My mental state as I'm traveling

Saturday, 6 January: I have a lot of travel this month, as I mentioned in an earlier post.

Tomorrow I am heading to Bavaria for four nights. I've been there often enough now to know what to expect. What I like about it is that it's very low key, with somewhat set hours for work, and not stressful. Even driving there is getting less and less stressful. I will come back on Thursday.

On Saturday, I am heading to Israel again. I don't think I'm going to get a chance to go sightseeing for a whole day. We have a lot of work to do. I will still get to go to Jaffa and Tel Aviv in the evenings. And my hotel is the same one on the beach, so it will still be quite lovely. I don't think the sun has been out in Germany for about four weeks, so I am going to soak it up as much as possible while I'm in Israel. I'll be coming back on Friday the 19th.

Needless to say, all of this traveling is going to have me away from home starting tomorrow.

Sunday, 7 January:... And it's tomorrow. I've decided not to publish this until after I get back. I don't want to tell the bad guys where I'm going and whatnot.

But here I am in the hotel. I stay at a family run place called Hotel Rattunde. It's cute. I like their breakfast. I'm in a newly remodeled (or maybe expanded?) room and it's nice. I'm watching The Departed on tv. In English. Do you remember that movie? Not one I would recommend for my mom, but I liked it well enough.

Let the fun begin. I hope it goes well. I'm missing the family already. I hope they do all right while I'm gone. I know they will, but boy is it going to be a hard couple of weeks for them.

Tuesday, 9 January: ... Isn't it ironic what I wrote above about this trip to Bavaria being relatively low stress? Can you imagine how stressed I was when I realized I lost my wallet?! (If you didn't read that one, read it here.) I actually was getting queasy! I was near tears! Ugh. I hope the rest of the week/month/year is better! (I'm hopeful.)

Friday, 12 January: ... So yesterday on my drive home, about 40 minutes away from Grafenwohr, I saw that my colleague had sent me an email telling me that he found my i.d. card. What the heck is wrong with me?! Forty minute round-trip again, because I can't go to Israel without it. What was wrong with me was that I was trying to get out of there in time to drop the government car off yesterday. Obviously, I didn't make it. You can't imagine what a hassle it is! Seriously, I'm sure I'll vent about that someday.

Anyhow, I dropped it off this morning, and am now riding the bus home for about an hour and 15 minutes. Sound like a waste of time on my one day off for about 13 days? Well, it's better than hauling Dave and the kids along with the rigmarole of turning that stupid car in. Next time I'm getting a rental car.

I might get a cultural day in Israel again, after all. Not Jerusalem probably; too many of the old city gates are off limits right now. But maybe the Dead Sea and Masada. ?? God willing.

Ooh ooh! Because of the bus ride with a changeover, I was able to get some of the best falafel in Wiesbaden. David will be happy.

Saturday, 13 January: I got to the airport way too early. The gate for security isn't even open yet. Last time, I couldn't believe how long it took me to get to my gate.

Doing this made me think of the trip over here with the family. I'm still in shock about how hard that was. But instead of really thinking about that, I was dwelling on the difference between coming here and going home. Going home will be lovely.

Don't get me wrong, I am so excited for this year and all that it has to offer our family. God willing, this year we will see the tulip festival and Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Paris, Denmark and the North Sea, Tuscany, Venice, Vienna, a small town in Austria I flew over and would like to visit, Strasbourg, Barcelona, and more of Germany. That's very exciting!!! But it's also exhausting, and this work travel, although also exciting, is exhausting too. So coming home will be, like I said, lovely. Peaceful. Coming home just to the house will be like coming home to a good friend. Not to mention, I will be coming home to good friends, many of whom I dearly miss!!

I'm surprised how much I miss my home. I knew I loved it from the first day we saw pictures of it on line. I never stopped appreciating it for the three years we lived there. But being away has made me fall in love with it again. And the household goods move, as badly as it went, has made me appreciate what I had in my home and how well I had it set up. I'm happy to report that we have had some progress on that front. An inspector came and looked at our damaged goods and took pictures. They will repair some things and replace others. I'm slightly optimistic that it will be closed out to my satisfaction, except for the timeframe, of course. It has been five months since I've moved. Four months since I submitted my claim. They're supposed to have two. But as long as it's resolved sufficiently, I'll be happy. I'll wait as long as it takes.

I'm starting to feel stress about Alex's surgery. I shouldn't feel stress about it. I'm a Christian and I trust God, right? But I'm a human, too. So keep me in prayer about that, okay? I normally don't get stressed, so when I do, stressing out is stressful. That makes sense, right?

...I just made it through the gate. It was equally difficult to say goodbye to Lilly and David this morning. I almost teared up. I know how brief my absence is, but still. But now that I am through the gate, I am getting so excited to leave this gray. I'm really looking forward to some sunshine. I hope I can get my fill to tide me over until March.

Sunday, January 13: It rained all day today. Bummer.

Wednesday, January 17: It's been cold and rainy here in Israel. The people who have been here often have said they've never seen it like this. I've had one day of sun. It's been disappointing, but even one day was good. And tomorrow, I might be going back to Jerusalem. I hope so. I'm excited. I've been working 11-hour days since Sunday, so I'm looking forward to having part of the day off, and seeing what I see. I'll be with a big group, so I don't really know yet. But it's going to be a good day, God willing. And then home on Friday. Yes!! Can't wait for that, either.

Also, I saw a spur-winged lapwing today. Never saw that before!!

Friday, January 19: On the plane in Tel Aviv. Layover in Warsaw but not long enough to take advantage of it. Plane is a little bit late, but I'll be okay for my connection.

I met a girl just now, from L.A., living in Israel, and on a sort of scholarship program to help her decide if she wants to live here. What a great opportunity for her! I wonder what she will do.

