China

Well, I've been a little absent & I apologize. I have good excuses. One of them being that the husband has been in CHINA. That's right. And if you're not up on your world weather - let me give you an update. They were hit with the worst weather they have seen in 50+ years. So they flew 24 hours to sit in an airport - that is not heated. They needed to fly to another airport to get to a car that would take them where they needed to be. But airports & interstates were being closed. I'm not sure how long they sat in the airport but they eventually were rerouted & picked up by some saintly man who drove them in icy, cold conditions to their final destination. Whew. He was there. But then the question of "when will you be home?" became a factor. I got an answer that they may be in China "indefinitely" that Monday. The kids were both sick in some respect. The boy is cutting teeth which then developed into a nasty cold. The girl was just sick that her daddy had to be found on a globe each morning. One morning she woke me up climbing the stairs with the globe in her arms. One evening she fell out of her chair at dinner, burst into tears & cried, "I want Daddy to come back from China & fix it!"

"Me too, pumpkin"

We shared a good cry in that moment.

Many people asked me how I was making it, caring for 2 kids with Lee gone for so long & I have to say 1st - my mother in law is amazing. 2nd - we were fine - I mean, not much laundry was done & we ate out a lot, but we just missed Daddy. He brings a peace & security to this home that is definitely missed when he's not here.

He made it home. We greeted him at the airport just a day later than he was supposed to come home. And what a blessing because apparently some bad weather hit China right after that. Seems that they found a window & got out. We are so glad to have him home. Jet-lagged, whatever...we'll take him.

And to my friend Kristin who is trying to figure out how to wake up early - go to China. Lee has been up at 5 every morning since he came home :). As for how to have your time by yourself.....I think staying in China might be the only answer to that one.