Starting to Get to Me

So, last night I started really missing Aaron. It's one thing to have your husband take a trip somewhere for business or whatever. He's in the country. He's safe. You can call each other frequently. But in this situation, while I feel he's going to relatively safe places, it's so hard not to get to talk to him. Pastor bought an India plan. We did not. I think we were thinking that a few more of the places would have internet access so we could Skype. You know us...super cheap! We got to talk last night for like 90 seconds (it was probably longer...but it felt so short!) Basically it was to say that things are going great. They are doing really well, and wanted to let us know that they are fine, and he misses and loves us. I had put him on speaker to talk to the kids and Emma was a total toot butt. I had just gotten home from teaching and they had stayed with a friend of mine. I had just given them permission to play a game on the ipad, when Daddy called. So, of course I grabbed the ipad and turned it off to let them talk to Dad. But instead of being excited to talk to Dad, Emma was super peeved that I took her game away and spent the whole call not being engaged with her father. Alec was a little more cooperative. Like I said, the call was short.

Then, I hung up and turned into Psycho Mom. I totally wailed at the kids about how their dad is on the other side of the world and we haven't talked to him in 5 days and all they care about it the dang ipad. I was so angry. And angry that I only got to talk to him for like 2 seconds. And angry that his feelings might be hurt because the kids acted like they didn't care. Dang it! Why can't they act like they're 10 instead of 4?! And then I got real emotional and we all melted down together. Fantastic.

I'm hoping that was the peak of insanity. We were riding a wave of all being really well. Heck, we had ice cream for dinner on Sunday. Today things have been a lot more mellow. We talked it out at bedtime and decided the plan for today would be to go to Walmart and get stuff to make a big "Welcome Home Daddy!" poster. The kids had dance class this afternoon, and tonight I think we're going to do another popcorn and movie night.

What I know about what Aaron has been doing is this: Sunday they had several church services, Monday they dedicated the new church that our church funded, today they visited a girls orphanage, and right now (tomorrow there) they are boarding a train to another village to dedicate another church.

See the pics below:

 

I'll let you guess who Pastor Jim is! :-) Stole these pics from P. Jim's facebook. Here's what he says:

"Very touching afternoon at a girls orphanage. We brought them: barrettes/hair bands, school supplies, tooth brushes/tooth paste, sporting equipment, toys, and too much candy!! A Most Wonderful Day. "

 

Pretty sure Aaron is taking the picture. That's why he's not in it.

 

 

I just got a picture mail from Aaron. For some reason I can't access the mass storage on my dumb phone, or I would add the pictures he's sent me. There was one of him eating food the village prepared at the first church dedication. The next two are him on the train and a picture of the train bathroom. They're both germophobes, so lets just hope they don't have to use it. :-)

 

He looks happy in both pics. So that makes my heart happy. I gave him a journal at Christmas for this trip. I hope he's had time to write some of his daily experiences down. I can't wait to hear about EVERYTHING!!!

On the home front, it looks like we may get some yuck-o winter weather tomorrow into Thursday. They're calling for snow tomorrow, turning into ice over Wednesday night. They're saying it could possibly knock out power. Hmm. I'm not really worrying, since they've been TOTALLY wrong about every snow forecast thus far this winter. But just incase, we have plenty of bread for pb&j's, and we have a gas fireplace and water heater. We can totally survive. Ice better be gone by Friday at 4:20 though....because this girl is GOING to the airport! 

While Daddy is Away...

If you haven't read my last post, Aaron is in India. It's about 10:30pm here on Saturday night, so that means it's about 11am Sunday in Coimbatore where he is. He and Pastor arrived at the orphanage where I believe they are being housed at about 1am their time. Their flight was delayed, and it must have taken a while to meet up with their host/contact there. I saw on the prayer chain that Pastor had texted his wife that they had finally made it to the orphanage and were headed to bed. Pastor's luggage is still in limbo.

They are most likely attending church right now. I think the itinerary said there would be a 6:30am, 8:30am and 10:30am service.

