we decided to sit down and buy our tickets real quick before we headed out for some family time at the park.

I logged onto the site (as I'd done dozens of times before) repeated the search for the days I wanted, found great tickets for a great price and was ready to buy!  The plan all along was to use a zero-interest credit card to buy the tickets, since we haven't yet raised enough to cover the cost, and then pay them off once the funds came in.  So I selected that as my buying option and pressed "Confirm Purchase".  And it kicked me back to the page before.  With no 'missing information' message, no reason whatsoever appeared on the page.  So I figured it was a fluke on the website and tried again.  This time it said my credit was denied.

Um.  No.  Impossible.  What the heck?  So I called the airline to figure out what was wrong with their website.  I was told by an automated (annoying) voice that the wait time was 35-40 minutes.  Are you FLIPPING kidding me?!!?  How is that even 1) legal, 2) good for business?  Seriously!  So we gave up because by this point I was over-the-edge-anxious-and-frustrated.  Hubby reminded me it was just Satan putting up another roadblock, and to not get discouraged.  Plus our very patient son was so excited to go to the park and was just sitting there with his coat on, ready to go.  So we gave up.  We figured we would try again later.

We went to the park, had some great family time, came home to eat, put little man to bed and I booted up the computer again.

I tried again, and again to buy the tickets, and it kept saying my credit was declined.  Finally I called the credit company.  Their response "Oh, it's saying you're declined because you made the purchase already at 4pm, because you kept trying it thought you were trying to overdraw your credit and it was denying it."

So, you see here, Satan, I'm wondering: when will you learn?  
You were trying so hard to make this not work.  To put stress on our finances.  To put stress on us.  To ruin our fun family afternoon.  When all along OUR GOD was in control.  He'd made the purchase for us.  And you lose.  AGAIN.  

So I did what I had to do to finally secure the tickets - it took calling the airline again and confirming some stuff and blah-blah-blah, but when the night was over we finally had our tickets, confirmation numbers and all.

Several days later (for no reason other than I kept forgetting to do it) I called to get O added to our reservation.  Lap rider-infants can't be booked online - they're free for domestic flights, but charged a tax for international flights.  This can be anywhere from 20-80% of the adult's ticket price.  Anyway, I called to get him his ticket and turns out his was less than 10% of our tickets!  Now that is what I call God's Favor all over this.

Oh.  And speaking of God's favor (as if that ^ wasn't enough!), the next thing I did was start looking for flights for our house sitter.  We've got some out of town family that has offered to come live at our place while we're gone to take care of it and have their own little mini-vacation, so as I was researching flight she calls and tells me one of her (distant) relatives has offered to give her enough sky miles to get here here and back for FREE.  The timing for the free tickets was no mistake either - it came when several bills had just arrived in the mail for those once-a-year type fees (taxes, can insurance, etc) and money was going to be tight to get tickets to NC.

So we want to thank YOU.  Those of you that have committed to come with us on this journey and pray for and with us - we've specifically asked for prayers of favor and we see it all over this story.  And you're a part of that.  God is writing this amazing story for our lives and those of you that are supporting us in prayer are an integral part of it!  So thank you, we feel it - prayer is real, it works, and please don't stop!

We've given out some of these prayer cards at our live events, but for those of you that are unable to come here's a copy - you can print it out, or just save it to your desktop and look at it once in a while.  It includes specific ways to pray for us and how you can support us financially, should you feel led to do so. Thanks again for coming along on this journey with us!

Houston: We have a problem

It started out as a problem.  But I wasn't radioing Houston about it, I was radioing Heaven about it.

I was just about to click "purchase" on our tickets to Tanzania when I called Bill just to triple-check that it was okay.. and that's when the two-week war began.  Because he said no.  Don't buy the tickets just yet.  My boss is telling me I can't take that much vacation at once.

