13 Hours of Rain

First, I would like to wish all my readers a Blessed Easter . May you have a wonderful time with family and friends as we celebrate Christ's Death and Resurrection. And now for my current thoughts... Oh Chocolate Cake! Lent season ended on Palm Sunday and now we are well into Passion Week. I have mixed feelings about how these last 40 days progressed. I was generally faithful in avoiding desserts, my selected "fast". Though I must admit I indulged in my children's birthday cakes. Too much, probably. Since my expected company was unable to come for my daughter's birthday, I ate pieces of chocolate cake for several days in a row. Not good. But I couldn't bare to see it chucked (since my husband is not much of a cake eater). And I do not like eating previously frozen cake. Thus, next year, if I choose to give up something in the food category, I will need to select an item that I can completely forgo. Like peanut butter. Oh how I LOVE peanut butter. That wou...

Soon, oh so soon, you will move on From counting your age in months To years Years... How quickly a year goes by As days flow into weeks And weeks into months You grew from a little babe in my arms To a wiggly boy who is eager to go I miss your infant stage already... I remember when you were born It was exciting, So exciting And it was an added gift that you were a boy, A name carrier for your Daddy's family I still smile over the fact that I couldn't sleep that night, That very first night... I kept looking at you, all swaddled up You were content, for a moment in time You were ours, forever Keep growing my son, as the years unravel From single to double digits And I pray... May you be STRONG, in body, mind and spirit May you be FILLED with God's love, joy and peace I love you, my dear little guy More than I can ever express In mere words But words are what I have Thus I offer them as a gift To you This eve

It is one of those rare moments in my life with two kids. They are both sleeping at the SAME time! Often this moment constitutes a nap for me. Or frenzied housework. Or twenty minutes of intense exercise. But I don't want to do any of that right now. Thus, I've been sitting here, enjoying a leisurely time catching up on e-mail. And now I'm blogging. Lately I have been thinking about this verse in Psalm 37: "Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart" (verse 4). What does this exactly mean? I know the usual response to my question. If you are in God's Will, following God's ways, then you will naturally have desires in your life that line up with God's desires for your life. As a result, your desires will come true. That's it. End of story. But is it that straightforward? I've been doing a bit of reading on how to interpret the Psalms. The main message I've gleaned is, "Proceed with caution!" Th...

There are days when I feel trapped in this house. The walls start closing in and I go a bit loopy. My patience runs out and sadly my children receive a very tired, a very ungrateful, a very discontent mother. Not good. Then I bemoan my location. Why am I here? I miss my family like crazy! If only my husband got a job near my old city. Life would have been easier... Then I realize: life may have not been easier. Last year, one of the jobs my husband applied for was in a small town about 100 km from our previous city. He landed an interview for the position. Since the school was quite minute in size, his teaching assignment promised to be vast. In other words, my husband would be the math and science department. We started to look at housing possibilities in a town about 30 minutes out of the city. The prospects were bleak, and not much cheaper than the city. Nonetheless, the job was tantalizing, for me anyway. Family was still near. My favorite grocery store was close. All my es...

She is a conversationalist. Every since she was born, she was verbose. I remembered the first time we had a chat. I'd say "oh", she'd echo. And it went on and on. She was so little then. At four months, she made her first international trip. And when she met her relatives on the other side of the border, she impressed them with her verbal feats. I recall her squealing at the top of her lungs, entertaining the admirers around her. Now she is speaking in full sentences and experimenting with English grammar. Sometimes her attempts are perfect. Other times her mistakes make us giggle. But we love it. Love it all! And I especially smile with delight when she throws in a Hindi word in the middle of an English sentence. "Hosucktaha, it's downstairs." (Translation: Maybe, it's downstairs.) "I like treats and prizes," she stated in a matter-of-fact tone one day. We were discussing her potty training triumphs. And she reminded me, once again,...