Don't read emails before you sleep...they might blow up your sleep!

26^th Feb, 2008

Here I am…sitting in a little French Lao café working on some Lao and wanting to journal in English. I haven’t written my thoughts all month.

I should go into the spare room each night and do half an hour several days each week. A little each day can build a great deal over the week. It helps me when I write down what I’m thinking, working through and praying for.

I should do that before I go and teach at ARDA. I’ll work out my teaching week and plan it in before I go to teach.

Reading Emails before Sleeping...not a good 'thingy'

I had an argument with Cc last night just before we went to bed. We looked at an email and climbed into bed thinking about the mail…I could hear some apprehension in her voice. I was tired and wanted to sleep. I had my 6am Tue prayer meeting the next morning...

I / we got a bit frustrated with each other. Cc was adamant it was the way ahead…I was tired and rolled over and said, 'ok…I’ll talk to somebody else about it' .

Cc went off…I realised that our mistake was ‘reading an email before we sleep and then trying to ‘talk’ about it…It wasn’t good. That’s a rule that I don’t’ want to break again! No emails before we sleep.

My 'little girl' is turning a corner...

I was put in my place by Sarah a couple of weeks ago. I was in the car park of the school and I asked her to come and kiss me before she goes into school. She said very firmly, ‘dad, I’m not your little girl anymore. I don’t want to kiss and hug you in front of people.’ Ouch!!! I thought to myself, 'Like i've been giving you a bear hug and forehead kiss for the last 5 years of school life and 2 years of kindy...wat's changed today!'.

I crawled back into the car and drove slowly down the road. I never wanted to overstep my ‘father privilege' to hug my kids. I supposed I just did that...Sarah felt ‘kiddish’. In some ways I feel sad that i've lost ‘little girl’. Now I need to find my ‘teenager’ and support her in her new image of herself. Discover 'when' we can hug and how do I treat her under the watch of her friends.

Sarah went to bed the other night and said ‘night’ dad…no hug. She knew I wanted to hug her. I resisted the temptation to run in and hug her. I’ll give her the space she’s asking for. Talk about tough love!

I really enjoy sending Shanae off to kindergarten. We hold hands and walk down to her classroom. We talk rubbish and chit chat along the way...I check that she’s got everything. We put her bag in the bag basket labeled 'Shanae'. She's got one for her shoes too. Then I kneel down and tell her I love her and to have a good day. She tells me that she loves me. We do a special ‘hand wave’ and stare longingly into each other’s eyes.

When I pick her up I ‘coowee’….her ears prick up and when she finds me she runs into my arms. She’s usually riding her pushie (bike) or playing in the cubbie house with Hydie.

Going home

I’m enjoying the thought of ‘going home to Sing and Oz in June. We would have been away for 18months away. I called mum the other day. It was good to hear her voice. I love her and miss her care and concern.

I miss my immediate family and their spouses. In Singapore I miss Cc’s family and all our church friends.