So I hit that little red "X" in the corner and felt defeated.
For the next two weeks he battled with his job about letting him take all three of his vacation weeks at once.  They were giving him the run-around, quite literally.  Made him call the entire team to make sure it was okay with all nine of them.  Then one said "no".  Said that he 'needed' the week that was smack in the middle of our trip.  And since that guy has seniority over Bill, well, you know.  So he went higher, explaining we had to go on this trip and it had to be now, we couldn't postpone it by weeks (because God told us to go) because our visas expired soon (also true).  So he gave him the run-around for another week saying that he was contacting HR about it.
So we waited.
And I got frustrated.  Frustrated because I felt like we just needed to buy the tickets anyway and that us doing that in faith would mean that God would figure out all the details with his job.  And I was frustrated with my usually-non-confrontational husband for not standing up more than (what I could see) he was.
And he got stressed.  Super stressed.  To the point where he was considering finding another job, or putting in his two weeks and just buying the tickets.
And so I told a friend.  Two actually.  About the whole situation.  All the shenanigans.  And one of them said, "You know, this is just Satan, right?  You knew there was going to be roadblocks with this, just like there was last time.  This is just another roadblock."  **Insert lightbulb here**   So she talked me down a little from my frustration, and I began to see something else.
Satan was winning.  Winning because we were letting him come between our marriage again.  It had been at least a solid week of us being frustrated with each other.  Him at me for pushing the 'buy the tickets anyway' plan and me at him for not letting me buy the tickets yet and relying more on his job than on God's plan.
So finally one night we decided to hash the situation out and take the next step.  The first thing I said was, "We have to remember, we aren't fighting each other in this war, we're fighting your job, and Satan - but we have to be together.  We need to get on the same page.  This is just what Satan wants is for us to be divided, because then he wins.  But if we get on the same page, we are so gonna kick his you-know-what." (only maybe, just maybe I didn't say 'you-know-what')
And he said, "Yup."
So we talked, and we got on the same page.  **and the angles rejoiced** or at least, we did. :)
We emailed his boss's boss that night, letting them know we were going to purchase the tickets the next day and that we'd like to know what HR said about it.  He responded that he'd meet with Bill in person the next day at work.
Bill called around 4pm the next day and said, "Buy the tickets!"  And that was pretty much it.  I didn't hear the rest of the story 'till he got home later that evening.
Apparently his boss hadn't actually contacted the higher-up boss because he didn't know much at all about the trip.  The higher-up boss told him that it wouldn't be easy to make sure everything was covered, but that they would figure something out and to go ahead and buy the tickets.  It was that easy.

~~~  Stay tuned for part 2 --- the day we tried to buy our tickets.  ~~~

askew

I feel slightly askew lately.  Crooked.  Off-kilter.  Can't focus on one thing for too long.  Maybe it's this cold I'm trying to kick, maybe it's me having too many pots on the stove - or whatever that saying is -  So this post is to catch you up, cause it's been too long since I've blogged on here.  But it won't be pretty, or well-versed.  Good luck keeping up.

We're going to Africa.  Like in less than three months.  That's the first thing on the list cause it's the first thing on my mind these days.  Researching airline tickets, looking at dates, looking at prices, looking at more dates, relaying back and forth with the family we'll be in contact with while we're there, looking at baggage fees.  Trying not to think about baggage.  Because then I'll freak out.  Because packing for Africa with a toddler is no joke.

Christmas was great.  Amazing even.  My mom and gramma both came for Christmas - the first time I'd seen gramma in years, and the first time she got to meet O.

It was sweet watching him meet her at the airport.  He was shy, but it was like he knew - deep down inside that she was 'one of us'.  It also helps that she looks exactly like my mom, but older.  I think that may have confused him a little - that it was 'great' gramma, not gramma that we went and saw in Phoenix.  But then a couple days later the other gramma came.  And when he saw her come down the escalator he did a little happy dance and ran to her and it was the cutest thing ever.  I don't know who was more excited out of the pair of them :)

