Not Moving On, Just Moving Over...

I love this blog, and it is a wonderful outlet for me in expressing my thoughts and experiences with life and with our little Lily.

I just wanted to give you a heads up that I have started a second blog chronicaling a new adventure that my husband, Martin, and I will be doing over the next year with Lily.  You see, we bought a boat. A pretty big one.  Martin, my adventurous husband, decided that it was time we hit the sea and travel for the next year by boat.  Crazy?  A little.  Worth it?  Totally!

Anyway, because I am finding that I am less of a multi-tasker and can't seem to maintain both blogs without feeling completely guilty, I thought I should 'fess up and direct you to my newest blog.

I'm not walking away from My Delayed Fairytale, I'm just going to try and figure out how to maintain both blogs (which serve different purposes for me).  So, until I get this all figured out, maybe you might want to mozy over to my new blog SailingAmara to see what our family is up to now.  It should be a fun adventure.  I seriously want to pinch myself thinking that we are going to do this!

I hope you enjoy!  Check back from time to time though because as soon as I get settled on the boat and figure out my rhythm, I'm sure I'll still want to share my more personal thoughts over here.  So don't go away!  Just give me a minute to adjust to all of this change.

Stay tuned, and come pay us a visit at SailingAmara!

xoxo
-Kym

Yep, She's Ours

I can’t stop thinking about this post that was on This Little Miggy’s blog a few weeks ago.  I held off for a week from going on to the website that Miggy was forwarding to her readers called, Reece’s Rainbow.  I couldn't click on the website only because I didn’t think I could handle seeing little children who had been abandoned in far off countries due to their disabilities.  Finally, I did.  I was touched… no, I was moved.  I cried as I read EACH and EVERY post about these little children that had no one to love them.    

My thoughts turn to Lily, as always.  Especially when I see something like this.  These little children who suffer from some of the same setbacks as Lily, yet are so far from what she HAS.  Namely, parents. 

What if Lily hadn’t been sent to our family?  What if she was one of the children in these photos?  My emotions lose control as my eyes tear up just thinking about the possibility of it.  Why was Lily so blessed to be sent to our home?  Why was SHE sent to a mother and father who dearly love her?  Parents who can’t put her down and tend to smother her with kisses.  Then I think, “Why were WE so blessed to have Lily sent to US?”

My Mom and Lily at the airport.  How cute is this?

Martin and I feel so grateful to have Lily and to have her under our care.  I will happily take on the disabilities that Lily struggles with.  Yes, I will continue to be upset when I feel frustrated that she isn’t improving as fast as I’d like, because I know there is still hope that she will.  I will gladly wake her each morning in her warm, pink room with hugs, kisses and silly made up songs.  I am so humbled that we get to learn from her, love on her, and call her ours.  I am so grateful to be her mother.   

Take a moment and visit this site.  Look into the faces of these sweet, sweet children.  Who is kissing on them?  Who is rocking them at night when they are sick or scared?  I am humbled.  My heart breaks for them.  Please keep these little ones in your thoughts and prayers.  Pray that they find their home.

My Husband the Adventurer

Lately, I've been a little on edge.  So much so that I have been a little consumed with my thoughts and they have mostly been turned toward my husband, Martin.  You see, what I failed to mention in the past few months (and probably why I can't seem to sit down and write out my thoughts on my blog) is that as soon as we came home from our trip through Europe, Martin left for Papua New Guinea to climb the Carstenz Pyramid (one of the 7 summits).  He climbed it quickly and with success and was home by the end of October.  Two weeks later, he left for Paris for a week to wrap up some business, came home for a day, packed his climbing clothes and left for Antarctica. It's been crazy busy. Of course, more for him, but also for me (No husband makes for an unhappy wife.  I miss him like the dickens).

Martin Ice Climbing.

Martin left for Antarctica 3 days before Thanksgiving, where he has been attempting to summit Mt. Vinson; which is his final summit of the 7.  (Seven Summits here.) The weather has been far from agreeable, delaying his summit at number 7 for almost a week.  A real nail biter on my part.

Well, just about an hour ago, I heard from my beloved at the top of the 7th summit!  He did it and I couldn't be more pleased, elated, giddy, jumping up for joy, etc...  Martin has officially climbed all Seven Summits!  (Break out the hats and streamers!)

In order for me to save a little time, I thought I would include the email that I just sent out to friends and family detailing his final summit and other plans he is accomplishing while hanging out near the South Pole.

"What may seem like an ordinary day for most of us today, may not be the case for Martin.  

Great news!  I just heard from Martin, via satellite phone, calling me from the top of the summit of Mt Vinson in Antarctica!  It took Martin and his team six hours to reach the summit today.  He was so happy and, of course, I was in tears.  Partly because I was so happy that he reached his goal of climbing all 7 summits and partly because he arrived safe and in good health. (I may have shed a few more knowing that this is the last of these and maybe I get my husband home a little more.  A little selfish, I know.)

