Outside my window...
There are no words. Well...there are some, but it is not my custom to use them.
comparing our flames.
Of a family we knew in Okinawa who lost their son in a car accident yesterday morning. He was in his early 20s. He has the same name as Crown Prince Sanban, both of them being IIIs. I remember when we had Sanban, he was so proud, as if he had gotten a new baby brother or that we had named him in his honor. My heart is broken for them. I am thankful...
For air conditioning.
In addition, I am also thankful that Yehovah safely took Friend Hubby and myself on a 3900-mile road trip and brought us safely home with our babies anxiously awaiting our arrival. It is wonderful to be missed. They all adult very well (Princess Butterfly even drove her daddy's car to work), but I guess they missed Friend Hubby telling them what they were already planning to do and me looking at them like they've lost their minds. I can understand how they'd miss that.
First stop on our trip was to my paternal family reunion. It was nice to visit with my father, sister and family, uncles, aunts, and cousins OUTSIDE of a funeral. It is wonderful that this generation is getting to know one another since most of us were raised outside of home-base of Kansas. My cousin's home in Virginia is FABULOUS. I learned more family history from a distant cousin (whose name escapes me). I hope, by the next reunion, to have our family history in written form.
Next stop was Maryland. Though we have met one of Friend Hubby's distant cousins once, we were finally able to meet his beautiful wife at their home in Maryland. She is lovely! Even though the relationship is further up the family tree, the cousins have so much in common. They LOOK related.
From their home, we drove the rest of the way to Philadelphia to meet up with one of Friend Hubby's double first cousins and her husband. They are double first cousins because Friend Hubby's mother's sister was married to his father's brother. These cousins look more like siblings than they do cousins.
Onward to New Jersey to visit my mother-in-law in a nursing home. His mom doesn't speak as much as she used to after several strokes. The lights were dim in the room when we came in. He rubbed her arm and called her name softly. She opened her eyes, but didn't recognize him at first. Then she turned her head and saw me smiling at her and immediately knew who I was. She called my name and asked me where Friend Hubby was. I pointed and then she recognized him. I've got the sweetest picture of her holding on to his arm and smiling. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. Friend Hubby wanted to make some of his world famous collard greens and take them to his mom. It was a very sweet and emotional moment.
We popped in to my sister-in-law's job and almost fell on the floor laughing at her expression when she turned around and saw us standing there. At the moment, however, she is here in my family room asleep in the chair. She flew in to be with our niece who is having surgery tomorrow.
Then we went to visit my father-in-law. He's as stubborn as ever! Friend Hubby fussed at him and gave him a good talking to, not letting him change the subject. My father-in-law is an ISTJ and Friend Hubby is an ESTJ. Between the two of them, they have all the answers to the world's problems. I pray they see themselves in one another. We also visited with my twin brothers-in-law. Yah has been working on them. This visit was not as tense and uncomfortable as the last one. I have taught for years about the stages of conflict with Isaac's four wells: Quarrel, Enmity, Spaciousness, and Treaty. I have been praying that Yah would move some of our relationships from one stage to the next. He certainly answered with this visit.
From there, we went to meet the home qahol leaders in Pittsburgh. The morah (female teacher) of this community and I have been connected on social media for a while. It was great to have the opportunity to meet in person. They are so hospitable and we had a lovely visit. Friend Hubby and the moreh (male teacher) had a good chat as well. We are looking forward to working together on some things in the future. I was listening to a teaching by Dr. Hollisa Alwine where she was talking about how early in our walk in Torah we separate from the misguided teaching that we have previously been a part of and then we become isolated and weird. It is time that we stop arguing over calendars and the English pronunciation and spelling of ancient Hebrew words (selah) and learn how to cooperate in community.
Speaking of gathering in community, I sat in on a wonderful webinar that compared the ancient Hebrew wedding customs to those preserved in west African communities for centuries. At the end of the webinar she sited her sources! You know I was happy. She didn't pretend like she came by this information through divine revelation only. I am thankful for the fellowship.
We also met a restauranteur who is 91 years old, still working, looks like she's just turning 70. She was quoting Scripture to us, telling us her testimony about how she and her husband at age 65 went and got a small business loan to open up this restaurant. At 65 years old! Because of her, I will never look at Proverbs 21:21 the same again.
A spaghetti strap tank top from Torrid and knit pants, trying to stay cool. I am reading...
I am still reading one of the books from my city library's historical fiction book club. I'm not attending them (at the moment), but I think I am going to enjoy reading through the list. At present, I am about 38% through Code Name Verity. I like it. It is a well woven story and even though it is not about a funny subject, (a female British spy captured and interrogated by the Germans), it is humorously told. I have already ordered the next book on their list, which I am very excited about reading since it is about somewhere that I have lived: Above the East China Sea. It sounds a little like White Chrysanthemum. I hope it's not as depressing to read. I am looking forward to...
Another road trip and then school starting, although I will be sad to see Sanban head back to school and I won't be going to the same school as Princess Butterfly anymore.
From the kitchen...
Fried chicken in the air fryer for the win! Make your seasoned flour for shaking, toss in your chicken, lay them out in the basket, spray with avocado oil and put them on the highest setting at 10 minutes per side. Crispy coating with juicy chicken. Magnifique!
For Shabbat, I have been continuing to buy what I plan to make on Thursday so that on Friday I don't have to leave the house (at least not for very long). Friday afternoon, I fired up the grill and made yellow squash and zucchini and some marinated chicken shishkabobs for us to warm in the toaster oven and eat after service on Saturday. I love the smokey flavor of the vegetables in the the grill basket. While we were visiting with my father-in-law, he mentioned that his mother used to spend all day Saturday cooking and did no cooking on Sunday so that she could just go to church and come home and eat. Same concept, different day.
Around the house... Sanban is a chronic minimalist. I knew while I was gone, he was at home throwing everything in my house away. My pantry is looking quite a bit lighter than it did when I left. Hmm.
My self-care...
I returned to the BodyPump class for another try. Last time I only did half the class. I stuck with the whole hour. I'm proud of myself. I have also been more consistent putting what I eat into MyFitnessPal. I eat AROUND 1400 calories a day. I used to do 1200 for dieting, but at my age, I don't want to suffer while I'm losing weight. I divide it up, 350 for breakfast, 350 for lunch, 175 for snack, and since dinner is my favorite meal and I need to be satiated at bedtime, 525 for dinner. I have been trying to eat more salads. On the road, Friend Hubby and I would find a Ruby Tuesday so we could eat the salad bar before going to our hotel and bedding down for the night. Shalom and blessings!
Comments
Post a Comment