Rest and reboot

Seen in the bookstore: Magnus Muhr's "fly calendar"

Edging toward mid-week, time is flying by.

Monday, February 8.15
After finishing some work, I go to meet my friend - except that our appointment is tomorrow. My first instinct is to go home and start over. But I have so few days that are completely unscheduled. So I think,
"If you could do anything, what would be relaxing and a good day off?"

- and of course I end up in a bookstore. Ah, the ease of reading everything my eyes land on ... how I've missed it. I pick up some greeting cards for Indonesia, a few gift books, and a couple of $1 novels.

As my daughter and I talk on the phone, a little calendar catches my eye ... honestly, some people may have too much time on their hands - when you can sketch feet on flies and make them jump? Too much time indeed. But it makes me laugh aloud. People turn to see what's so funny.

Basement dining: my favorite restaurant = home

I troll the little mall and get a lumbar support for driving in the car ($1.50 from Daiso.) Cool. I have one in Bandung and it helps ease the pressure of sitting in traffic.

Melissa has cooked and invites me upstairs for supper (good) - though something has been nagging at my brain all day. There's something important today, isn't there? but there's nothing on my calendar. I'm puzzled but decide to make it an early night.

Until another son calls, "Hey Mom, I don't see you here..."

and I pencil in eyebrows and eyeliner and dash out the door to meet him. We have a good chat. But yikes. (We left this child at church once - I get a shivery sense of deja vu. He was an undemanding child to have around but this is ridiculous.) We agree to meet each week - and it's now on my calendar. I love my kids and am so glad they are forgiving when I totally crash out of the supermom program.

Tuesday
It's foggy. I'm out the door early in the grey gloom. Ah, this color and damp cold? I haven't missed it at all.

Traffic on my walk around the neighborhood:
none. (Feel envious, Jakarta and Bandung?)

My friend Terry is ordering breakfast when I walk in. How I've missed our time of connection - we used to meet each week. I get so wrapped up in our conversation that I forget to snap a picture. We share prayer requests before she starts off to her day and I'm off to the next appointment.

I've missed this place a lot! Joy Spa (Kirkland) offers a one-hour leg and back massage @$30. Laura and I meet there, and it's her first time there so we relax and unwind.

Then it's my turn for a first - lunch at one of her favorite Chinese restaurants. I order basil chicken - which tastes very American to me after being gone (like the Chinese food in Indonesia tastes very Indonesian.) Adaptable and tasty cuisine. L's family spent a few months with us last year - she knows the people and places we talk about. And her family's adapting to routines after a year of travel. What fun to catch up.

Cute - and welcome!
Trying on Oma's reading glasses

On the way back, the sun is shining, my walking shoes are in the car, and I'm ready. I park the car and hop out at the bottom of a steep hill. Up up up - and then around the neighborhood (3.5 miles) until it's back down to the car and home.

The kids are off to the park in the sunshine but they stop by for a quick visit and some stories. I pull out a children's book with Mandarin script. We make up a story -

but Miss K asks, "Oma, why do they say, 'Oh my, oh my, oh my?'" so I tell her this book has no words we can read so we can make it say whatever we want. That's a new idea. (My own kids were used to such quirks. haha A new generation of creative minds is coming up!)

A few phone calls and chores and the day is almost done.

Read more:
*They went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the Lord had done for his servant David and his people Israel. 1 Kings 8:66 NIV

*Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.

Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed. Proverbs 3:13-18 NIV

*And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there.

But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isaiah 35:8-10 NIV

*We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. 2 Thessalonians 1:3 ESV

*Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 4:15 ESV

Moravian Prayer: Lord, the good you do for our sake fills our hearts with joy. Teach us to bring that joy to others, so they too may behold your love and grace. In your name we pray. Amen.