I've had a lot of people ask me "What are you going to do while he's gone?" So, I figured I'd write some of it down here. The fact that he's gone 9 days sounds like a long time, but since the original itinerary was for about 15 days, I've entered into this week with a very positive attitude. 15 days would have been really hard on both of us. The way the itinerary is now, I only really have one full week to have to worry about childcare while I'm teaching. There are only three days that I've had to figure out something for them to do while I teach...and I had so many people offer to help that it was pretty easy to find sitters, playdates, etc. for them for the few hours that I've needed it.

We've tried to do some fun things while Daddy is gone. I had promised the kids a while back that the first night Daddy was gone, we would have a Slumber Party! I told them that we could all sleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed that night. We cuddled up with popcorn and watched Despicable Me. We played games. Right before we fell asleep, Alec asked me a few questions about Jesus dying on the cross. "Mommy, was there blood?" "Yes, Alec, there was a lot of blood when Jesus died on the cross." "Why did he have to die on the cross?" "Well, he did it so we could be forgiven of our sins, so that we could be healed, so that we could go to heaven and be with Him one day." "Mom, I'm gonna go punch the bad guys that made him die on the cross!" I just love the concern and the gusto of my little boy.

Friday, I worked on the house and laundry. I had rehearsal with trainees at the Conservatory in the afternoon. The kids had a play date with a fellow teacher's kiddos while I ran rehearsal. Afterward, I asked the kids what they wanted to do for dinner. They said the wanted to go to Old McDonald's. So, off we went. They were especially stoked that we actually went into the building to eat...and that they got to play in the kids' area. It wasn't super busy for a Friday night...but oh my gracious I swear there is always a screamer or two at McDonald's and Chick-fil-A. There were two girls who kept piercing the air with their screams, and it was kind of getting to all of us. (Alec and Emma are very loud children, but they freak out when kids scream in those enclosed areas.) Luckily, the screamers left not too long after we got there.

On our way home, Emma asked if we could watch the Grinch (the old, 30 minute long animated one is still on our DVR from Christmas.) When I said "sure," she declared, "Mom! You are the bestest!" Can you tell I have taken the path of least resistance so far this weekend? Already, they've slept in my bed, eaten junk at McDonald's and stayed up to watch a Christmas movie in February. Hey, sometimes it's just nice to say yes. :-) I did, however, make them go back to their own beds last night. For one, I don't want that to become a habit, and for two, I didn't sleep too well between those two little kicking, flailing bedhogs.

Today, we bummed around the house all day. We woke up to a teeny little dusting of snow. It stayed really cold out today, so we didn't venture out. I finished up the laundry, we made banana bread and did some new puzzles Aunt Chrissy sent us for Valentine's Day. I made a meal that I need to take to a mom who just had twins tomorrow. We had another movie and popcorn night. This time we watched Up. We said extra prayers for Daddy tonight and for the people and children that he's visiting with. I've explained to the kids that Daddy is visiting orphans, and what that means. I asked them what we should pray for the boys and girls there, and Alec said "that Jesus gives them a Mommy and Daddy...and toys, and a bed, and a tv, and a dog..." and then Emma continued "and a trampoline and a playground" and then Alec finished "and a garden." (I think the garden thing is funny because I do garden, but I am not very good at it. Many a plant has met its demise due to my black thumbs. But I'm glad the kids appreciate flowers, trees, etc!)

If there is one thing that I can drill into the character of my children, I hope that it is gratitude. It is just so important to recognize the blessings in our lives and to be thankful. And we are so fortunate to have what we have. I hate that in our culture we are stricken with such a sense of entitlement. The urge to accumulate bigger, better and more runs rampant. And I'm not against having a nice home or car or a big tv or whatever...but I am against letting the acquisition of such items become the primary focus of our strivings.

So, although I know that at 4 1/2 they can't really wrap their heads around what it means to go without, I'm glad that they've had opportunities to see us being involved in ministries that help those who do. Helping me with Angel Tree has been great for them the past two years. Observing Dad going to India is great for them.

Well, now I'm spent. We have church in the morning, and I'm hoping that we'll get another update from Aaron and Pastor soon.

INDIA!

Right now, Aaron is in Mumbai. I can't remember how many months ago, our pastor said to Aaron "Hey, you want to go to India with me?" We thought he was joking, but as you can tell...he was not.

