He's coming home tomorrow.

Last Monday the kids and I got down the globe and looked to see where Daddy would be all week.  I'm glad he'll be flying back this way tomorrow.  His plane lands exactly 24 hours from now.  Late night, but I'll take it.

He's northwest of Guantanamo in the city of Holguin.

We were excited to see it was on the globe. 

Monday's Memories: Wales

After leaving Bristol we drove across the water into Cardiff, Wales.  I know KJ would like to spend more time in Wales on the next trip.  Pugh is a Welsh name after all.  It was kind of a rainy, cloudy, drizzly day.

I took several pictures from our dry little car as we wound through the small Welsh roads.  Our destination was the little town of Hay-on-Wye.  One of our professors from UM told us about this little Welsh town with over 40 used bookstores in it.  That was all we needed to hear.

 Typical traveling conditions,

windy road, hedge, beautiful green beyond

 Almost all of Britian's countryside looks like the Shire.

 in the country of his ancestors...

Mine were Irish.  

I don't think we could ever run out of places to visit in the UK.

The fun thing about driving into Wales was that the road signs suddenly changed to Welsh with English translations underneath. 

  Our destination, the town of books.

What a nice town moniker. 

For several days I was convinced that this road sign had something to do with Harry Potter's lightning scar.  But maybe it just meant the roads were curvy.  And they all were of course.  Curvy and extremely narrow.  You won't want to miss a peek in some of Hay-on-Wye's bookstores on Friday.

My Little Superheros

Sometimes your kids set up a really nice shot for you all by themselves.  We were out on the deck last night before bed enjoying the sunset.  They flew around, capes flying.  And then this happened.  This supermom is ready for Daddy to come home.

Finding Herself

At the beginning of the summer Ella started a blog that I shared with family and a few close friends.  It was a good way to spend some time during the summer, but since we've started school she hasn't updated in a while.  A little while ago she was asking me what to do, and I think she was ready for some playtime in her room.  I suggested that she write a blog post because I knew a few people who missed her writing.

"But, Mom...I'm just not like you...

writing a blog post, writing a blog post...

I'm a player,

not a blogger."

You're welcome for that.

I laughed a lot.

The Mommy Diaries

So here we are on Thursday, the third full day without KJ.  I've had to do the following things myself:

• clean the hair out of the drain in the shower (for some reason, KJ always takes care of this)
• take the trash out to the road
• hand out vitamins and brush kids' teeth at night
• clean poop off the floor

Now we come to it.  That fourth item has been filling my days since KJ left.  James decided to become terrified of doing this in the toilet, though he does try to make it.  He doesn't want to take the time to just sit and wait it out, so he waits until he's in the process of going to run to the bathroom, just in time to kick off his underwear or pull-up and spread poop on the floor, his legs, and the toilet.  (I'm really trying to write this as delicately as possible.)  It's been such fun.

Last night James was HYPED up.  He ran all over the church, snitching sugar cookies off the table before I could catch him, and generally being a whirlwind of activity.  (Let me add that he is snuggling in my lap as I write this.  Thank goodness he's a snuggler, too.)  I finally made the call to get out of there, and the ride home was so, so loud.  Ella and James went back and forth in the loudest voices possible, while I tried to keep the car in my lane and not lose my mind.  The evening hours are hardest without KJ.  By that point, I've been momming it for 12 hours, and my brain can't handle the noise level anymore.  

So, I'm holding it together, "Almost bedtime, almost bedtime, almost bedtime...".  We get home, and James made a run for the toilet, came back in the living room with no underwear, then started freaking out, yelling for me to put his pants back on.  He just needed to go.  I told him no, that he needed to go to the potty.  He didn't want to, but the situation became dire, and he headed that way.  He did, however, leave little presents across the kitchen floor as he went, though.  

Oh, my goodness.  At that point, I felt so frustrated, but then just started laughing hysterically instead.  And being the 21st-century mom that I am, I took a picture with my iPod.  I'm going to refrain from posting it, but if Instagram is about capturing little moments in daily life that used to go undocumented, that moment qualified.  Poop in the floor has been my life this week, and though one part of my mind felt frustrated and crazy, the other part felt the joy and the craziness of this season of motherhood.  So I laughed.  And then we made this video.  This is my life this week.

What's Up

We've been going strong the last several days.  The kids and I took a road-trip to my parents' house over the weekend, and I spent all day Saturday with one of my college roommates photographing a wedding in her husband's stead.  I think the most important wedding guest was her youngest little one, who was celebrating her first birthday.

Joy and I had a really fun day together.  It was a great learning experience (my first wedding!), and I enjoyed getting to use some really nice equipment.  I got to hold on to one of the lenses for the week...I think I know what I want for Christmas.

 The kitchen floor is a good place for portraits, right?

Our busy weekend ended in saying good-bye to KJ for the week.  He's leading a team to Cuba, and I drove he and two girls from our church to the airport yesterday.  They were joined by our brother-in-law, David, and KJ's good friend of years and years and flew out of Miami this morning.  Pray for them as they had to wake up before 3 a.m.

The kids and I celebrated Big Daddy's birthday yesterday afternoon with pizza and cookie cake.  Big Daddy provided his own birthday party entertainment.

Ella and I spent the afternoon doing school, and thanks to a free Redbox rental, made a trip to Walmart and the aforesaid box.  This resulted in a later bedtime than normal, but I think everyone got a pretty good night's sleep regardless.  As a matter of fact, James just woke up.  I have teaching Ella and a million household chores to keep me busy today, so we should make it through Day 1 without too much incident.

Friday's Flashback: Hanham Mount

Our first stop on this Monday morning (starting week two of our trip!) was outside of Bristol at Hanham Mount.  KJ worked really hard before we left trying to find this location where George Whitefield and John Wesley preached open-air sermons to coal-miners.  I think he had heard there was a beacon marking the spot where Whitefield preached his first open-air sermon, but even though it was marked it was hard to find.

It was a cloudy and kind of soggy day as we walked up the path to the little park, a perfect English day.

It was really special to be in this place, where the good news of salvation through Jesus was preached 300 years ago.  I think KJ's heart was very full.

 A Happy Proclaimer of the Gospel

 "Church or no Church, we must attend to the saving of souls."

I mentioned in my post from England this fact, but it still amazes me:  John Wesley traveled the equivalent distance of going to the moon on horseback sharing the gospel.  I also enjoyed the Baptist history this sign contained.

Courtyard of the little park dedicated to the field preachers

 View from the mount

I'm sure it was all green fields when Whitefield stood at this spot.

 John Wesley's famous words

 I think he could feel that way, too.

 Pray for his beautiful feet traveling to Cuba next week.

I'm so proud of him.

 "You are the light of the world..."

I haven't had a chance to look through this yet, but I'm marking it to come back to later.  You can see several mentions of Hanham Mount in these excerpts from John Wesley's journals.