Denial? Send me all the good juju!

Two days from now I'll be on a flight to Houston. After four hours in the airport, I'll board another flight to Newark and then three hours later, another to arrive in Tel Aviv, Israel at 4:30 the following afternoon.

Twenty-five hours of travel. 

Nothing about this seems real.

I've wanted to visit the Holy Land for as long as I can remember. I want to nerd out on scripture (my passion!), sink deeply into my study of Old Testament prophecies and New Testament ministries of Jesus. Intellectually, I can't wait! Emotionally, I'm anxious and tired. I scheduled this trip for May, 2024 but couldn't go because of the war. I rescheduled for this year, and now that the departure day is near, I'm so exhausted that it's hard to muster any excitement. Most of the time I forget it's happening. 

Denial?

It's tricky for me to find windows of time to travel for longer than a few days. I'm tied to the academic calendar, because I teach at two or three schools fall, spring, and summer semesters. Part of the problem this time around is that I'm right in the throes of wrapping up the semester at both SLCC and U. of Utah. Classes end Thursday, and I leave at 7:00 Friday morning. Then I'll have final writing projects from students in all eight classes (around 130 total) pouring in, along with a few smaller assignments, all of which must be graded so that my final grades are submitted on time. "On time" means before I even leave to fly home from Jordan, my second destination. In addition, one of my summer classes (online) begins three days before I return, so I also need to get that up and running.

It's not ideal. 

My stress over mounds of school work while prepping for an international trip of this magnitude has kept me up too many nights. I sleep four or five hours, then wake with crippling anxiety about all the things I need to do (and some make-believe things I don't need to do). Sometimes, I get up and grade papers. Other times, I lie in bed awake until 6:00 a.m., a respectable time to get up, then go downstairs to work out. Occasionally, I actually fall back to sleep; those are the glory days, and I credit God every single time they happen!

I'm also super anxious about leaving my family for 13 days. When I tell people this, they look at me like I'm bananas. I guess that's because my youngest kid is 24, so people think I don't need to worry about my family. Wrong! I will be on the other side of the world. What if one of them needs me? They often do. Also, they are my primary support network. What if I need them? 

Well this is going downhill fast, so I'll stop writing and return to grading. Thanks for listening! Send me all the prayers, good juju, positive vibes that you have. Look for trip updates on socials through the next couple of weeks, and blog posts after I'm back. 

Take care, everyone! Eeeeeeeeek!

Birthday wishes granted!

You have only to glance around my house for five seconds to find something beautiful that Amanda created. Or something she installed or repaired or assembled. From the floating shelves in my living room to the three TVs (one on each level of my house) to my treadmill in the basement, Amanda has basically set up my entire house. I should point out that some of these tasks required more than one set of hands, and she's had fabulous help from Eli or Shulamith or both! But she is the brain behind the projects always.

Last October, as my birthday approached, she asked if instead of a traditional present, I would like her to set aside a day to come over and do all my home projects that have piled up.

Uh, yes!

I began my "birthday wishes" list immediately. The chaos of life left us struggling to schedule this day for nearly six months, but that just gave me more time to grow my list of projects. We finally made it happen this past Saturday. Eli works Saturdays, so Shulamith and I took Jane out shopping, giving Amanda uninterrupted time at my house. The results were amazing. She completed every item on my list in record time. Let me just tell you all the stuff she did:

1. Put WD-40 on my garage door opener, so it no longer sounds like someone is dying a slow and painful death every time it cycles.

2. Replaced the battery in my garage door remote, so I can once again open my garage door from my car. (I know what you're thinking: "Can't she even replace a simple battery?" No, I can't. Not this one anyway. If you'd like to know more about my woefully limited skillset, read this.)

3. Painted the red scuffs on the garage rim, from a mishap with a red car backing out.

4. Touched up the navy blue paint scratches on all my kitchen cabinets. If you want to see how beautiful they look, check out the photo above.

5. Added two bags of salt to my water softener. Yes, I can do this myself, and I have, but I really don't like to.

6. Touched up interior paint on scrapes and scratches on walls and baseboards throughout all three levels of the house.

7. Tightened all loose doorknobs.

8. Set up my beautiful, new smart monitor that Gerald gave me for Christmas.

9. Tightened screws on my workout bench so it doesn't wobble.

10. Hung picture in basement. (I'm trying to get my basement to be more homey and inviting, and this was a great start.)

11. Attached my new(ish) Smart Number bed to my old headboard. This was a complicated process, which I don't even understand, but it's done, so hooray!

Everywhere I look, there is something she did, and it all makes me very happy. Everyone should have an Amanda in their life, but you'll have to find your own. This one is mine.