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!