Calm

Thank you all for your prayers, we need them much over the next 48 hours. Ana had a pretty good breakfast (120kcal or so), eaten in our room so she did not get upset by the breakfast rush in the restaurant. Then we went down so Papa could eat, because a hungry Papa and an impish Ana made for a somewhat more frustrated Papa than he should have been.  After Papa's moderate-to-enormous breakfast in a dead-empty dining room, we were joined by the other American family at Hotel B-. We talked about church, selling houses (and not selling them), and laughed that we both knew the not-joke: "How do you make God laugh? Tell Him your plans."

This family just finished their embassy visit, so please pray for speedy visa issuance for them (and us!).

Papa has been packing things up (and almost certainly overthinking the whole thing). Diapers? Eight o' dem (and Ana uses 4-6 per day so far, and seems to have a pretty functional GI, praise God! ). Food? Something like 500kcal of ready-to-go stuff, with additional dry food (and the reasonable expectation of juice available on the planes, at least trans-Atlantic). Wipes? Wet and dry. Plastic bags? Mhm. Spare clothes? Yep. Water bottles (refillable after security)? Da. Bible, notebook, CS Lewis and Josef Pieper? Check and mate. And probably some of Papa's toiletries or whatever, I don't expect I will be the limiting factor. But we will go buy some cashews, nonetheless.

I don't think I have posted about Ana's teeth. She had the usual awful-institutional mouth. Out of curiosity, I used my spare Turkish Airlines toothbrush and water to very gently swipe her teeth, gum-towards-tooth, mostly on the fronts. She loved it. She has so little of her body free for her to enjoy, but her mouth works (which also means she revels in food - more on that another time). So we went to DM and bought a super-soft small-head pink toothbrush, and I have been doing warm water and a gentle brush after meals. Did I mention that she loves it? I say "scrub-a-dub-dub" and she smiles and opens her mouth and I get a few swipes here and there. Poco a poco her teeth have improved. The orange crud is almost all gone. There is much less visible plaque. Her breath is not daisy-sweet yet, but progress is being made.  So I am very thankful.

Lunch today was a healthy 200ish kcal, and I am learning (slowly) how to help sidestep silly behavior without discouraging her from eating.  But we should take our afternoon walk now, to see the last sights of S- and enjoy the fresh air and very comfortable weather before the visa is dropped off to us between 4-5pm. And we should get the cashews.

Thank you for praying us home! God is amazing, He is a shield about us, our glory, and the lifter of our heads.

In Christ,
Papa and Ana