Archived Thoughts
Beijing buzz (June 5, 2008) emotion in China (May 25, 2008) what 1 Euro could buy you if you came to visit (May 11, 2008) on visa-runs and escaping hotel fires (May 4, 2008) recent observations & discoveries (April 30, 2008) on ordering water and near tricycle collisions (April 16, 2008) on learning Chinese and on how to catch a bad flu at the park (April 10, 2008) highlights (April 9, 2008) Foreign media must have Facebook access during Olympics, IOC tells China (April 2, 2008) Home Sweet Home (March 26, 2008) Then and Now (March 26, 2008) stranded bags! (March 8, 2008) on visas, weddings, how to get free food & funny hair dos (March 4, 2008) Warm greetings! (February 12, 2008) A Whole New World (February 5, 2008) Newness in the New Year (January 6, 2008) The Feast of Life (November 23, 2007) Our Paris (November 11, 2007) A Freezing Wilderness Retreat (October 22, 2007) Reflections from a Recovering Bride (October 8, 2007) Mr. and Mrs. Brumme (September 29, 2007) One Month and Counting (August 22, 2007) Everything French (July 19, 2007) Open Wide Your Mouths! (July 9, 2007) Learning from Trees (July 3, 2007) A City of Lights - The Paris of Central Europe (June 25, 2007) Brumme's Descend on Europe (June 8, 2007) I Said Yes! (May 13, 2007) Liaisons and Goodness Abound (April 22, 2007) Gourmet Cuisine Catastrophe (March 21, 2007) It Really Has Been Too Long This Time (March 15, 2007) The French Postal System, V-Day, and Other Tidbits (February 21, 2007) Celebrating in Paris, Working in Oxford & Relaxing in the Alps (January 29, 2007) With Ma Petite Amie at Last! (January 11, 2007) Hanging on for the Ride (December 31, 2006) A New Life (December 18, 2006) I've Gotta Go See About a Girl (November 23, 2006) On France (November 10, 2006) Liberating Love, an Awkward Transition and Christmas Candy (November 1, 2006) The Western Bible (October 20, 2006) The Whole Church Gathered (October 3, 2006) On Steve Irwin (September 7, 2006) Lewis on Happiness (August 10, 2006) The Tragic "Unthinkable Crisis" (July 27, 2006) Not My Life (July 6, 2006) The Two Year Reunion (June 10, 2006) A Fishy Story Set Right (May 26, 2006) Response to "The Wedding Planner" by Sagers (April 30, 2006) White Bunnies and Bloody Lambs (April 14, 2006) Flexing Our Political Muscle (March 22, 2006) For Your Viewing Pleasure (March 7, 2006) Come to Our Church! (February 21, 2006) Peanuts and Airplanes (February 15, 2006) Confessing My Ignorance (January 30, 2006) The Jewish Kid Jesus (January 16, 2006) Friends...A Dime a Dozen? (January 9, 2006) Old Test Article Here (January 2, 2006) So Much to Say...That Others Have Already Said (December 23, 2005) Narnia - at last! (December 8, 2005) Lewis on our Eating Disorder (December 1, 2005) North Korea - Revealing the Darkness (November 20, 2005) Shining - Like You've Never Seen it Before (November 15, 2005) Are You Emerging? (November 3, 2005) emotion in China (May 25, 2008) what 1 Euro could buy you if you came to visit (May 11, 2008) on visa-runs and escaping hotel fires (May 4, 2008) recent observations & discoveries (April 30, 2008) on ordering water and near tricycle collisions (April 16, 2008) on learning Chinese and on how to catch a bad flu at the park (April 10, 2008) highlights (April 9, 2008) Foreign media must have Facebook access during Olympics, IOC tells China (April 2, 2008) Home Sweet Home (March 26, 2008) Then and Now (March 26, 2008) stranded bags! (March 8, 2008) on visas, weddings, how to get free food & funny hair dos (March 4, 2008) Warm greetings! (February 12, 2008) A Whole New World (February 5, 2008) Newness in the New Year (January 6, 2008) The Feast of Life (November 23, 2007) Our Paris (November 11, 2007) A Freezing Wilderness Retreat (October 22, 2007) Reflections from a Recovering Bride (October 8, 2007) Mr. and Mrs. Brumme (September 29, 2007) One Month and Counting (August 22, 2007) Everything