back in the saddle

after 3 weeks + of being away in Canada and then Hungary, i have plenty of anecdotes, stories and observations. i will have to catch up little by little, because there's lots of it. i'm sure much of it will leak out into the ether since my grey matter can't hold it all.

but we can begin with what was possibly my worst flying experience ever. not because it was with Air Canada (which is usually a contributing factor!), but because of the Somali family next to me. i was stuck in a middle seat and the mother was taking her three small children from LHR to Toronto. Girls of about 6 and 4 and a boy of 3 or so. anyway, she had to sit with the two girls so the boy had the aisle seat next to me. although he was cute when he wanted to be, he was generally a little hellion, crying and throwing tantrums, kicking repeatedly the seat in front of him, smashing food and drink onto the floor, squirming out of his seatbelt and running down the aisles during takeoff and landing, stabbing other passengers with his swizzlestick cum sword. being (apparently), the only male child, he was more or less allowed to do as he wished. I felt sorry for the mother, whose loving husband allowed her to travel with 3 small kids in tow. the emnity of the whole cabing was palapbly upon her, as her 2 sweet little girls with almost on par with the boy :)

but it was an exercise in patience and loving your neighbour and there were a couple of good movies on, so it definitely could have been worse. the orange juice stains and bruises from flailing tantrumized 3 year old limbs always disappear with time.

in toronto is was great to catch up with an old friend and meet a new one, one who is a real supporter and advocate of Operation World. maybe God will lead them into some more active role with us in the future, who knows?