Monday: It was one of those days that just doesn't go your way. Right after the kids got out of school we all loaded into the car and drove the 30 minutes to Stara Zagora to pick up our new ID cards. Steven had also noticed a warning light on in the car, and planned on getting it looked at while we were there. Lots to do, and not much time to do it in. Well, we got to the imigration office and were lucky enough to get a parking spot right in front. Henry was trying to nap, so I told Steven to just run in and see if he could get the cards without all of us having to go in. If they needed to see me they could look out the window and I would wave. Well, this would not suffice, so we gathered all the kids, coats, gloves, hats, etc. and headed into the office. Once all in there they asked for our passports....say what?!?!? We had not taken the passports becuase we didn't think we would need them to simply pick up new ID cards. I mean, we had our old cards that were just issued last month. All we did was change our address. So, a little dissapointed and more than a little frustrated, we got all the kids back into the car and drove to find the car place. Finally we found it and Steven went in to see if they could simply fix the problem. Of course it couldn't be that easy. They were very nice, but said they didn't have time and we would have to come back Friday morning. (meaning the kids would have to miss school) By this time, the kids were going crazy from having to sit in the car, Henry was hungry and crying to be fed, and I was starving because I hadn't had lunch. Okay, we admitted defeat for the day, took the kids to the play place at the mall and did a little shopping. Surely the next day would be better.
Tuesday: To cheer us up, Steven decided to try to get our Christmas tree. He found a place (the only place) in Kazanlak to get one and went to check them out. While it isn't quite a "Cahrlie Brown" christmas tree, it is pretty close. You see, Christmas trees are new here and not many people get them, so there really isn't a market like in the states where they have groves of them. Here, basically the foresrty service goes into the woods and chops down a few okay looking fur trees and sells them for cheap. As you can imagine, without a real market for trees, it is impossible to find a tree stand. So, after proudly bringing the find home, Steven had to figure out how to get it to stand up. He then went to scour the town in search of supplies to make a tree stand out of a few 2x4's. He quickly found out that there aren't many places in town that sell wood. So, we have improvised with a bucket, empty crisco can, and lots of wire. Even after all of this rigging, it still has a tendency to fall if you just look at it wrong. This took all day and at every turn of not accomplishing what he wanted, Steven got more and more frustrated. My poor husband. I just reached that point when all you can do is laugh and have fun with it. So, basically our entire Tuesday was all about the Christmas tree.
Wednesday: Then we get to today. I went to the first language class becuase Steven said Eli's teacher had said I needed to be at the school anytime after 10am to help Eli make some craft. Okay, that sounds like my kind of fun! So I finished up class at 10:30am and headed to Eli's school. However, once I got there, I realized there had been a break down in communication. Apparently, she had said to be there AT 10am. which I wasn't :( The lesson was over and there was nothing for me to do. So, I just picked Eli up early and let him stomp through snow piles on the way to pick up Jonathan. After I had both the boys in tow, we headed home. On the way I had an elderly couple get onto me for Jonathan not having his coat zipped, and another man comment on how I was leaving my youngest child to far behind and he could get hurt. I smiled politely, as if to appretiate the unwanted advice, and addressed the problems.
I am now just laughing at any and all other stresses that come my way. This is already a stressful time of year, living in a foreign country away from family. However, I know God sees me and knows my heart, because amongst all of this craziness it snowed all day today. Not giant flakes, but little off and on flurries that lifted my spirits. You see I LOVE snow, and my Savior knows that, so I know those flurries were just for me. :)
