A week without Dad

Monday - Rachel making Marrow Bread and letting
Hezekiah help (which he was thrilled with). We put a
couple of loaves in the freezer so that Dad can enjoy
them when he gets back.

I had a look through my facebook for comments I made through this week and thought I would include them here. This is what I wrote on Sunday night (5 May): Brendon leaves home tomorrow morning at 3:30am (flight at 7am) so it was goodbye to the children at bed time tonight. Rachel got quite emotional but controlled herself really well for the sake of her younger siblings. She also wrote him a lovely card.
I do pray that the Lord would help each one of them (and me) to not miss him too much, but that the time will go really quickly till we see him again next Sunday morning.
Hannah almost started crying after our prayer time as prayer for the week ahead was made by a few of us. We reassured Hannah that she would be able to chat to Dad on Skype. We will have to see how Hezekiah does with that though. I don't know if he will understand seeing Dad on the screen and not being able to be with him. Will have see how the first Skype chat goes with him and take it from there.

We had been given these HUGE mushrooms on Sunday
and finally got to fry some of them up on Tuesday as
a part of our 3 course meal. I should have had a hand in
the photo to show the size. That's my breadboard
that they are almost filling.

My comment on Monday morning (6 May): The only problem with being awake since 2:30 is that by 4am you are SO hungry....
I did try and get back to sleep after Brendon left but realized it was no use.  I didn't get much sleep before 2:30 either - so I will try get a nap with Asher at some point today.I didn't end up getting that nap but slept really well on Monday night. :-)
It had been a very stormy night on Sunday night and was still very wet and windy when Brendon left. I was very relieved to get a text message from him letting me know he had arrived at the airport safely. I was also very thankful to the friend who had offered to take him to the airport at such an early hour.
Unfortunately the children did not have a wonderful night either with all the strong wind and rain. So I think we had a very good day considering everyone was a bit short of sleep.

On Wednesday Sarah brought this tiny puppy for
the children to cuddle. What a treat.

Another comment from later that day with the link to a great site that allowed us to actually watch Dad's plane's journey to SA: The girls enjoy checking "where Dad is" every now and again.
He has now done 4 1/2 hours of this flight with 8 1/2 still to go.
At dinner we were chatting about the food on the plane and what we remembered from our trip last year. Hezekiah was very confused when I sat down in Dad's chair for dinner. The girls told him "Dad is in the sky" to which I added "in an aeroplane". :-) So he said "Dad, sky" for a while.

After a little while it started trying
to climb into Rachel's fur cuffs.
I think it wanted it's mum.

I must also add that he was rather upset about me sitting in Dad's seat for dinner. He seems to be happy with me being there at lunch time as he is used to that.
Once the older children where in bed I wrote: There are 4 of 5 in their beds, and the busy mama said, that's 1, just 5 to go.
And this too: I must just comment though that I have two dear friends who have 6 children each and they have many many days of doing it all on their own. So I don't feel like my week is all that much of a challenge. Just an eye opener as to what they have to deal with so often.
On Tuesday morning: I am thankful Rachel and I could have a quick chat with Brendon now. The others are all asleep still so will have to wait until this evening.
It was lovely for everyone to get to chat to Dad in the evening. It really will make the week a lot easier.

My comment on Wednesday morning (Tuesday night in SA): Please pray for Brendon as he sleeps now - that the Lord would give him a good rest and help his body to fight the cold that he picked up on the plane.
The memorial service for his Dad is Wednesday 10am.
Please pray for the Lord to give Brendon the perfect words to say.Brendon's mother said Brendon did a really good job as sort of the MC for the service. He also got to have some great chats about the gospel with family and friends that afternoon.
Thankfully the cold did not last too long either. He unfortunately put his back out on the flight over but saw an excellent chiropractor on Wednesday afternoon who gave him much needed relief.
Wednesday evening: 3 days done, 3 days to go.
Hezekiah was quite upset at dinner tonight. I am sure he felt like I was eating his Dad's food. Eventually I think I was able to convince him that although I was sitting in Dad's chair - it was MY food.
He was THRILLED to talk to Dad on Skype again this evening. The chat yesterday was a great success and it was so funny to see him point to Nana and then Dad and keep saying their names with a big smile on his face.
He joins Hannah in giving the computer a hug (and an attempted kiss) when we say goodbye.
I am so thankful for technology and how it's helping us all through this week.

