Drowzee

The Jamaica, Queens Mission Team

When PJ was very little, he used to imitate one of his favorite Pokemon characters. Arms outstretched, he would croon "drowzee" as if hypnotizing us all into sleepiness. We thought it was pretty darned adorable. Most of the time in those years, I was already plenty "drowzee" and was ready to snooze at the stretch of PJ's arm. Days that began feeding Julie @ 5 AM ended past 11 with one final tuck-in and kiss for whichever child was currently insomniac.

 Over the last decades, my sound sleep has been quite intermittent. I am often nocturnally tormented by a repertory company of horrible people doing horrendous things to the people I love. I swear, you could charge admission to my dreams and make quite a bundle!

The past three weeks, restful slumbers have totally eluded me. Through my fault, I scheduled Vacation Bible School and our mission trip to Queens, back-to-back. Naturally, my nighttime hours were spent dreading...any/all VBS mishaps, illnesses or injuries, and the plethora of Things That Can Go Wrong on a Mission Trip (from fender-benders to slacker kids to bizzarro chaperones from other churches).

As if that wasn't enough...

Sheridan and Ya-Jhu set their wedding date as June 23rd, a mere two days before the VBS/mission trip marathon. We eschewed caterers and florists and photographers, and opted for a totally DIY wedding. Add Chaotic Kitchen Kapers, wilted blooms and an album of blurred pics to my list of dreads.

The Newlyweds

 The wedding was lovely, a very personal ceremony with lots of new music and heartfelt sentiments in both English and Chinese. As for the food, Julie made a scrumptious wedding cake, and my appetizers were well received (I had low expectations and my motto--from Woody Allen's Don't Drink the Water--was "Be thankful nobody died.") The photos (thanks to sister C) are beautiful. Happy couple, check!

 "Operation Overboard" VBS was a big hit. We had one spill (a dramatic one, as a little girl catapulted head over counselor's head in a piggy-back ride incident), but she was fine. The children enjoyed the crafts and games and drama and songs. While I slept poorly that week, I awoke to five days of success. Happy little divers, check!

 July 1st was a scorcher, as was the week that followed. By the time we pulled our rental vans into the lot in Jamaica, Queens, we were officially exhausted. Yet God had a lengthy plan for us!! Monday through Thursday we served at Kids' Club, at a variety of area retirement homes, cleaning up Corona Park. 11 PM saw me snoozing on an air mattress in a sea of adolescent girls. By the time Friday arrived and we had our fun day in Manhattan, the thermometer read 103 degrees and once again I was quite, quite "drowzee." Our trek home at day's end was a march of endurance. But we surfaced safely at CLC. Happy missionaries, check!

Drowzee Pokemon

I am home now. I am very drowzee. Check.

May God bless all the sleepers, everywhere.