French (July 19, 2007) Open Wide Your Mouths! (July 9, 2007) Learning from Trees (July 3, 2007) A City of Lights - The Paris of Central Europe (June 25, 2007) Brumme's Descend on Europe (June 8, 2007) I Said Yes! (May 13, 2007) Liaisons and Goodness Abound (April 22, 2007) Gourmet Cuisine Catastrophe (March 21, 2007) It Really Has Been Too Long This Time (March 15, 2007) The French Postal System, V-Day, and Other Tidbits (February 21, 2007) Celebrating in Paris, Working in Oxford & Relaxing in the Alps (January 29, 2007) With Ma Petite Amie at Last! (January 11, 2007) Hanging on for the Ride (December 31, 2006) A New Life (December 18, 2006) I've Gotta Go See About a Girl (November 23, 2006) On France (November 10, 2006) Liberating Love, an Awkward Transition and Christmas Candy (November 1, 2006) The Western Bible (October 20, 2006) The Whole Church Gathered (October 3, 2006) On Steve Irwin (September 7, 2006) Lewis on Happiness (August 10, 2006) The Tragic "Unthinkable Crisis" (July 27, 2006) Not My Life (July 6, 2006) The Two Year Reunion (June 10, 2006) A Fishy Story Set Right (May 26, 2006) Response to "The Wedding Planner" by Sagers (April 30, 2006) White Bunnies and Bloody Lambs (April 14, 2006) Flexing Our Political Muscle (March 22, 2006) For Your Viewing Pleasure (March 7, 2006) Come to Our Church! (February 21, 2006) Peanuts and Airplanes (February 15, 2006) Confessing My Ignorance (January 30, 2006) The Jewish Kid Jesus (January 16, 2006) Friends...A Dime a Dozen? (January 9, 2006) Old Test Article Here (January 2, 2006) So Much to Say...That Others Have Already Said (December 23, 2005) Narnia - at last! (December 8, 2005) Lewis on our Eating Disorder (December 1, 2005) North Korea - Revealing the Darkness (November 20, 2005) Shining - Like You've Never Seen it Before (November 15, 2005) Are You Emerging? (November 3, 2005) A Life of Profound Significance (October 26, 2005) The Earth at Your Fingertips (October 18, 2005) A Surprise Appointment (October 15, 2005) Wars and Rumors of Wars (October 3, 2005) Laughing in the Rain (September 20, 2005) Random Tid-Bits and Happenings (September 15, 2005) Life and Death and Terrorists (August 30, 2005) Girls and Boys and God (August 25, 2005) Feasting and Worship (August 17, 2005) Blogger's Block (August 6, 2005) The Harvest in China (August 2, 2005) Counting the Cost (July 24, 2005) Absolutely Outstanding Bit of Writing (July 18, 2005) Burning Alive (July 14, 2005) Jesus and the Glory Golf Balls (July 10, 2005) Those Things We Hold On To (July 7, 2005) Grape Juice, Poured Out for the Forgiveness of Sin (June 30, 2005) He Will Ruin Your Life (June 28, 2005) A Bit of Perspective (June 25, 2005) The Wedding Planner (June 22, 2005) A Lesson in Patience Amidst Absurdity (June 16, 2005) Fans of Hitler (June 15, 2005) Crash and Stories (June 12, 2005) Pastors and Leaders - Different Views (June 10, 2005) Senior Pastors (June 5, 2005) Ask and You Shall Receive (June 2, 2005) What If (May 27, 2005) The "Bible Study" (May 24, 2005) The Future of Pixar (May 19, 2005) The Mess We Christians Have Made (May 14, 2005) Narnia Coming to the Big Screen (May 10, 2005) Europe - Through the Lens of My Camera (May 7, 2005) Same Sex Families (May 6, 2005) Photos of Mercy (May 3, 2005) Across an Ocean... (April 21, 2005) The Picture, The Pope, and The Past Few Days (April 12, 2005) In the Car with My (air) Guitar (April 6, 2005) The Pope (April 4, 2005) Resurrection Day (March 27, 2005) Killing People (March 23, 2005) Weekend of Surprises (March 22, 2005) The Fray - Listen to this (March 12, 2005) Akiane....This is Amazing (March 11, 2005) Jesus Christ (March 8, 2005) Worthy Thoughts on The Passion (March 7, 2005) Dream Days at Church (March 3, 2005) Peace Amidst Ambiguity (March 1, 2005) A Verse I Hadn't Noticed Before (February 25, 2005) McLaren and Hotel Rwanda...another perspective (February 19, 2005) Brother Andrew is on to something (February 16, 2005) My Valentine (February 14, 2005) Homecoming...strange (February 13, 2005) Hotel Rwanda (February 10, 2005) The Update (February 6, 2005) Malibu...Thailand...Palm Desert (January 1, 2005) Get Ready Thailand...I'm Coming! (September 25, 2004) God Speaks? Really? (May 29, 2004) Life Beyond Graduation (May 1, 2004) God's Faithfulness in Morocco (October 8, 2002)