Thursday morning: Please pray for wisdom for the doctor. I have an appointment at 11.
The abscess had almost gone on Tuesday (day 5) and so I decided to do the extra 2 days of Antibiotics to make sure it was completely clear. Yesterday the lump started getting bigger though (and it was a little painful through the night).And: Having to head into town this afternoon for a scan to find out what is going on.
Thankful to ladies who have made last minute plans to help watch the children for me.And in the evening: Home and thankful I don't have an abscess - so no surgery needed.
The doc that did the scan suggested possibly an IV antibiotic to try and clear the infection - will see my local doc tomorrow to discuss it.The last thing I wanted this week was to have to head into town with a breastfeeding baby and possibly needing an abscess drained. The Lord was so faithful though and what I am sure was an abscess on the weekend (the lump was about the size of a golfball and definately not just a blocked duct) had cleared really quickly with the antibiotics.

At the airport on Sunday morning. Even though this
restaurant was closed - they allowed us to sit at the
window for a bit to watch some of the planes.

Some infection must have still remained though and so it was "rather safe than sorry" to get it properly checked out. As the day went it was getting more and more painful too - so it was good to get the peace of mind that it was nothing more serious.
Friday morning:I am so thankful for people's kindness.
The doctor saw me during his morning tea time (so that I could see him in the morning and still get my after lunch nap with the little ones).
A friend popped over to watch the children while I went to the doc (it was only 7 degrees outside - so nice that they could all just stay home).
The same friend is going to pick up my next lot of antibiotics this afternoon (saving me a trip out).

We were hoping to see Brendon's plane land but it was
on a different runway. It was still fun for the children
to watch a few of them take off and land though.

Another friend dropped a meal off yesterday so I don't even need to worry about dinner tonight.

Thank you Lord for their kindness to me. Please would you bless them for being a blessing to me.
And thank you too for all those who are praying for me. Hopefully this next set of antibiotics manage to clear the infection completely.The next set of antibiotics where much easier to take too. Only 3 a day rather than 4 and I did not need to have 3 hours of no food. I think the infection had started coming back as I was just starting to get really run down. I had to have no food 2 hours before and 1 hour after the first set of antibiotics - and that 4 times a day.

All so very happy to see Dad.

So I was not eating as well as I should have been and I think it was eventually just catching up on me.
What a crazy end to the week. Not at all what I had planned but I am so thankful for God's goodness and faithfulness through it all. And as I think of how God can use even sickness "for our good" I see how I was blessed by the kindness of so many people around me. I learnt a bit more about God's love and faithfulness and how we really can trust Him - one day at a time. He will supply all that we need.
We had a nice lazy start to our Saturday and I was pleased to get letters in the post about our NZ Citizenship applications. This is what I wrote on fb about it: The Minister of Internal Affairs has been authorised to grant our NZ citizenship. 

Now to wait for the public ceremony for it all to be official.
"It may be some time before your ceremony is held, depending on the number of candidates in your area." So it could be a while. 

Time for Dad to hand out presents from Nana
and Aunty Joan.

Early Sunday morning: So nice to have contact with Brendon. He only got 2 hours sleep since leaving SA!!!!!
And the reason he only managed to get 2 hours on this last leg was because he was helping a mother with her 3 month old baby the rest of the time.
He is such an amazing man. But today is going to be a VERY long day for him.I worked it out afterwards. His "day" was about 53 hours long - with just the 2 hours of sleep on the flight from Oz. And back to work on Monday morning too. I think it's going to be a bit of a tough week for him.

Brendon landed at 10:20am, we got a bit of shopping done and then had lovely subway sandwiches for lunch. It was such a beautiful day that we sat outside and even had to find shade as it would have been too hot in the sun. It was lovely to have some "catching up" time and just to be together again as a family.
My comment later: 5pm and we have enjoyed a lovely time outside (keeping Brendon awake). Thank you Lord for such a lovely day.
It really was lovely. We spent time just walking around the garden watching the children play. The fresh air was so good for all of us and helped the afternoon pass a bit quicker for Brendon. He always makes sure he gets back into the right time zone quickly and won't take naps.

Hezekiah showed us how he has learnt to climb up the slide. We spent ages standing here watching him while we chatted.

The girls also wanted to show him another game they came up with this week. They swing Hezekiah really high and then run around the tree - trying to avoid getting hit by the swing. Not the best thing to be doing as I try and teach Hezekiah to stay away from swings so that he does not get hit. But it was loads of fun for them and apparently when they did get hit they took the tumble and laughed about it. :-)
So it's been an eventful week. We are all very thankful to have Brendon back safely but are also very glad he got to spend the time in SA with his family.