Evaded

I’ve always had a hunch, but it’s been confirmed: kids really are delusional. Yesterday morning while I was managing breakfast with the boys, Henry requested more of his Weetabix Mini’s (a bite-sized, sugar coated, chocolate chip infused breakfast cereal). The box was near finished, so there was a good amount of crumbly bits left in his bowl; I told him to finish first, but he wasn’t keen due to the lack of chocolate chips. His genius excuse? "I’m allergic." To which I responded in my best English accent: "That’s rubbish, eat it." He did.

Catherine dropped me off at the printers yesterday to get my reward thingy printed and laminated. It’s not exactly what I wanted (and the lack of creative control at the printers made my skin itch), but it serves its purpose. We took it home, added magnets and super-glued magnets to a few tiny toy cars to use on the race track. The boys were so excited about it. We went over the list of good behavior and bad behavior together (Henry read them one by one) and discussed a few along the way for clarities sake, so there is no chance of misunderstanding and no grounds for excuses. They were so eager to see their cars move a step forward that their manners and conduct that evening were absolutely angelic; humorously so. I was, in a word, giddy to see it finally up and running and have high hopes for its success.

I’ve been sitting down at the piano to sing worship music at least once a day for the last week or so; whenever I’m alone, or when Jonathan and Catherine are upstairs putting the boys to bed. It’s not something I did too often at home, but that’s because I already spent so much time singing with the worship teams. I already knew it was therapy for me, but I’ve come to realize just how effectively it clears my head and how powerful it can be in preparing me (us) for God’s word. I’ve been struggling a bit because I’m so distracted all the time, but the other day I went outside to read the Bible directly following some time at the piano; I couldn’t believe how much more calm and receptive I was. I’ve always been aware of how important worship is as a form of reverence and how deeply it can affect people, but I now realize just how vital it can be as a precursor to a Sunday sermon. It doesn’t just prepare your heart; it prepares your mind and allows God to move more freely.

I find the contradictions between new and old in this country so surreal. I’m living a stones through away from a busy motorway in a house that was built a hundred years ago, ancient buildings and new structures share the same street corner (see picture), and old shop faces bear signs advertising cell phones and other current technology. I can’t decide which looks more out of place, the old or the new; oddly enough, I think it’s the new.

The strangest thing happened to me last night: I love storms, so being woken up at about 3:30am by flashes of light bursting through my open windows and the consequent sound of thunder was a welcome attraction. It was a slow, surreal process of waking up; residing in that space where you’re aware of your dreams, but not aware that you’re dreaming, but once awake, I sat out on my window ledge to catch the show. I knew it was fork lightening because of the intense whiteness, but all I could see was residual light so I got up and moved to my bathroom window. Once again, just out of my field of vision; puzzling. I decided to go downstairs to have access to all directions, so I wrapped myself in a towel to avoid an embarrassing situation (Catherine’s brother and wife are visiting as well) and after a brief stop on the second floor to appease the boys and be told by their cousin, Ethan, not to touch metal otherwise I’ll die, I found a suitable window. Once again, just outside of my view. The intervals between lightening and thunder were varied, so I knew the storm couldn’t be above us, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t on God’s schedule to "Give Stacy an ulcer", so I proceeded to run from window to window with feverish determination. It did finally occur to me that the storm was all around us, but that didn’t exactly help the situation. It was about a half hour later when I finally caught the first streak of lightening cut horizontally through the darkened sky. Conveniently, the window was directly above one of the ridiculously comfortable couches in the lounge, so I laid my head down and was treated to 4 more glorious displays before the rain eased itself to a drizzle and the flashes became less frequent and faded off in the distance. When I returned to bed a bit before 5:00, the darkness was beginning to give way to the morning, so I did consider staying up to watch the sunrise; but as I was unsure which direction was east and wasn’t keen on going back downstairs to locate it, I returned to bed satisfied and contented.

Side notes:
1) This week contained the hottest day in July since the year 1906; I wasn’t kidding when I said the temperatures were record breaking.
2) Petrol currently goes for about $2.00/litre here; feel better now?