Once Martin gets back to base camp later today, he and a few others will fly to Union Glacier, Antarctica (another base camp) where he will probably rest for a day.  After a little respite, he will catch another flight that will take him to Thiel Mountain which is 89 degrees South latitude.  There, he will take off to cross-country ski the remaining 70 miles to the South Pole (pulling a 120-pound sled) where he will conquer the Final Degree—the geographic South Pole.  At 15 miles out, from the South Pole, the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station will become visible (marking the center of the South Pole) and there he will hike in becoming one of the few individuals to arrive at this point on foot.  This expedition will take Martin and his team, around 9-10 days with about eight hours of skiing each day with little rest.  

Unfortunately, Martin will miss the first of only two flights (on a twin otter plane that is only scheduled on the 17th and 31st, weather permitting) that leaves from the South Pole to take him back to civilization and eventually a Delta flight to bring home to us here in Utah.  This means that Martin will miss Christmas at home this year... and New Year's. (Insert really sad faces here in Utah).  This will probably be harder on Martin than for Meredith, Lily and myself because the South Pole seems a whole lot farther away when you're there, freezing and a lot lonelier when you're away from family.  We will really miss him but we are so happy that he has this opportunity to conquer this goal.  I would love to say, "His final goal" but if you know Martin, when one goal is marked off, another strangely appears.  

Love to you all and hope this email finds you well, full of joy and Christmas spirit.

I am just so grateful." 

There are lot's more adventures for Martin AND for me, but I'll hold off until we have it all set in stone.  I love being this man's wife and love the zeal that he has for THIS life—it keeps me from being too lazy.  Yes, I am so sad that he won't be home for Christmas, but I also understand that this is the ONLY time that this can be done and that this is a goal that I could never keep from him.

I couldn't be happier for Martin.

Great job, babe! (Since I know you're an avid reader of my blog.)

I wrote this entry on Martin's blog when I was waiting to hear from him as he was climbing to the top of Everest.  I still feel the same way.  I love this man. 

Finding My Pulse

The sweetest thing...

When I write, I often find myself wondering, "Am I representing myself and my life accurately online?"  I want to be truthful without being too nauseating.  It isn’t deep stuff, but important questions that I keep in mind often when I am about to sit down and write about my life.  Sure, I want you to like me, like my friends like me.  I want you to know that I find humor in a lot of the things that I do throughout my day or week.  I want you to know that I am thoughtful and aware.  I want you to see the fun things that my husband and I do together… and apart from one another.  I want you to understand my feelings in dealing with a child with disabilities.  Even more, I want you to love my little Lily (which is pretty easy).  

Life is busy for me, but that isn’t really why I haven’t posted for the last month.  In truth, I did write a few posts about my whirlwind vacation to Europe, but when I read the posts over again, they felt like they had no heart.  No message.  They felt strained and truthfully… a bit boastful.  So, I never posted them.  That doesn’t mean that later down my blog’s road that every so often I might squeeze in some less than glittery snippets of our travels, but they will be included because they are witty or have a fun story that fits in with my message.  Eventually, I really do want to document the Frey family travels so that I personally never forget.  But not now.

I want to get back to writing about the things that I love to write about.  I want to write about what matter's most to me like, how much I love my family and how grateful I am for a divine God that knows me.  Even more, I want to write about Lily, about her progress and how she makes me accountable for being present and joyful every day when caring for her needs.  

So, I'm back folks.  It was a good rest, but oh how I've missed you... and this blog. 

**************************

On the Frey front, Martin just called me this morning high on the summit of the Carstenz Pyramid in Papua New Guinea.  He made it to the top!  Martin's been gone now for 8 days and returns home on Friday.  Yippee!  Boy, we have sure missed him around here.  

Six summits down and one more to go!

**************************

News on the home front.

This little girl is sitting up just perfectly all by herself.  Pretty slick if you ask me.

Back to Normal Life

So, I'm not a great blogger when I travel... 

I really wanted to write about each city while we were over in Europe.  The truth is, we saw 61 cities and plowed through 13 countries--so I was a little more than tired at the end of each day to form a sentence, let alone a snappy post.

Even though I am home now, I'm still going to write about each of my adventures to these beautiful cities.  I am going to buckle down this next week and try and write about some of my favorite places and experiences so that I never forget about this beautiful part of the world and the amazing time I had with Martin and Lily.  Honestly, it was all so perfect that it's going to be hard to not post every single photo that I took while I was there.

This week I have been getting back into the groove of being responsible; like actually preparing meals, doing laundry and oh, getting little Miss Lily Faith back to school.  Which leads to the photo I took of Lily's first day of school.

I love this photo because the morning she started back I kept saying to her, "Lily, you get to go to school today and you get to ride the bus!"  I wondered if she knew what I was even talking about or if she would even remember anything about school since our summer was long and I'm never sure what sticks and stays in this little lady's head.  I knew the clincher would be if she recognized the school bus when it came to pick her up and take her back to Miss Mary, her teacher.

I loaded Lily up in her wheelchair and rolled her out to the end of our driveway to wait for the bus to come.  Just as I was setting up the perfect light and getting Lily settled, the bus came 5 minutes earlier than I had planned.  Lily's eyes caught sight of the school bus immediately, and all of a sudden she let out an audible squeal when the bus pulled up to the curb.  I was so amazed at seeing her reaction that I forgot to take the camera out and document her delight.  When I did remember, I fumbled and hurried but was only able to take one picture before I had to load her onto the bus.

