Travel Nightmare

I'm going to be objective here, I really am. I have a tendency to make things bigger than they really are (at least in my mind), but I'm just going to tell you exactly what happened yesterday. No frills, just the facts. This is one for the Hall of Fame to be sure!

1. We arrived at Jacksonville airport on time.

2. We got waylaid in security, where the lady searched my carry-on and Noah's diaper bag and threw away my toothpaste, facewash, and lotion. She also tested Noah's water in his sippy cup with a piece of litmus paper.

3. This delay caused us to arrive at the gate as they were already in the process of boarding the passengers, so we missed being able to board in the early "Small Children" category.

4. When we got to our seats, there was an 86-year-old (very nice) woman sitting in the aisle seat and we had to literally throw our stuff over to our seats and climb over her, since she could not get out of the seat without assistance. That was interesting.

5. All the passengers got on the plane, they closed the door, and then the Captain came over the loudspeaker and said that we were going to pull away from the gate and sit on the runway for an hour before we took off.

6. We passed the hour on the runway with Noah, and finally we were in the air.

7. Once we were approaching Philadelphia, the Captain came back on and said we'd have to circle the airport in a holding pattern for 1/2 an hour, since we were delayed and "there was a lot of traffic".

8. After 45 mins of circling, we finally landed in Philadelphia at 2:00pm (we were supposed to have been there at 12:45), which was the time our connecting flight was scheduled to leave.

9. Noah fell asleep 30 seconds before we landed.

10. We had to climb back over the 86-year-old woman to get off the plane, since she had to wait for the wheelchair assistance, which comes after everyone else gets off. Have YOU ever tried to climb over someone with a diaper bag on one shoulder, a sleeping child on your other one, and a coat thrown over your arm? It's difficult. Noah woke up.

11. We ran out of the gate to try to see if our connecting flight had left yet, and saw on the screen that not only had it not left, it was CANCELED.

12. We changed terminals to get to the customer service line to see what we should do about getting on the next flight. Changing terminals requires at least 1/4 mile walk.

13. The customer service line was LONG.

14. We waited in that line for close to 2 hours.

15. We found out the next flight was scheduled to take off from the previous terminal (terminal B) at 6:25pm. It was a completely full flight, and we were numbers 22 and 23 for standby passengers. We also got tickets for the final flight of the day, an 8:40 flight, just in case the stand-by thing didn't work out for us.

16. The airline gave us meal vouchers totaling $10, which we used to eat at Chick-fil-A.

17. We went back to terminal B (another 1/4 mile walk at least).

18. Twenty mins before they were to start boarding the flight, they announced there had been a gate change, and not only that, a TERMINAL change. The plane was now taking off from terminal C.

19. We walked (ran, rather) back to terminal C.

20. Noah fell alseep in his stroller at 6:00pm.

21. Someone announced over the loudspeaker that the 6:25 flight to Hartford had switched gates AGAIN. That's right! Back to terminal B.

22. We ran another 1/4 mile.

23. We heard the glorious news that we had made it onto the flight, despite being on such a long stand-by list!

24. We boarded the flight at 6:20 and Noah woke up. Fussed and cried.

25. After everyone had boarded and all our stuff was situated (bags stowed, etc) the Captain came over the speaker and said our flight had been canceled. CANCELED, and that probably nothing would be flying into Hartford that night due to weather. It was beautiful in Philadelphia, and decent in Hartford.

26. We de-planed. Again.

27. We ran to the customer service line to ask some questions about our options.

28. We stood in that line 40 minutes. While we waited in line, we decided to take a rental car from Philadelphia to Hartford. This decision was made after realizing that the 8:40 flight was probably a joke even though we had confirmed tickets on it, that we couldn't emotionally handle getting on another plane and having to deplane due to cancellation, and we just wanted to be DONE with the whole switching of terminals and dashed hopes.

29. We rented a car from the airport and drove the 3 hours and 45 minutes to Hartford. It was the best decision we made!! Noah slept the whole way in the car, and we were finally-gloriously-on our own. The weather was beautiful. If we had not done that, I wonder if we would STILL be in Philadelphia waiting for a flight? :)

I just let Josh read all of my account of this, and he agreed that what you have just read were the absolute facts, plain and simple. I am so glad that day is over with!!! Praise the Lord we got in safely.

Tomorrow's the day

We're all packed. Garbage has been taken out. Refrigerator cleaned. The only thing left to do is go to bed! :) Our flight leaves at 10:40am tomorrow morning, and we're praying for good weather. It seems it's been rather nasty up in New England lately!

