Friday, February 18, 2011

The Weekend

The kiddos are off to Granny and Pop's house, Brandon is at practice, and it's just me and my bowl of cereal for dinner. Isn't it great to be able to eat cereal for dinner?

Today was my husband's cousin's baby shower. It was so much fun to see all of the cute little baby things-- it made me very excited for little Henry to arrive. So many special moments I remember treasuring with Lydia and Elvis. I remember Lydia and I falling asleep together one of the first nights in the hospital, waking up to this tiny little person sound asleep with me. Baby bath time, too, and breastfeeding, and all of the sweet steps they take as they grow. It's such a precious time, and it goes so quickly.

I had a really nice weekend with my kids. It's rare to have a nearly agenda-less weekend, and both Friday night and all day Saturday were wide open. I never expected to look forward to a day of just cleaning and grocery shopping, but that's all we did, really. I'm grateful for days of rest.

The more I sit here, the less I have to say :) SO, enough for tonight. Go and rest.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

And the plane lifted up off of the ground!

Tonight, I am laying in my king size bed in a hotel room with a widescreen TV, two lounge chairs, a full bath, coffee pot, several mirrors, five lamps, and six pillows. I will sleep in this room for three nights, which will cost roughly the same as a family's annual income in Ethiopia.

Yesterday, I spent a few hours at the Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport stuck in an unplowed runway and after being de-iced, taxied back to the gate, and refueled, took off with several dozen passengers over the snow-covered countryside. Together, we flew to D.C. in less than an hour in a plane. Above the clouds. Only the people in the last century have had the opportunity to view the world from above, to be able to see the clouds casting shadows on the hills and fields in this way.

It is so easy to forget how incredibly fortunate we are, to live where we do, when we do, and how we do. Watching CNN and the coverage of Egypt's uprising tonight only adds to this feeling of gratitude, but it's a guilty, shameful gratitude. I can hear myself only a few hours ago complaining about slow service at dinner. It is humbling. I don't want to stay in this place; I want this feeling of gratitude to motivate me into action and awareness, because being "blessed" or "fortunate" or "lucky" or whatever you want to call it is not where the sentiment should end. There's more at stake than just giving praise and thankfulness, there has to be a response, there has to be action. So what does that look like for us?