1. We have never been so thankful for our apartment building as we have this past week ... a week that has literally drowned us in rain, everyday, all day. Coinciding, as it has, with Finn's growing skills in walking and thus Finn's growing desire to walk further than the few steps it takes to cross our living room, we have been visiting our building's indoor playroom multiple times a day. We take his walker with us, and between the walk from our door to the elevator, and then down in the lobby (mirrors! shiny things! doormen!), and then laps around the playroom, he gets quite a workout. I have also resorted to using the stairwell when he really needs a change of scenery. We'll get off on the 10th or 11th floor, and then he starts climbing. He's panting by the time we reach the 18th floor, but he gets upset when I make him turn off into our hallway. (This is, incidentally, how I got to enjoy our church's long Good Friday service. We sat in the back, near the balcony stairs. He climbed those stairs at least 15 times and was thus both quiet and happy.)
2. Last week we got Finn his own little table and chairs, and he's quite taken with it. We still eat meals at the big table, but snacks, coloring (with new crayon rocks!) and other little games take place on his table.
3. Just because I haven't mentioned new restaurant discoveries doesn't mean there haven't been any. A couple of note: Hansung, Co., on Kimberly Street in Kowloon. This is Korean diner home-cooking, in a stylin' but simple atmosphere. And even though we'd never had it before, our noodles with pork and kimchi tasted like comfort food.
Also, Initial, a coffeeshop in a designer-clothes store, also in Kowloon. Beautiful design, if a bit contrived (old, barn-wood floors, white-washed walls, eclectic furniture with lots of peeling paint, etc. Totally believable and appropriate in Vermont, but this is Hong Kong. And those clothes cost a LOT of money.) But--here is the latte I ordered, and while I'm not normally one for cutesy garnishes, this made me smile.
4. Sunday's prayer of confession at church was convicting and comforting all at once, in light of my little elevator-rage last week. (Which is, I suppose, what church should offer: both the diagnosis and the cure.)
"Forgive us, most gracious God, for what we have done to bring pain to those we love, to those who need us to reflect the love of your Son into their lives. We repent of our hard and unkind words, our careless and thoughtless deeds, our lack of compassion and reluctance to put the needs of others before our own wants and desires. We confess our sins and need for you. In the forgiveness of your cross, grant us your Spirit as we worship you this day. Amen."
5. And lastly, I've updated our flickr page with new photos from May and new videos from December and January. (Yes, I'm that far behind. We're working on it, though. Thursday is a public holiday, so we've got big plans to video Finn in this particular stage of learning to walk. Everyday he's a little less like a drunken sailor. I'll try to post it before he runs his first marathon.)
That's all! Hope you folks back home are enjoying your three-day weekend.
1 comment:
"Comforting and convicting all at once" -- yes, that is precisely what I want, long for, expect in church, though there may a longer loop that that connects the convicting back to comforting and includes compelling me to action.
Your account of elevator rage is honest and familiar. How often I have wished that other people would follow the rules as well as I think that I do!
DeAne
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