I can't wait to go home. I miss David and the kids so much. So so much! I got to go to Jerusalem yesterday again and it was wonderful. We had been considering going to the Dead Sea, but it is winter here and has been colder and rainy. It was clear and beautiful in Jerusalem yesterday. I will blog about that later.

I think I will be back in 4 weeks. Please pray that we are able to bring David over when I come back and that I can get some time off while he's here. Sightseeing in Israel together would be such a blessing to me!

...Well, I just flew from Tel Aviv to Warsaw. I sat beside a nice Russian man who spoke only Russian and Polish. He was teaching me some words in Russian. Did you know that babushka means butterfly in Russian? If I understood him correctly, of course. But I think I did.

Getting ready to board for Frankfurt. Can't wait to be home!

The Patty strikes again.

I am on travel for work this week. I traveled here via government car yesterday. I admittedly wasn't looking forward to the drive, but it went smoothly and was okay. I am working on a playlist of the songs I listen to on German radio. It is eclectic. I could maybe say I even enjoyed the drive a little bit.

I like the breakfasts at the hotel, so this morning, I woke up, ate breakfast, and went into work. Good start to a long week. At about 1000, my first meeting wrapped up, and I thought I would enjoy a cup of coffee. I had just enough time to get a cup before the next meeting.

My wallet wasn't in my purse!

I remembered that I had used it when I stopped at the rest area, to get a 1 euro coin out for the restroom. So I knew at least that it wasn't in Wiesbaden, and that I'd had it with me. So I convinced myself not to panic before going back to the hotel room, which I couldn't do until after noon.

It wasn't there.

Now, this is by the grace of God:

By the grace of God, I wrote that little story on my blog called, "Lost in Translation", where I bumbled up the German so much in the Autohof that it was memorable to me.

By the grace of God, yesterday I stopped at that same Autohof, only for the second time ever.

By the grace of God, I thought, "I'm going to remember where this is so that maybe David and I can stop here if we're ever on this road someday."

By the grace of God, I actually remembered.

By the grace of God, because I remembered, I was able to find contact information for the Autohof and email them.

By the grace of God, they responded promptly.

By the grace of God, a customer turned in my wallet intact.

And by the grace of God, I picked up my wallet today and will be able to do my job tomorrow, which I wouldn't have been able to for weeks if I had actually lost my wallet.

Praise God.

There was too much working against me here for me to leave this to chance. I know some people don't believe in God. But talk to me about it. This was one blip of God's goodness in my life. He has done so much more for me than take care of my wallet. I'd be happy to tell you about it some day.

Side note: did you get to read my tribute to my husband? If not, please do. He deserves everyone to know how awesome he is. You know what he said when I told him about this via text? He texted me, "I thought I was going to need to road trip." He didn't chastise me or complain about getting the kids ready or doing a 6 hour drive (round trip). He was totally prepared to support me 100%. So glad I posted that entry a couple of days ago! He is my knight in shining armor.

This is my expression to myself. And, yes, I am wearing a Captain America t-shirt.

A tribute to my husband

When I was about 20 years old, and just getting into dating, a woman named Diana suggested to me that I write a list of all of the qualities I would like to find in my future husband, and that I never settle for less than what I put on that list. I did it.

I don't have the list anymore, but I remember the obvious ones, which are still at the top of my list:

1) a Christian
2) a church-goer
3) likes to travel
4) is intelligent
5) is going to be faithful
6) values family highly
7) treats his mom well
8) wants to have lots of kids
9) has at least one hobby
10) likes watching movies

That's the majority of them.

From the first day that I met him, I realized that David met everything on my list, at least as best as I could tell from what my brother knew about him and what I could glean from that first introduction. I met him on a Saturday and went to work the following Monday telling my friends at work that I had met the man I was going to marry. And one year from the anniversary of our first date, I did it.

A little over ten years later, I know that I made a good choice all those years ago. Even after getting to know David so much better, I am able to say that he indeed meets all of those qualities that I put on my list. And I certainly do thank God for him.

I probably complain about him too much when I shouldn't. There are many days I'm sure he feels underappreciated or even maybe, although I hope not, unappreciated. He is, after all, in charge of the everyday at home. The routine. The "mundane" (in quotes because life with four kids really can't be mundane). And what a blessing he is to me. I mean, for one thing, our kids are good. They're really good, I would even say, and I attribute that largely to David. For another thing, he is willing to do just about any task I ask him to do (just about, but not quite!). He does almost all of the food prep, dishes, laundry, and other things that many men would refuse to do. He also kills the big spiders and takes the trash out which, as stupid as it may sound, was something I looked forward to the entire time I was a single adult. We watch movies and TV together, we travel together, we have had kids together, we used to (and I hope will again someday) backpack together, we go to church together, he plays guitar (sometimes for me and sometimes for Jesus), and we are in general, very compatible together (is that redundant?). I love him.

Oh, and the other thing that's really great about David that also tells me how well-matched we are: Did you read my blog about going up to the Baltic Sea, when I forgot the kids' suitcase and had to buy enough clothes for all of them for the long weekend? Well, that's typical of me. I'm always leaving my purse behind or losing my phone. And David is so patient about it and never gets upset or chews me out because of it. Thank God. As if leaving behind the luggage isn't stressful enough, right?

I'm writing this tonight because it makes sense to me. I've been blogging for over six months, now. I've written about myself and my kids a lot. I haven't said much about David, yet he's the other half of our foundation. So I thought I would tell the world (or at least 15 people) how thankful I am for him. Sure, we have our difficulties. Marriage is NOT, at least in my experience, bliss. Sometimes it pretty much sucks, and sometimes it is so rewarding it's hard to believe. Sometimes the reward is just in the fact that I have a good man with whom to grow old. Thank God for that.