R & R

Today we went to Wal-Mart instead of our local house. Why would any self-respecting M skip house to go to Wal-Mart? To be with our kids, who were in childcare all week until 1 p.m. and who we were not about to plunk in some random nursery this morning. Instead, we rested. Imagine, a day of rest on the sabbath! The concept is foreign to most, especially a young M and his family. Needless to say, today was a real treat. We got McDonald's fries on our way home from Wal-Mart, and then played in the pool until nap time. Now Daniel is taking advantage of his fourth father's day to work out at the gym and I am blogging in dry, clean clothes, munching on trail mix and waiting on my phone to charge up so I can call Darci back home.

Happy Father's Day to all those dad's out there. I hope you are taking the time to rest.

FYI we're in FL for five weeks with the company training...

Normal & New

Well, the weirdness of a new place finally caught up to me today. As much as I would like to think that we're ninjas at moving around, even this very nice place is just not "normal." As Kayla and I talked about it, I realized that in spite of being in sunny Florida, in a real nice apartment, surrounded by great people who share our hearts - this is definitely not "normal."

Just then Bright woke up from his late afternoon nap, only a few minutes before dinner. At home we all love being at the table, looking at our world map and each other. Here, for some reason we've been eating at the island in our kitchen. Though that's fairly adventuresome and exotic for the Rupp's, I wanted home. So, in a last ditch effort for "normal," I grabbed the map we hadn't unpacked, the scotch tape, and moved us to the dining table.

As we sat down, Bright instantly recognized it as our "old" map. (Barry and Sarah got us a new one for Christmas.) Coincidentally, over the past few months we've been trying to give Bright an accurate picture of heaven. Instead of floating in the sky, we talk about "old" things and "new" things and specifically how someday Dad will come and make all things NEW. As the words came out of his mouth, a state of reflection came over his face. "Someday Dad will come out of the sky and make that map new." I needed to hear it.

My three year old was reminding me that really I'm not looking for "normal" as much as I'm longing for the NEW to come. Every tribe and tongue on that map, including mine. After dinner we got in the car and found a Goodwill, where we bought fun second-hand shirts and Bright a pink tricycle for $5.95. And that helped too.

Brainless

Tonight was hilarious! We were tucking Bright in, and he accidentally yanked my nose ring out with Buzz the stuffed lamb. I ran out of the room howling in pain (which is not uncommon around our house), and Bright turned to Daniel and asked, "Did Mom have to go the bathroom?". Chuckling, Daniel said, "No, her nose hurts." "Why do things hurt Mama?", Bright asked. Daniel grasped the teaching moment and proceeded to explain how the nervous system carries pain signals to the brain. Bright then looked at Daniel and said, "But Mama doesn't have a brain."

Yep, laugh out loud. At my expense people, laugh out loud.

Rock 'till you drop

Yesterday we dressed up like rock stars for our cousin, Emma's, Hannah Montana birthday party (she turned four). Daniel was instantly nick-named K-Fed upon our grand entry, and I was painfully aware of how not-my-age I looked in my painted-on-jeans. All the same, we had a ball, rockin' and rollin' in the Morton backyard. The boys, with their tattoos and spiked hair, were quite the little studs.

And for your reading enjoyment, I'll share the three most priceless Bright quotes from the last 24 hours:

"Look, Dad," Bright said as he walked across the room, "this is how you walk." Then, after a pause, he said certainly, "I walk like you."

"My food goes in my mouth, down my neck, into my belly, and down into my legs. Then it turns into poop," Bright explained this morning at the breakfast table. "Well, Bright," I gently corrected, "it doesn't go into your legs. It stops at your belly." He looked up at me wryly and said, anticipating a laugh, "Is there a STOPLIGHT??!!!" We both burst out laughing.

"So what are you going to NAME your son?" I asked Bright, after a brief conversation about his future fatherhood. He looked perplexed and then said, "I'll figure it out on the Internet."

Un-ordinary day

Today was not an ordinary day. For starters, I gave Zion his first haircut. His stringy, sweaty mullet had to go. Since I am the family hair dresser, I got to do the honors in the front yard. The term "hair dresser" is very funny to me. It conjures up thoughts of someone trying to put a pair of pants on someone else's head. The term used here in Van Buren is equally comical. Here they call them "beauty operators."

Also today, Zion started drinking water from a sippy cup, all by himself. This was his first time to drink from anything but my breast. Quite a jump, but he made it. What a big dude! The water, paired with how much he still nurses, made for one heavy diaper when I undressed him for his bath. But it will make things a lot easier when I wean him later this year.

Also today, we all have pink-eye. Lovely. If you've never had pink-eye with little children, it is a NIGHTMARE. Their eyes itch so they scratch them, then wipe their hands on everything in the house, thus passing it back and forth to each other. Not to mention having to pin them down and pry their eyes open three times a day to administer eye drops. And then there's all the extra laundry, as it is necessary to change their bed clothes after each nap and night sleep. NOT fun. Not fun at all.


Then at the end of this un-ordinary day, a white van pulled into our parking lot and a woman stepped out with flowers, for me! The card read, "Just because I miss you. Love, Mom." Thanks mom.

Family is Forever

It was a bittersweet trip to Michigan this time. Bitter because I said goodbye to my 4-week old niece, and I won't see her again until she is dressing up like a princess and wearing her mother's high heels. But sweet because Dad has given us family like this. My cup runneth over.

p.s. Zion turned 1 while we were there, and Daniel and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary.

Hang on tight

Well folks, we have our official university placement in East Asia, and we are on track to move in August! In fact, just yesterday we finalized our apartment arrangements. It has three bedrooms and it is near campus. We will start paying rent in July...for a place on the other side of the planet! That blows my mind.

This morning, in fact, Daniel and I were bidding on things that the present tenant is selling before he moves. We really hope we get the electric hand mixer, something that is otherwise available only in Thailand. We also hope to get the electric water heater for the shower, so we'll have hot showers during the rainy season when the solar-powered water heater doesn't always work.

There is so much ahead of us that is completely unknown. I feel somewhat like we are canoeing slowly downstream, pushing our way through the overhanging branches and squinting in the sunshine. Up ahead is wide open water rushing over a cliff, and the only thing for us to do is hang on tight.