"That" Family

I'm not even going to mention the fact that it's been over 4 months since I last blogged or make any reference to my complete lack of consistency... oops! So I'm horrible at blogging! I admit it. No excuses. And moving on…

Last Tuesday we celebrated Jeremiah's 1 year birthday. Well "celebrate" is somewhat relative. Not that we didn't want to do something special, mind you. But keep in mind that we recently moved, that we sill don't have many friends and even fewer friends with young children and our limited time to plan a big hoopla. And yes, we did feel a bit shameful initially that we hadn’t planned something extravagant until we realized… Jeremiah doesn’t have a clue! Good or bad, birthday parties at this age are mostly for the parents. We’re simply taking advantage of the few years we have of blissful ignorance when the kids don’t expect a pile of gifts and a major shindig. Now, this is not say that we didn’t do anything at all . . . We asked another family to join us in inaugurating the newly opened Chili’s. It seemed harmless enough, but on that special night we became “that” family.

You know what I’m talking about – “that” family. The one with the rambunctious, undisciplined kids. The one that makes you shutter in fear that they may be seated in the booth next to you and shatter your quaint evening out. The one that (before having kids at least) I would look upon with disdain for subjecting innocent bystanders to a public nuisance. (Strangely, they’re the families that I now offer that sympathetic smile of “been there, cleaned up that”). The one that you wonder if the parents have suffered some sort of hearing loss to be able to continue their meal, non-pulsed, in the midst of the chaos. Yes, Tuesday night we were “that” family.

Natalie was wound up at having a friend to play with and Jeremiah, who’s current preferred form of communication is screaming (oh… the screaming!), was exhausted… it was a stellar night for all! I have, however, discovered 2 benefits to being “that” family.

1. 1. As Tim and I are usually fully occupied with either convincing Natalie to eat anything at all or making sure Jeremiah continually has a fist full of food to shove in his mouth, we don’t general get to eat much of our own meals. How’s this a benefit you ask? Thanks to leftovers, lunch is taken care of for the next 2 days (and usually in a much more relaxed environment)!

2. 2. The waitress – for some reason – is exceptionally fast in bringing the check. Hmmm.

But I guess it’s only proper that we celebrated Jeremiah’s anniversary in this world with some of the same pains and tears we experienced one year ago – minus the epidural (I could have used that the other night!). But with the “labor” comes the same overwhelming joy, love and assurance that despite the chaotic days, sleepless nights, hectic schedules and torturous meal times, we wouldn’t trade it for all the quiet in the world.

Well, for those of you who have been waiting for this update (ie, Mom and Dad), sorry for the delay. Many of you have been keeping up with Tim’s (more reliable and self-disciplined) blog and know that our work situation has recently changed. I’m currently working full-time for Focus on the Family Singapore and Tim is freelancing from home while speaking and doing workshops for Focus. Though it’s still not a perfect fit for us, we’re making it work and we’re doing well.

We sincerely thank you for your prayers and encouragement. Our adjustment here has been a bit more challenging than we anticipated but we know that we couldn’t have done it without the prayers of the Saints. It’s taken longer than we expected but we're just starting to make friends which is exciting – I’ll update more in a future post (in 6 months :) ) along with some new photo’s by Natalie – our new family photographer!

Oh, and if you happen to get seated next to "that" family the next time you're out to dinner - give them a little extra grace for us. They need it!

Blessings to you all and until next time…