This past week, I was in the city four of five days. That fact alone is amazing. I am an early-to-bed stay at home mom with not much of a life beyond my family, house and local community. I am not a night owl or party animal, though I am up for an adventure. After spending one night in SF visiting our beloved PW, I ventured back (to the same part of the city, no less) for a training Thursday and Friday night and all of Saturday.
chandelier in the lobby at the opal
On a spur of the moment, with a babysitter all lined up for Friday night and Saturday, we decided to stay in the city overnight. We found a cute little hotel just a few blocks from the church that was hosting the event. And it was $79/night. Can't beat that!
tea leaf salad and samusa soup
Friday afternoon after dropping off the kiddos we headed to a Big Eat recommended restaurant called Burma Superstar. Oh my. Yum. We dined on tea leaf salad, samusa soup and pork and squash stew. Burmese cuisine is one of my new favorites. I can't even begin to describe how good the flavors were, but it it sort of a cross between thai and indian food. The salad was my favorite: romaine topped with fermented tea leaves, ground dried shrimp, peanuts, fried lentils, fried garlic chips, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and tomatoes. We'll definitely be going back!
In the afternoon we hooked up with some friends, old and new. We chatted it up through most of the hours until our second night of training. Soma, the group that put on the training, has been really formative in how we're doing ministry right now, specifically in how my sweet hubby wants to engage believers and nonbelievers in missional community. It was great to spend time with folks who feel like long-lost family, who just "get" it the way we do, and it was especially encouraging and inspiring to consider the ways God is calling us to do more for his glory.
philz is the bomb!
We may have visited a local joint to fill up on coffee and tea (the best we've tasted). One doesn't stay up past 11 three nights in a week without some chemical intervention. Just sayin'.
After a second night of awesome, awesome storytelling, we joined up with a bunch of guys at yet another delicious restaurant and broke bread together. Such a sweet time of celebration with our soma and lighthouse friends. Believe it or not, dear friends, we stayed at the restaurant until 12:30 A.M.!! And then we talked in bed until I eventually petered out, sometime after 1:30.
walking through the city in the early morning
You can well imagine that when our alarm sounded at 7 the same morning, our first stop would be someplace involving a steaming cup of tea and a hearty plate of eggs. Or english breakfast, fruit smoothie, and a mexicali frittata, to be exact.
Our buddies met up with us for the all-day training on gospel. So, so good. I don't think I'll ever tire of hearing what Jesus has done for me. And the fact that we got to experience this with some of our crazy, wonderful and unbelievable community, well, that's just the icing on the cake.
some of our crew on lunch break
About 3 that afternoon, we got a call about our little guy. Poor Sam, after sleeping 14 hours, woke up feverish. He shivered, vomited, and laid listless on the bed most of the day until his Tutu could take it no more and called us. Turns out his temperature was 105.6 and he hadn't talked or moved since 10 that morning. Needless to say, we hopped out of town early and headed to urgent care to meet up with our little fella.
Upon entering the exam room, my sweet baby acknowledged my presence and greeting with not much more than the slightest twitch of the corner of his mouth, the nearest a smile he could possibly muster. I lifted him into my arms and he settled onto my chest, not moving anything but his eyes which fluttered and drooped with exhaustion.
Within an hour, his temp had dropped to 102.4. He started moving more, playing with his feet, nodding (or moving his chin when nodding was just too much), eventually pointing to fish, vocalizing, and then signing for "hungry." We went straight to jamba juice.
Today the fever is way down, he's still a little clingy but laughing, talking, moving around and much more like himself. Praise the Lord!
Turns out that this adventurer ended up right back where she started, boy in arms, home at last. While the city has much to offer, this is where I am most at ease. Happy Sunday, friends!
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