wayfaringwordhack | Entries tagged with blessings

We will fly out Monday in the afternoon, at a later time-slot than normal, which will give us only a 2hr layover instead of almost 5. Huzzah! And our lovely neighbors are coming with two cars to take us home, keeping me from having to arrange a taxi-van. I am so grateful to them, especially since we live an hour away from the airport and arrive at 10:30 p.m.

Another wonderful thing is that we were able to change the departure date for our pre-paid tickets in December, so this flight isn't costing us anything. A true blessing given the unplanned escapade to Cyprus and all the expenses thus incurred!

So, J and I decided the kids and I will go back to France until Christmas at least and give the world a chance to calm down. My flight back to Lebanon from Cyprus was bumped up a day, so we are returning tonight. J will book us flights some time between Saturday and next Tuesday back home, where our super kind neighbors have offered to pick us up at the airport, even though we live an hour away and arrive at 10:30p.m. I feel great peace at our decision that is pro-active and has many upsides.

It is such a blessing that:

- we kept our home in France;
- we home-educate our kids (this is a HUGE decision factor of stay-or-go for other families);
- that this is a great season for me to be back working in the garden, planting/moving trees and such;
- we will spend autumn in the house and can heat it, which will be verrrrrry good for it. Houses don't like to be empty;
- we don't have to live in constant fear of having to be forced to flee.

The downside is that J must remain in Beirut for work. We have obviously gone months apart before but never in such circumstances. I sincerely don't think anything will happen to him, but it will be wearing on us just the same.

For a while, we weren't having significant electricity cuts any more (just the one at night between 2:30-5:30 a.m.), but for the past couple of days, we are having sporadic, totally unpredictable cuts. Sometimes we have not micro-cuts but micro-restorations: the power flashing on for mere seconds before going off minutes, and then seconds of it on again before losing it for a lot longer. And now the Internet provider is also having technical problems (I am paired with my phone's mobile data to make this post). Because this has happened before, I am not sure it is tied to the earthquake, but it could be...

It is colder these days, so I would like to be able to turn on the heat. Alas, although we have a gas furnace, it needs elec to run.

BUT! We have a home with standing walls, a roof and unbroken windows; we have warm clothes to pile on; and we have a gas stove to cook and heat water on. We have more blessings than we can count.

Current Mood: grateful

Neither J nor I have ever been big News Year's Eve celebrators, so it is rare that we do anything special. On NYE, J was in bed by 22h00, but the kids were still awake and excited. We went up to their room and read lots of stories, and Ti'Loup longingly expressed a wish to set off fireworks (prompted by Bobby's 5th birthday with his Grandpa Bob in the book Now One Foot, Now the Other by Tomie dePaola).

"We have sparklers," I said. "This is a special occasion; let's use them."*

Which, as you can imagine, was met with great enthusiasm. Except by J, who did not want to get out of bed to come sparkle in the New Year with us. :P The kids danced in the snow in front of the house with their sparklers, then we went to the cross that is set up at the entrance to our hamlet and said a prayer for the New Year. We are blessed to be alive, to be together, to be healthy, to have shelter, to have grace:

( More Family Fun and Traditions under the cut )
____________

* I have never found sparklers for sale in France (OK, I haven't looked super hard), so I have hoarded these from Egypt.

** A silver lining to losing old friends is that, by moving along, we have made new friends

*** For those who don't know, Farmer Boy was born with a squint. He had surgery a couple of years ago, but he still needs to wear a patch 3hrs/day on his right eye to make the left one work more.

Thanks, everyone, for the nice thoughts and advice in response to my last post.

We saw the dr on Thursday--no Thanksgiving in France*--and while Soëlie still hasn't gained enough weight to suit him, he was happy with her state of health. She is active and alert despite her small size, so he is giving us 10 more days for her growth spurt to kick in before we'll start talking supplementing her feeds with formula.

So, this year, I'm thankful to have a healthy baby girl, a wonderfu,l loving husband who keeps me from full-blown panic, and a supportive, caring group of friends. ::hugs all around::

_________________
* J and I had a mini-Thanksgiving meal but with lots of thankfulness. And there was snow. Second time this year. Today it is snowing again...and sticking!!!! Stick! Stick! Stick! :D

Hallelujah.

Our landlady called today to tell us that our downstairs neighbor Mr. Heavy-Smoker Loves-His-Music-LOUD is leaving in two weeks, tops.

And there was a shout of joy in the Faure household!

So, the Very Nice Lady is taking the house; the landlord is cool with it; and all is happiness in the Faure household.

Especially since my wonderful wubs is whisking me away for four days to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary.

See ya next week. :D

Current Mood: ecstatic
Current Music: Boubacar Traoré - Samba

I'm pretty sure I mentioned how happy we are to be in our new house--I did mention The HAPPY, right? :P --, but I didn't list the reasons why. They are myriad. Good thing you pulled up a chair.

( Those pictures I mentioned )

I could probably go on a bit more, but I guess that's enough squeeing for now.

At 3:30am I woke my deep-sleeping husband with my infernal coughing. He in turn woke me up to ask if I would like a cup of hot, honeyed tea to soothe my throat. This is the same man who, when I woke up yesterday, came to sit on the floor by the bed to tell me how much he loved me and how wonderful it was to have me in his life.

What a sweetheart that Seaheart of mine.

I believe in recognizing one's good fortunes and being thankful for the tangibles as well as the intangibles in my life. J and I give thanks for these riches everyday, but sometimes I think you need to say it out loud to a larger public. Don't worry; I'm not going to give you a list of my blessings, but I do want to give thanks for one in particular today: Friends and their friendship.

For a couple of months now, I've had a situation weighing on my mind, a complication in the States that was fraught with a variety of dangers (envisage possible financial ruin and broken trust and you've about got it). I finally had a way out of the situation, but because of being overseas, the whole thing was going to take me at least a month more to resolve. And then I talked to rabiagale, and like the sweetheart she is, she offered to place a phone call for me (one I couldn't make from abroad) and passed along personal information that I wouldn't trust just anyone with. And ta-dum! The whole mess is on its way to being resolved, all because of the generosity of someone who might could be classified as a stranger, since we've never met, but whom I call a friend.

Thanks so much, Rabia!

rabiagale is wonderful. She is a thoughtful, caring, giving person whom I am both grateful and lucky to know. She took pity on my bookless state and sent me not one but EIGHT! tomes all the way from the US of A, along with two big bottles of contact solution (there's 60 bucks saved right there and I kid you not). This makes me dance for joy. BooksBooksBooks!!!! Hugs all around.

Thanks,

rabiagale

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: bed

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The Wayfaring Wordhack

Valises in Lebanon

Entries tagged with blessings

Got the tickets

Peace

Trying to get used to this again

A New Year's Beginnings

Thank you

And all the angels sang

Ready to roll

Less of a glimpse, more of an ogle

What a wonderful man I married

Blessed

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April 2026

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