The next several days were filled with fun, love and lots of snot.  Seriously.  O caught his first-ever flu and was hitting the tail-end of it when the grammas came.  We wiped his nose every 30 seconds it felt like.
That didn't stop us from having fun though!  We went to Village Park and rode the train through the lights, we went to Birkdale and walked around, and we celebrated with the rest of our family at Freedom House, both on Sunday and Monday.  Then we had a PJ day on Christmas enjoying the entertainment that comes when a toddler enjoys Christmas, and munching on some yummy ham sent by Great Grandpa.

 

Four Generations!

I saw sadness in O for the first time this month - when he had to say goodbye to his grammas.  It was heartbreaking to see him put the pieces together that they were getting on the airplane and not coming back home with us.  He really understood it and he had this pitiful sad look on his face the entire way home.

In other news he's growing by leaps and bounds.  He's talking so much more and has really gotten the hang of stringing 2-3 words together at a time.  He loves to recount his day or his favorite activity.  Over and over.  And over.  And over.  Like on the way home from riding the train at the park this is the conversation that we had:
O: Mama?
Me: Yeah?
O: Train?
Me: Yeah.
O: Ride in it?
Me: Yeah, we rode in the train.
O: Lights?
Me: Yea, we saw the lights.
O: In the train
Me: Yeah, we saw the lights in the train.

Repeat, 536 times.
I kid you not.

Then the other day:
O: Mama?
Me: Yeah?
O: Wassat?
Me: A box.
O: It's empty? (an empty kleenex box sitting on the counter)
Me: Yup.
O: I help?
Me: You wanna help? Help what? Recycle it?
O: (very excited) Yea! I help cy-cy it!!

And yesterday:
O: Mama?
Me: Yea?
O: Eat?
Me: You can't eat that honey, I have to cook it (noting the steak on the stove).
O: Eat? More?
Me: You want more snack?
O: Yeah! More sins.
Me: You need more raisins? Did you eat all the ones I gave you?
O: Yea.
((later))
O: (Coming to me with the empty raisin box) Mama? Cy-cy?
Me: You wanna recycle that?
O: Yeah!

:::Sigh:::: that kid.  Love him so.  He's growing up so fast.

Also we got hit by a car on the highway.  That was fun.  Cruising down 85 on the way home from seeing the lights - full car, going 65, and this old man in the lane next to me decides he wants my space instead and rams the side of us, not once, but twice trying to get into my lane.  The kicker?  I wasn't even in his blind spot.  I was slightly in front of him, but mostly RIGHT next to him.  Thank heavens no one was hurt, minus the car.  Driver's door got some paint on it, passenger door dented pretty bad with paint transfer, and rear quarter panel dented and paint transfer.  Going today to get it appraised by his insurance people, then to my dealership to get their appraisal and see about getting it fixed and getting a rental in the meantime.  Sheesh.  And the lawyers!  OH. My. Gosh.  If you are a lawyer - I'm sorry, but you people are NUTS wasting all this money and trees!  I kid you not, we got no less than THREE pounds of crap from lawyers.  Some even sent books - literally books in a big legal envelope!  But not just to me.  And not just to Bill.  But for Owen too.  Everything we got, we got in TRIPLICATE.  My mailbox was so JAMMED full of lawyer crap I literally could not get it out.  I stacked it all on the table and it was almost 8 inches high.  Stupid.  Waste of trees.  Waste of money/stamps.  No one was even hurt in the accident - do they not read the police report before sending these things out!  Sheesh!! Okay, end of rant.

In other news, I managed to be the only one in the house that avoided the flu - thank you Jesus.  However, the last three days I have had the most horrible, nasty, knock-you-down-cold I have ever had.  It's been crazy.  I think moms (especially with kids at home) should be exempt from getting sick.  Seriously.
I'm pretty sure that's what is causing all this absent-mindedness.  Last night hubby asked me to bring him the kleenex box.  So I grabbed my drink and (what I thought was) the kleenex box off the table and handed it to him.  Except what I handed him was the plate I had eaten my banana bread off of (which was now empty).  So instead I said, "oops, that's not the kleenex, here" and handed him my drink, which was in my other hand.  Then said, "wait a minute, oh."  And returned to the table to try again.  It's pretty ridiculous.

On that note, I think I'll sign off.  Who knows what I might write with this crazy cold-infused head.
Until next time, or until I'm a little more 'normal'....  ta-ta.