The Chronicles of Dan and Geniene's Separation: Day 1

I saw Dan off this morning. We met the group at the church, gathered their things together, prayed and they were off. I wish I had gotten a picture of the group before they left so that I could post it. I was in the midst of getting Eli's lunch ready so that I could feed him and hit the road, so I couldn't very well go rumaging through the car looking for the camera while the group waited for me. So, I had to forego the group photo. They looked great though. You can actually go the church website (see link below) and see the departure pictures.

I guess they're still flying. I haven't the slightest clue where they would be right now. But if I've got my facts straight, they left Newark at 4:30 and they were flying straight to Tel Aviv - about a ten or eleven hour flight, from what I understand. They should probably be getting in pretty soon.

Eli and I drove to NY to spend some time with Nana and Papa while Daddy is away. It's a perfect opportunity for that and I'm so glad that we could come. I miss Dan, but at least I'm not at home. There were plenty of people offering to get together while he's gone, so I know I would have been kept pretty busy, but honestly, a change of scenery with family is the best way I can keep from thinking of Dan's absence too much. Of course, I'll always be thinking of him. But I can do so without focusing on his absence.

I'm excited for Dan's opportunity to go to Israel. He'll have such a great time. I can't wait for the pictures and the stories. Dan is responsible for the photography and video as well as posting "journal entries" on the church's website daily. So we can see what they are doing and keep us informed on what God is doing over there! I also have a selfish reason why I'm so glad: Dan can check his email daily with his computer access.

Eli has a cold. I hope it doesn't get worse. He senses the disruption of Dan's being away and our change of scenery. The car ride up here didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped. He fell asleep about 10 minutes into the trip and awoke about a half hour later. Then he fussed and cried causing me to stop three times to get him out, change his diaper even when it wasn't that bad, feed him and walk around. Then he fussed and cried some more until the last half hour upon which he finally drifted off to sleep. He was a little stunned to find himself in such a strange land (such is upstate New York to people who are more accustomed to suburban life). He had fun exploring Nana and Papa's house, the dog and cats were of particular interest to him and he finally warmed up to the change. He is currently sleeping soundly and will continue doing so, I hope and pray, until at least 7:00 tomorrow morning. I also hope that this cold of his would go away.

To see pictures of Dan's group and read about their experiences, click here.

And...We're Off...

My, how time flies! We have scarcely caught our breath after a week (or more) of constant going. Dan has been so busy with work that we barely had time to talk about anything else. With Tuesday coming before we knew it, and with it our departure as Dan flies to Israel for 11 days, I was beginning to think that we weren't going to have any down time together before he leaves. God, once again, proved Himself faithful to the small, but important things to us, and granted at the last minute, Monday off (as per the president of his organization, thank you, Kim!). We all but cleared our weekend schedule and instead spent our time together getting the things he will need on his trip and running some errands - like getting our will completed.

So here we are, packed and just about ready to go. Of course, I wanted to go to bed early but like that was going to happen. Tomorrow morning, we meet the group at the church at 10:30. They will leave about 11 to drive to Newark to fly to Tel Aviv. I will drive straight to Amsterdam, New York to spend an enjoyable week plus with my wonderful parents. I'm very excited to have the extended time with them as they are very excited to spend the time with their grandson.

Pray for safety and wisdom. Pray for the Spirit to lead Dan and the others as they reach out to the people there.

Shalom!

Dinner at Maremy's

On Monday, we went over to Maremy's for dinner. We had a good time. And of course, Eli loved the attention from Aunt Mary and Uncle Jeremy. You can definitely tell Mary is pregnant now. No doubt about it. Very exciting.

Say 'Cheese'!

Taking pictures of Eli, lately, has been so funny cuz he makes this face - see pictures. It's something like a smile, but he scrinches up his nose and bares his teeth. It's so funny. It's like he knows what the camera is for and poses for it. Then he wants to see the pictures on the LED display! Craziness. I've created a monster....


The picture above may look like he's fussy or discontented. But I assure you, he's not. He's posing for the camera. When I had the camera aimed at him, he stopped what he was doing, posed for it, then immediately climbed up on my lap to watch the pictures display. When he saw himself, he giggled.