Matt and Jen arrived this evening about 8:30. Josh is over there as I type this helping them move in (along with 2 other guys). It was so good to see them!! I'm excited to have them here in Jacksonville, and looking forward to what God has in store for us all.

The other noteworthy event of the day (and by no means related to the other two events): NOAH WENT STINKY ON THE POTTY!!! Can I get an "Amen"? :) Without getting into the nitty gritty details, let's just say I was one proud mama this morning! I in no way consider this success to mean that potty training will be a snap. In fact, after that one brief shining moment, Noah proceeded to go twice more in his diaper throughout the rest of the day. Oh well. But there's hope, there's definitely hope!!

Take care everyone! I'll try to keep blogging on vacation.

Christmas Cantata and Saying Goodbye

What if Jesus had not come? This was the question our church Christmas Cantata posed last night. It was really good and thought-provoking too. Do I live my Christian life as if He hadn't come? If I'm not actively sharing my faith, then yes I am. I'm ignoring the fact that Christ came to this earth and died for our sins by not sharing this with other people. What a thought! Yikes. What a reminder that people need the Lord. Dr. Bob used to say "The most sobering reality in the world today is that people are dying and going to hell today." Living life in light of that fact really changes priorities around, doesn't it?

After the Cantata the church had a goodbye party for the Bennetts. I still can't quite grasp that they are leaving, but Wednesday morning will likely be the last time I see them for a long time. They're taking us to the airport Wed morning, so we'll have that last opportunity to really say goodbye.

Between now and Wednesday I have a lot to get done. I have to pack us all up for 2 weeks in 2 suitcases! How we will manage to fit all our stuff I do not know. :) What I do know is that the weather report is saying we should be leaving Jacksonville on a 78 degree sunny day and end up in East Hartford, CT in a 35 degree "wintry mix" day. Yay. We're praying this "wintry mix" doesn't wreak havoc on our flights and we'd appreciate any of your prayers for the same thing!

Geeky

I have officially lost count of how many words Noah can say, since he is into repeating many of the words in our conversations, and it has now become impossible to keep tabs on what he can repeat. We've heard him say tomato, uncle, vehicle (no kidding!), nut, half, and other random words that he feels like giving a try. If you ask him, "Are you a nut?" He'll answer with no hesitation, "Nut!" It's quite humorous.

Hands down though, the funniest word in my opinion is his word for Stinky. Are you ready? It's "Geeky". Sometimes I have to ask Noah if he's Stinky (as in, "do I need to change your diaper?"), and he pipes up with "Geeky!" Occasionally he'll even pinch his nose as he says it. Priceless, I tell you!

We're beginning to work on the idea of potty training. He knows when he's geeky (see? Doesn't it make you smile?), and he knows when he's going pee-pee (did I just type that?). Now the big battle is getting him to recognize how he feels before these things happen, and take care of it.

Fun times ahead!!

Making Memories

How do you say goodbye to a good friend? It's hard, and something I've done a lot of in my life. Have I ever mentioned I've moved about 15 times? Honestly I've lost count! This time, I'm not the one moving though.

My dear friend Carrie Bennett and her family are moving to West Virginia in a few weeks (Dec 30th to be exact) to start deputation to be missionaries to New Zealand. And we're leaving for CT on the 17th, so we won't even be here to see them off. Carrie and I joke about being in denial that they're even leaving; it just doesn't seem real yet. Instead of sitting around and being sad, we decided to go to the zoo on Tuesday to have some fun together and visit!

First, I must say that the Lord gave us a beautiful day! We had temperatures in the 70's, a nice breeze, and sunshine for most of it. Plus we were almost the only people there, which made it much more fun. We were able to let our kids run around some instead of being confined to the strollers, and we had front row "seats" to all the animals!!

Noah was much more attentive and excited this time. You may remember we took him back when he was about 9-10 months old, and he didn't seem to get it. :) I think the highlight for him was riding the carousel. I hadn't done that since I was about 12, so it was fun for me too! And slightly dizzying too, since apparently somewhere along the way I've lost my capacity for riding rides. I must be getting old or something. One other note about Noah: we did have some discipline issues this time. I would tell him to sit back down in the stroller and he would tell me, "No". He also fussed considerably, and was not very well-behaved. I never know what to do to handle issues like this in public, since I'm always afraid someone will turn me in for child abuse if I chasten Noah the way I think best. So I'm left with the power of my voice, which doesn't always accomplish the goal. Help! Anybody?

Despite all this, we had a great time and I'd like to say we'll do it again soon, but I don't think we will. :( We'll miss the Bennetts!

