Passports - Check!

Our passports arrived today in the mail, two weeks and six days after we made application.  That's a relief!  We are one step closer to our upcoming trip to England, which is now just over five weeks away.

Unbelievable.

Can't wait to hug on all of them.

Funny story...overheard this past week between Dash and JackJack:

JackJack:  If bad guys came and wanted to hurt us, I would punch them in the face.

Dash:  If bad guys came and wanted to hurt us, I would stay in the house.

If any conversation ever personified the marked differences between these two little guys, it's this one.  And how interesting to ponder the difference between nature and nurture...  JackJack loves super heroes and Star Wars and wants to play rugby when he turns five.  Dash cares about people, and when a friend recently had a fire at her flat, his first question was, "is she alright?", which was followed by, "she could stay here at our house with us."

Being so far away has been hard, and we are missing out on so much.  But at the same time, knowing it was God Himself who led them, who made the way plain, who has guided them along the way and supported them (even in especially in the hard times) makes the distance bearable somehow.  We will be celebrating JackJack's birthday, as well as his sweet mama's, and seeing places with our own eyes we have only dreamed of.

Next on the agenda: an itinerary.  The Incredibles have things they want to show us, and we are taking any and all suggestions from anyone who has been there.  What would you recommend?

Two Months from Today

It's Friday. After work and supper (which consisted of a meal of mixed metaphors - Smokey Black Bean Soup and Greek Sandwiches), we decided to head out, braving the wicked cold weather (in the single digits) and have coffee at Barnes and Noble (our favorite date night destination). We were looking at travel guides in preparation for our upcoming trip to see the Incredibles, and then it hit us.

We leave for London two months from today. Exactly. If that doesn't light a fire under your fanny, I don't know what will.

We settled on a Rick Steves guide, and came home straightaway to gather our documentation and fill out our passport applications, look for waterproof walking shoes online, research the weather in England in March, contemplate how we can lose weight and get into some semblance of fitness in two months, and my oh my, I'm tired just thinking about it all. Tomorrow, without fail, our number one priority is to head to Walgreens for passport photos and then make a bee-line to the post office to turn in our passport applications. They say it can take 4-6 weeks, so we don't have a minute to lose.

Dash has been telling everybody he knows that "...my gwandma is coming to see me after JackJack's birthday..." Awww... JackJack turns five a week before we travel, so that is their milestone by which to gauge our arrival.

We have about ten days in country, and Rick Steves has a week-long itinerary for London alone. I know we can't see everything, but we're trying to figure out what we want to see the most. Flyboy is interested in visiting Hadrian's Wall, being a lover of history, and that side trip would most likely have to happen smack in the middle of our visit with the kiddos. There's a lot to consider, including the Incredibles' plans, and we're going to try to make everybody happy. I'd love to think this won't be our only trip, but one never knows what the future holds.

The countdown begins...

One Little Click

It's amazing what you can do with one little click of the mouse. You can send an email in an instant and spend a lifetime regretting words spoken in haste. You can connect with friends and family all over the world. You can learn something new. You can win (or lose) a game of Solitaire.

Guess what I did with just one click of the mouse?

I secured tickets to London! We are heading to the UK over spring break to hug our daughter and her family and see where they live and see what they see and eat what they eat and meet who they know. Flyboy lived in Germany for awhile as a boy but I've never been out of North America. I can't wait.

For all the things I'm looking forward to, I'm mildly terrified at the thought of riding on the left side of the road. There are certain things that just don't work in my brain. Transposing music on an electronic keyboard or playing the guitar with a capo does not work for me because I simply cannot hear a D in my head while I'm playing a C. In the same way, I'm not sure I can convince my brain that riding (forget driving!) on the left side is okay. The cognitive dissonance may just prove too great.

But aside from that, I'm looking forward to the pastoral countrysides, the ancient architecture, talking to little boys with ever increasing British accents, seeing ministry in England firsthand, and all the things I can't even begin to imagine.

We are flying non-stop out of Chicago. After our last fiasco (taking the long way to Jacksonville), I am thankful we don't have to worry about making any connecting flights.

And while we've been able to connect with our kids on Skype even though they are so far away, it will be better yet to be there in person. I can't wait to hear Dash pray and JackJack read and see Elasti-girl's creations (from curtains to pillows) and watch Mr. Incredible in action, being the hands and feet of Jesus to those around him. Before we know it, ten weeks will have passed and we'll be there. Just like that.