The Wegman's Experience

Dan, Eli, and I went with Steve and Christie Bowles to Wegman's Grand Opening yesterday. It was the experience of a lifetime. The prices really are quite comparable. (Beech Nut baby food is cheaper than Target and Giant! Unfortunately, they didn't have Del Monte which is cheaper yet.) And now with such a grandiose superstore, the other nearby markets are improving their stores to remain in equal competition, not to be outdone by the bigger and greater things that Wegman's has to offer. But I must say, Wegman's has everything and with the costomer card (FREE), the prices are very good. It was like a mall, complete with a bakery, cafe, smorgasbord, and aisles and aisles of food, processed and organic. Whatever you need: Wegman's has it. I'm considering going again this week just for the fun of it. It's quite the atmosphere, too. They had white twinkling lights along the ceiling and in one section, they had a toy train rolling along its tracks.

Dan brought the camera. It wasn't until we were in the checkout line that someone came up to us and told us we weren't allow to take pictures inside. We wished we had gotten that on film. When we got home, Dan and Steve made dinner (pork loin with baked apples and onions and fried asparagas with mushrooms) while Christie and I took care of feeing Elias and putting him to bed. While we cleaned up, Dan and Steve put this movie together.

Climbing Apple Trees

A lot of the lower apples had been picked by other apple-lovers, so Dan had to climb a few trees to get the ones at the top. Partly, I think, he just enjoyed the boyish experience of climbing the trees. It was fun to take some pictures of him doing it too. In a way, climbing the trees made the day complete.

A Day in the Orchard

Today was a gorgeous day, so we took advantage of the free afternoon and went to a nearby apple orchard. Everything was so beautiful. The sun was shining brightly through the branches and everyone around us was having a great time. Eli seemed to enjoy himself and the apples. We let him chew on an apple that Dan started for him. I would occasionally rub it against his teeth so some of the apple would peel off in his mouth and he could chew on it for a little bit. Once we put him down on the ground, though, he seemed to be more fascinated by the grass than the apples.

Bath Time

Doylestown Fall Festival

A few weekends ago, we went to the Doylestown Fall Festival. The weather was so great and we just love Doylestown. We ended up going both Saturday and Sunday. Eli really enjoyed it too. Especially the animals he got to meet while we were out.

Good Times with Nonie and Pop Pop

Nonie and Pop Pop Simrak came over the other day and Pop Pop took some of his finest pictures of Eli. Though it was past his bedtime, Eli was in excellent spirits. He giggled and laughed and had a great time with Nonie.

New Things

"Good things come to those who wait." Well, we've been blessed after waiting for many long months for many things (like our sofabed that we just got 10 days ago), but I must say that although we gave our PC laptop a good run for its money, we ended up getting a new computer last night. It got to the point where we could barely do anything on the Dell, as you read in my last post which took me FOREVER to post. So until we get all our pictures transferred to this computer, I don't have any exciting pictures. But hopefully we will do that soon.

If I did have a picture to post, it would be a close-up of Elias' shiny new upper-front tooth coming in. I noticed several days ago that he was making a weird noise with his teeth. Upon closer examination, I realized that he was grinding his bottom teeth against his upper tooth (maybe teeth?). I tell you what, if you've never heard someone grind their teeth before, it's quite possibly worse than fingernails on a blackboard, or teeth against a fork (one of Dan's personal pet pieves, next to someone chewing loudly). I really hope this teeth grinding doesn't last long. It's grinding on my last nerve!

Another new "trick" that Eli has learned is to pull himself up to a standing position. If I haven't announced his crawling yet, sorry. He's been crawling for about 4-5 weeks now. He is now finding EVERYTHING that he shouldn't and putting everything in his mouth. I like to keep a box of Cheerios on hand because we can all enjoy them. (Cheerios is one brand name that you can't go cheap on. Cereal isn't cheap. But most kinds, you can find an off-brand and it will taste pretty close to the big expensive name-brands. But not Cheerios. I haven't found any other off-brand that tastes as good as Cheerios.) Eli is pulling himself up on everything and everybody that he can get his little hands on. He's doing quite well. I'm really impressed. I'm a little concerned that he might start walking much earlier than I would like. We'll have to change our tiny little condo around to make it more toddler-friendly.