Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Whirlwind

Yes, that about says it all.  It was a whirlwind trip to England, trying to cram a full year into two weeks.  It's not easy living so far away from the Incredibles.  We miss out on a lot, and that is hard.  But it was also hard to be in their house for two weeks, taking up Mr. Incredible's office space, trying hard to make memories every minute.  It's hard to miss out on the natural flow of life. Memories of my trip are jumbled and while I treasure them all, it makes me long for the days when we were just two and a half hours apart and could spend a few days together here and there without the whole experience being such a production.  It may have been a whirlwind, but it was oh, so sweet to see them all again, and to be able to participate in Baby G's early weeks.

I took the train to the Marylebone station in London on my last afternoon in England.  A very dear longtime friend had recently relocated to London from Melbourne and I decided to email her to see if we could get together.  What a delightful time seeing her again!  She took marvelous care of me, getting me to a hotel and carefully explaining how to take the Hoppa bus to the airport.  It was a whirlwind visit, but a tremendous blessing to me.

I got home just in time for Easter weekend, beginning with Good Friday.  Easter weekend is always a whirlwind for us with multiple services and responsibilities.  We have to be intentional, stopping to remember what it is all about lest we get swept up in activity missing the point altogether.  Dinner out with family and friends topped off the day and we headed home to crash.

The next morning, I was back to work.  We're in the homestretch of the school year and when I sat down to map out what I have to do between now and then, I was a bit overwhelmed.  It's a boatload of work and the week and a half I've been back in the saddle have been a whirlwind.

On top of it all, we cleaned out the pantry/frig, planned menus, shopped and bought all whole food - all on Easter weekend.  No more processed sugar, high fructose corn syrup, white flour or rice, or artificial anything.  It has been nothing short of amazing to see Flyboy need less and less insulin.  We're not losing weight yet (somewhat surprising), but the changes Flyboy is seeing in his insulin is absolutely thrilling.  It is definitely a paradigm shift, but well worth the effort in planning and cooking.  Flyboy, even with his crazy sweet tooth has hardly been tempted to cheat, so encouraged is he by the dramatic results thus far.

I know that life is busy for us all and we all have times of whirlwind in our lives.  I am reminded that while I can endure the crazy busy for the moment, it's not the way I regularly want to live.  Flyboy has always said that for him heaven means balance and always having the right amount of margin.  I'd like to think it's possible while we're here, too, but the times of balance between too busy and plenty of rest seem too few and far between.  If I can just get through the next two months at work, it will be better.  My, do I get tired of hearing myself say those words.  I am working to keep the main thing the main thing and praying for grace to push through to the other side.

And now, for the moment we've all been waiting for, a smile from Baby G...his first smiling photo, I might add.  Thank you, Elasti-girl!




Monday, April 2, 2012

Day 10 - Blenheim Palace

My time is quickly winding down here.  I knew it would be this way...I'd look forward to it for months, the last two weeks before leaving home would fly by, and the time here would race away at warp speed.  Baby G has changed so much since I arrived - he's vocalizing, smiling, looking at you when you talk to him.  He loves to be held and his big brothers love to hold him.  I treasure the time I have been able to spend with him and his family.  If you're a Facebook friend, you may have seen the video I posted there (I couldn't get it to load here). Baby G IS a joy.

Girlfriend spent some time at Blenheim Palace when she was here 6 weeks ago.  Flyboy and I had enjoyed our trip there during last year's visit.  Girlfriend saw things we didn't even know were there, and when the weather turned out to be beautiful AGAIN today, I asked Mr. Incredible if he might be willing to drop me off for another visit.  He took the big boys for a hike and to see outdoor things that interested them while I went back to the palace.

Blenheim Palace is well-known for being the birthplace of Winston Churchill, but it has a rich history dating back much farther.  The grounds and the money to build the palace were a gift to John Churchill for having led the allied forces to a victory at the Battle of Blenheim and the surrender of the French during the Wars of the Spanish Succession in 1704. The Spencer-Churchill family has stewarded the palace ever since.  It is currently occupied (in private quarters) by the 11th Duke of Marlborough.

Blenheim Palace
Photo courtesy of www.blenheimpalace.com


Sitting on 2000 stunning acres, this is an amazing site and as I was sipping tea and eating a Banbury bun overlooking the water terrace, I was filled with awe and wonder.  Brilliant!

Here are some photos I snapped today.