All in a day's work

Things we've done in the last 48 hours:
~ pulled a dead cat from our air conditioning unit in our car
~ ate a whole fish, head and all, at a Philipino restaurant
~ made a safety belt out of a Target bag to keep Zion in the high chair at the Philipino restaurant
~ cancelled our trip to the Kennedy Space Center with our friends from England so we could clean up our townhouse
~ picked out lingerie (for a friend who is getting married)
~ Stood in line at the Old Navy sale for 25 minutes (to pay for the lingerie)
~ Got peed on by Zion while in line at the Old Navy sale
~ watched a documentary on the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart
~ Stood in the rain because it felt good

Forever Young

Last night, Daniel and I felt young again. A typical date night for us is grabbing coffee and thumbing through magazines at Barnes and Noble, or ordering desert at our favorite riverside restaurant. I hadn't realized how middle-aged we had become.

Until last night.

We took advantage of our passes to Sea World (one of the perks of being here), and ran in after dark to ride the Kraken. Neither of us had been on a roller coster in over a decade. With the wind in our hair, we screamed our way through every loop and drop. When we came to a halt, I felt like 10 years had been stripped away.

Next, we ran through the park and peeled out of Sea World's parking lot (that might be a dramatization) so we would make it to our movie in time. Rather than our usual thought-provoking selection, we bought tickets for "Get Smart." I highly recommend it. It felt so good to laugh like that.

We left the theater after midnight, hand-in-hand, amongst cologne-spritzed teenagers. I felt like I was 19 again.

Who needs age-defying make up? Just get out there and do the things you did when you were a kid (the appropriate things, of course) and you'll feel like you are one. You really will. It's good for the soul.

Home Sweet Home

It has started to "hit me" that we are moving to another country. My residency will not be the United States. Yesterday, in cross cultural training class, I noticed the tiny bouquet of flags in the center of our table. The stars and stripes were, coincidentally, flying right beside our soon-to-be country's flag. I stared at it for a while, and as I did, it occurred to me that even if we move back to the U.S. in three years, this particular country (which I won't name for security reasons) will have become part of our family's story. Just then a girl across the table moved and I noticed a tattoo on her wrist, a tattoo of a verse in the language we will someday speak. I looked at my wrist and thought (though I'm fairly certain I will not get a tattoo) that a similar tattoo would someday make sense on my own wrist. These thoughts are baffling and lovely.

And just today, after lunch, I was practicing the phrase "thank you" in the language we are learning, and Bright, who overheard me from the across the room, said, "No, Mom, you don't say it THAT way." He then went on to correct me. I didn't know he even knew how to say thank you in that language, but alas, he DID sound more authentic than me and I took his advice.

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."