one of those days

In the grand scheme of things, I may not even remember this day, so to render it "bad" may be a little exaggerated, but none-the-less, there was one moment that, for the bitter and sweet of it, I want to remember.

Brian has been in the US for two weeks-JV board meeting and JV new missionary orientation.

He was scheduled to arrive in Prague this morning and to then, take a train to a near-by city where we would pick him up this afternoon.

Cece started asking me the day Brian left when he was coming home. She's starting to get the days of the week, so all this week, we have been talking about how Daddy comes home on Saturday.

Well. Brian's flight from Chicago was delayed causing him to miss his flight from Helsinki (it's in Finland; Brian thought I should know that, but I didn't) to Prague this morning. It's a long story, but I searched train schedules, tried calling some guy named Mirek about changing our summer tires to winter ones today, and I was even prepared to drive all the way to Prague myself to get Brian home today. Saturday. However, none of my plans worked out, and the best thing for Brian to do is to stay overnight in Prague and come home tomorrow.

So, while stuck in the Helsinki airport, Brian skyped with us this morning. All four of us were crammed in our little office/guest room. While I was talking about Daddy's flight being delayed all morning, the reality of that doesn't sink into an almost four year old until you say Daddy is not coming home today; he's coming home tomorrow. All this while we are skyping with Brian.

Well. The poor little girl threw a fit. She just started yelling, "No! No! No!" And sobbing. Now, let me be clear. We do not throw fits in this family, and we are hard core about this. From the time Cece was nine months old, she has been getting consequences for throwing fits! Brian and I have been teaching her to be brave and strong, and that while it's okay to cry, it's not okay to throw a fit. Well, today, folks, I held my little girl tight, and I let her. She was crying; I was crying, and Brian was trying very hard not to cry.

While this is all happening, Gabe climbed up on the chair and with as much enthusiasm as he could muster, he was waving and saying hi to his daddy as loud as he could. Alex, who is much more analytical, was just sucking his thumb, trying to figure out what in the he(double hockey sticks) was going on.

As I turned the computer toward Gabe, so Brian could see, time stopped for just a moment. This was so sad and so beautiful at the same time. Family. To love so much that having to wait one more day to be together hurts. It just does, as silly as that is. And, then, Gabe, just trying to say hi in the most exclamatory way while Cece and I are throwing a fit. Oh, and to think of Alex, just sitting there, trying to make sense of it all.

Oh my goodness. It was one of those days.