Here are several pictures, all courtesy of Carrie, who brought her camera. (Remember, I am without a camera for the next couple of weeks at least.)

Titus and Noah at the Giraffe overlook

Noah running out of the "maze". He had gotten lost in there and started to panic! :)

Noah and me with the Giraffes


There were these huge fish behind the glass!

Brushing the goats.

On the carousel

Carrie, Abe, and Titus.

Young Married's Christmas Party

Last night we attended the Christmas party for our age group at church. We had such a good time, made better by the fact that Mr. Bundy watched Noah for us at his house, giving us the opportunity to actually talk to the other people. The pictures today are courtesy of Carrie again, who has taken pity on my camera-less state. :) Thanks, Carrie!

We played 2 Christmas trivia games, and I won the Christmas Movies one! I don't know if I should be proud of that or not, but I was happy to win a little prize anyway. Everyone brought appetizers for the party and a batch of their favorite cookies/bars to exchange at the end, and we all had fun talking and eating.

It was bittersweet for me, knowing that it was the last party with my friend Carrie (she's going to be a missionary and leaves this month on deputation), and maybe with the others as well (Matt and Jen's house is under contract and supposed to close this month, which puts somewhat of a deadline on our time at Victory).

Mothering On Purpose

Over the past several weeks I have been working on what I call Mothering On Purpose. The default mode of parenting (at least for me) is to be lazy; not only in discipline, but even in daily activities and teaching opportunities.

My biggest temptation is to go check my email and facebook accounts when I could be playing with Noah, or to sit silently when I could be instructing him about something. I am not a talkative person, easily coming up with clever conversations or filling the void with words. I much prefer thinking to talking. But with Noah, who has so much to learn, I may actually be doing him a disservice by keeping my mouth shut. For example, when I am doing the laundry and he's watching, I would rather just shove the clothes in the dryer, throw in a sheet of fabric softener, push the button, and be on my way! Then I realize that a little person is watching me intently and probably wondering what I'm doing. So recently I've taken to narrating my tasks so hopefully he'll pick up on not just the how of a job, but the why as well. Ambitious? I don't think so! Every day Noah astonishes me with how much he understands. I don't give him enough credit. And what could it hurt? At the very least he'll learn correct sentence structure and the meanings of the words, whether or not he becomes the first one-year-old capable of doing his own laundry, Ha Ha! :)

I'm learning with parenting that you can't just let it happen. You have to be proactive and do everything you do on purpose. (I'm talking to myself here, since I'm sure you all know this!) Did you tell him not to touch that? Better follow through on the correction now or else you will pay for it later. Going to the post office? Talk to him about why you are waiting in line, where the letter or package is going, how it gets there... Everything we do in a day provides an opportunity to teach Noah something. Not that I always take those opportunities, but I'm trying to improve.

Sometimes I'm just so tired of explaining and following through and being thorough, and I'm tempted just to stick him in front of a video (which he probably wouldn't sit through anyway) or go take a break somehow. This is where the Lord's grace comes in; when I'm ready to give up for the day, I can always call on Him and ask for the strength I need to be patient and discipline correctly when Noah pulls the ball off the Christmas tree for the 29th time that day.

It's getting late and I feel like I'm rambling on. Maybe I will pick up this topic in the future, but for now I hope I've made sense and increased my resolve to give mothering my best effort. It is certainly the hardest but most fulfilling job I've ever had, and with the Lord's help hopefully I can get better and better at it.

I have no camera. :(

Maybe you've noticed that my blog has been painfully devoid of photos lately. This is because my dear husband has confiscated "my" (actually it's his) camera for good. He says I messed with a setting, and that messed him up on his jobsite the other day, so I'm banned from the camera.

BUT!!

A little bird told me I might be receiving a brand new camera for Christmas. If the rumors are true, the photos should begin to increase and become better in quality before too long. And between now and then I might be able to convince Mr. Camera Nazi to let me borrow his camera now and then. But don't count on it! :)

Tattletale....on HIMSELF!!!

You know no one likes a tattletale, but how about when the guilty party IS the tattletale? For the past week or so, when Noah misbehaves he comes to me with whatever he wasn't supposed to touch (lately the balls on the Christmas tree) in his hand and saying very seriously "NOooooo". It sounds uncannily (is that a word?) like myself when I'm reprimanding him. Down to the vocal inflection. Eerie.

But anyway, my POINT is, when is he going to figure out that tattling on himself still gets him in trouble? I'm not going to be the one to tell him! :)