The Big Day

My brother is a married man!

The wedding was absolutely lovely. The location, the ceremony, the bride (of course), the emotion, the food, my family...it was a beautiful day and I am SO happy that I was able to be here and to be a part of it. Of course I still wish that my husband and children could have been here with me and it was so hard to be apart, but I am still glad that I came. I would not have missed it for the world.

Much love to you Ephraim and Faith and we pray many blessings over your marriage. You are two beautiful people, inside and out!

Now it is most definitely your turn to come to the States.

It rained the day before and after the wedding, but the day itself was gorgeous. Here is Wesley, the next brother down, best man, delivering flowers to the bridesmaids.


Ian, youngest brother, groomsman/usher assisting with flower delivery.


It was a beautiful candlelit ceremony.


Me and my sister, Caridad - we both read poems at the service.


My Dad and Pam.


Of course, the bride and groom.

To Do List

When in England...

Eat fish and chips - done!
Delicious! They might not look like much, but they were wonderful (and that was only one quarter of the chips)

Drink Lucozade - done!
So good.

Buy chocolate - working on it.

For my kids

Dear Arran and Bryttain (and Asia if you're interested)

Today I went out with Aunty Caridad and we rode on the red double decker buses!!!

We sat at the very front, just as you would have loved to do and I remembered when we were all here last time and how excited you were.

I wish you were here with me, but I know you are having fun with daddy.

I love you all and miss you so much, but will see you soon.

Lots of love,

Mommy

How the other half live

I did not make it onto my listed flight at JFK. I waited two hours, only to find out the flight was totally full and being only stand-by, there was no room for little old me. I had to wait another two hours and they announced again that it was a 'Very full flight' several times. I felt so dejected, not only was the flight full but I was listed number nine for the stand-by list. I called James, almost in tears and told him that I probably was not going to get on that flight either.
Moments later they called my name. The lady behind the desk looked a little confused as I handed her my passport and looked at the guy who had called my name and he told her

'It's ok, you can give her a seat'

Then she handed me my ticket. Please note what I circled in red!

I had been upgraded to first class. I took my seat and sat there a little shell-shocked, feeling like an imposter. I mean, I knew it could be a possibility as I was traveling on an employee pass and she had listed me for an upgrade, I just had not really expected it to happen.

Now of course it would be a little tacky to take out one's fat old Nikon whilst in first-class, just to document the experience on one's blog. So you will have to excuse the quality of the next few photos, which I took sneakily with my camera phone :)

Here is my view. It may not look like much, but my feet are up, stretched out and
covered with a comforter. I was so comfortable, it was fantastic.

When it came time to eat, there were no plastic trays and cups. I was handed a menu from which to choose my fare. It was actually pretty hard to decide what to have, they all sounded wonderful and not at all like plane food.

I started with marinated cheese, followed by warmed breads with olive oil for dipping.

They then brought round the cart and made up these delightful plates of smoked salmon, shrimp, sour cream, capers, (red onion, which I of course declined), lemon and little toast slices. Then another cart from which they made a lovely salad, to my specifications, it was all quite ridiculous really.

For my main course I had a beef fillet, in a sweet chili demi-glace, blue cheese potatoes and carrots. It was cooked to perfection, which truly amazed me, being that we were on a plane. The meal was rounded out with an ice-cream sundae. I opted out of the whipped cream, but still, after all the other food, barely managed two bites before giving up. I was stuffed!

I relished every moment and felt so grateful and blessed to have this extraordinary experience. This is not the life I live.

I then reclined my seat FULLY into a bed, took a sleeping aid and actually fell asleep for about three hours. It really was amazing and the sleep was whtat I needed most of all at that point.

My little goody bag, complete with Burts Bees products.

Monday June 29th, 6:15pm

My Monday started far too early! The alarm went off at 3:30am, and I did manage to get in, maybe a couple of hours sleep, at least I was in bed by 11:30pm with the light out…unfortunately turning off my brain was not quite so easy. I remembered more last minute things that I needed to pack, I remembered that I had forgotten to make a pillowcase for my travel pillow and I hate having my hair get all static due to the artificial fibers that make these travel pillows and blankets so lovely and soft! I kept thinking about the fact that I would be unable to say a proper goodbye to my babies. Poor Arran, as I said goodnight and goodbye to him had already started crying because he was already starting to miss me. It is so hard.

My wonderful husband, who I had wanted to stay in bed so that he would not fully wake up, got up anyway to carry my luggage out and start the van and kiss me goodbye. I kissed Arran and Bryttain’s sleeping foreheads and wished I could go in and do the same for Asia, but I can’t reach over the crib bars and I did not want to risk waking her, plus I knew that that would send me plunging over my emotional precipice.

My amazing, crazy friend Alice, for some insane reason offered to drive me to the airport, so once I arrived at her house and transferred my luggage, we were off. She even provided me with a mug of hot tea and good conversation and encouragement for the drive. I am so blessed.

We arrived at the airport and I made it onto my 7:30am flight. I was on the last row, but I was on, the journey had begun in earnest. I sit now at JFK typing away. After a couple of hours wait, I did not get on the 6:10pm flight and am now on the stand-by list for the next flight, a couple of hours on. I feel tired and lonely but I am on my way and hopefully things will improve from here.