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Our Thoughts
| October 8, 2007 | | Reflections from a Recovering Bride |
Lights were flashing away behind us. Then the car started to honk wildly as we approached the French border. It was hard to see out the rear window with the moist, curled up “just married” sign blocking the view. “I think that might be someone you know” said Andrew as we returned honeymoon the first time as a married couple. Leave it to my mom to time her meetings in Geneva well. And what followed will stay vividly in my memory as a part of the wedding festivities. We pulled over by the boulangerie so Andrew could get his bread fix and mom yanked her handbrake, just fast enough to race out of the car and embrace us. “Heeeey Mrs Brumme!” she warmly greeted with a smile so present in her voice. Being on honeymoon was amazing and so was being able to learn how to relax. Let’s admit though, that people like me can get people starved. And so we welcomed her in as our very first guest into our home. She had all the stories I had been dying to know about how so and so managed to get home, how such a person enjoyed the day etc. What fun.
Sardinia was amazing because we could at last relax and not think about whether or not Arnaud would be able to make it on time to be our ring bearer or which tights to wear under my wedding dress. The island in itself however, was very different to what we had imagined during our first week of being there. Picture a rugged rocky island with few trees and open restaurants but lots of bugs ... including in our little villa. Honestly though, we still loved it. We weren’t really in need of all that much entertainment as we indulged in luxury time with one another. What excitement to run around an island supermarket for fresh Italian ingredients to prepare our feast à deux. How freeing to be naked and unashamed. What a delight to wake up to the man of my dreams every morning! Andrew was careful about limiting the amount of communication I was allowed. And although I might have considered myself people starved, it did us a world of good to make no call but one to congratulate my brother Simeon and his fiancée Eileen on their engagement.
The second half of our honeymoon was spent up north and finally we realized how nice the island could get. We went scuba diving jetting off with a boat off the island into a secluded national park area with picture perfect light blue water. So fond of the underwater wildlife, we then searched for the most pristine beach to snorkel in before racing home to the hotel’s four course meal of octopus, jelly fish or sea bass in papilottes. All in all, a fabulous honeymoon, which went by way too fast as we realized this morning waking up to our first day of work.
My colleagues were a real welcome committee in themselves as I rolled in despite being rather fluish and weak. By the number of times I heard the “don’t let go” song play softly, they lapped up the video slide show as well as the wedding pictures. Was kind of nice to be congratulated and helped into my new role as a little Mrs. We changed my name on my office wall, opened a new email account and even instructed one another on accurate pronunciation in the respective languages I use at work each day. So, besides the sickness – flu and home sick for my Andrew, it was a pretty good first day. And going home, it is good to be taken care of… oops, did I say that? ;)
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