India. Wow.

So, about a year ago, Pastor Jim went to India to check out some of the missionary work that a good friend of his was doing there. He stayed for several weeks, and when he came back, he came back with a heart for India. So much so that he began selling hunting gear to raise money to send. He was so overcome with concern for their need for Christ, for clean water, for church buildings, for orphanages and care for the many parentless children...that he started a big campaign within our church to help fund some of those things.

Thus far, Hope Church has helped dig a fresh water well and built a church building outside Coimbatore. Eventually an orphanage will be added on to the top of the church building.

So, Pastor was planning to return for the dedication of the new church. The original plan was for this to happen right after Christmas. So, it was probably at least 6 months ago, that he first popped the big question to Aaron.

India. Wow. First, eldership. Second, co-preaching a sermon for Pastor Appreciation Sunday. Now, India. Can you tell that my husband is getting stretched?

But stretching is good. It didn't take us as long to pray about India as it did for us to pray about eldership. Aaron is a great candidate for a trip there. He has had so much interaction with people from India in his experiences working for Walmart. He has come to learn quite a bit about the culture, has picked up a few phrases in Hindi, and even likes the food. Aside from working with many Indian people, he's also taught guitar lessons to several Indian boys. His coworkers from India think it's really awesome that he is making the trip there.

So, at first we thought they'd be going end of December, but airfare doubled due to Christmas, so they postponed the trip until now. I'll go ahead and mention that a trip like this isn't cheap. Anyone who has gone on any type of mission trip knows that there are quite a few costs involved. But can you believe that the entire trip was covered by several anonymous donors in the church? What an amazing gift! We are so blessed by the generous hearts that we get to serve alongside in our congregation.

Aaron and Pastor Jim flew out of Northwest Arkansas on Valentine's Day. We joked about how they could cuddle and eat airport food by candlelight. :-) They left yesterday around noon. They were supposed to fly to Minneapolis, but got rerouted through Atlanta. From Atlanta they took a 9 hour flight to Amsterdam. From Amsterdam, another 9 hour flight to Mumbai. They arrived in Mumbai around noon our time today. 20 hours in the air so far. Dang! They had a rather long layover today, so they got a hotel room to sleep, hopefully. India is 11 1/2 hours ahead of us, so they arrived around midnight. Their next flight to Coimbatore will depart around 4am our time and is a 2 hour flight.

The itinerary in Coimbatore and surrounding areas is to go to church with the missionary group that is hosting them, to visit two orphanages, and attend/lead two building dedications. They are taking toys (soccer balls, Frisbees, jump ropes, etc) and candy for the children and a new laptop and theology software for the church. They are only in Coimbatore for 4 full days, really. The travel to and from takes the better part of two days each way!

I was able to Skype with Aaron this afternoon. They were resting at the hotel, which looked very nice. He said there were LOTS of mosquitoes. He has a mosquito net and something with deet in it for repellant...but those things are in his checked bag. Wouldn't you know all of their checked bags got lost?

Well, how is this for an instant update: He just Skype'd again and he has his luggage! Yay! But Pastor's is still floating around in Amsterdam somewhere. Boo! They hope to have his in hand by Sunday.

He is in great spirits right now. He said he got some good sleep at the hotel, and ate a good meal. They even ventured out and took a walk. He said traffic is crazy! He was offered a ride on a rickshaw, but declined. I told him he needs to have at least one token rickshaw adventure while he's there. :-)

They're going to head to the airport in a few hours to get on the plane to Coimbatore. I don't know what communication will be like once he gets there. I'm hoping there will be a few places with wifi where he can Skype again...or drop me a message. Pastor purchased a limited amount of texts and minutes to use while there in case of emergency. Today, at the hotel, they had it great. It's a very nice establishment. In all likelihood, things won't be like that where he's going. Please keep him and Pastor Jim in your prayers for continued safety and health, that P. Jim gets his bags, and that they are able to advance the kingdom in all of their interactions with our brothers and sisters and the children there!

I will do my best to update frequently. I'll post tomorrow too, about some of the fun things the mice are doing here at home while the cat is away! :-) Until then, nighty night.