I think this photo pretty much sums up her excitement.

This Is No Ordinary City

This was at a random gas station in Slovakia (On our way to Budapest) marking the ladies restroom.  I felt a bit underdressed using it since I should have been wearing my bustle and Lily should should have been carrying her umbrella.
We used it anyway.

I’ve fallen a bit behind on my blog.  There have been moments when I wanted to sit at my computer at the end of the day and tell you all about the city we just visited.  Then again, I would have fallen asleep face first in to my keyboard due to exhaustion.

We are already 3 weeks in to our European vacation, but I just can’t skip ahead to where we are today.  Everywhere we have been since we left Krakow has been worth a little post.  It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t NOT post something about the cities we have already visited.  So, I want to back up a little and tell you about the incredible city, Budapest.

When I left off on my last post, Martin and I had just arrived in Budapest at around 2:30 am.  I knew the minute that we entered the hotel in Budapest that I was going to love this city.  Upon our arrival, the staff had been very concerned that we hadn’t yet arrived.  They were very relieved to finally see us roll in even if we did resemble the “country cousins” (looking a bit disheveled) as we stood in the middle of the lobby of this elegant hotel.  Persian rugs, antique furniture and beautiful lamps surrounded us from every corner.  Each item even better than the last.  The most obvious was that the entire hotel had the smell of an exotic musk; giving us just the right kind of welcome to such an intoxicating city.

Needless to say, we were a bit tired so we slept in until around 10:00 am the next morning.  Then we showered and set off for another amazing adventure to explore the city of Budapest. 

Magical Budapest

The famous Chain Bridge.

My first desire was to go to a Turkish bath, which are actually hot springs that are known for their healing properties and supposedly help to promote wellness.  I don’t know why, but I had always wanted to go and sit in a “bath tub" with 100 strangers and play some chess or watch all the big bellied men enter the same water I was sitting in and enjoy it with me.  Sounds kind of unappetizing, huh?  Well, Martin felt the same way.  He didn’t know why I would want to sit in hot water and share the same water with others knowing full well that it wasn’t chlorinated.  It didn’t help matters when we asked our waiter what was the best bath to go to and he replied, “Why would I want to go sit in a bath tub with a bunch of old men?” I let out a huff and decided to instead do what we do best--take in the city, see all the sights and see if we could truly be swooned by such a wonderful city.   I also still held out hopes to see the baths, but I knew my chances of dragging Martin along were slim-to-none.

Martin making a mad dash across the bridge while pushing Lily. 

Budapest was once actually two cities that straddled the Danube river on either side.  On one side was “Buda" and the other side, “Pest”.  Finally in 1873 the two cities officially merged and it was then called Budapest.  Don’t ask me which side of the river I liked the best, because both were equally beautiful.  Actually, they were both breathtaking. 

As we left the hotel, Martin and I decided to first go to the Great Indoor Market.  When entering the doors to the market, it has the distinct smell of spices, especially paprika.  There was stall after stall of cheeses, meats, any kind of vegetable you can think of and line after line of pastries.  My favorite section of the entire market though was of all the fragrant spices being sold.  There were HUGE bags of packaged saffron, paprika and any other kind of exotic spice you can think of.  I was in paradise.  I could still kick myself for not buying any saffron when I know how much it is to purchase it in the states.  I just wasn’t ready to purchase yet, and I missed my chance.  Martin and I did purchase a few goodies and then we were on our way to the next sight.   

After the market, we went to the museum of modern art and checked out the beautiful paintings that Budapest had to offer. 

Just outside the museum was Hero’s Square which is a line up of statues of Hungary’s most famous Hungarians before 1896.  After that, Martin and I wanted to take the Millinium Underground, which was basically the city metro.  It is the second oldest metro in the world and the first underground in it’s day on the continent also built in 1896.  We decided to take the metro over to see the incredible Parliament building and take a tour of the spacious and ornate building where the parliament still meets.

Lily riding the famous Millennial Underground (Metro)

The Parliament Building

The set up to see the Parliament building is basically… weird and very unorganized.  What we  basically had to do was stand outside (about 100 yards from the ticket office) and then one by one, a staff member (who was quite possibly the most indifferent Hungarian we met on our stay) would come out, not look you in the eyes and say, “You two go get your tickets.”

Next,  you go past some guards and enter hesitantly into the ticket office to purchase tickets.  Martin and I had tickets for 4:15 pm, but at around 4:20, the announcement was made that the “English” tour would be cancelled without any further explanation.  Finally at around 4:30 it was admitted that the guide didn’t come back from his break and they didn’t have anyone that would be there to back him up.  So, Martin and I left discouraged and decided to run across the famous “Chain” bridge and go up the funicular and beeline it for the cathedral and castle on the “Pest” side.  We knew they would be closing soon, and so we made a run for it.

All I can say about the castle and the cathedral is that they were amazing.  Even better are the grounds of both locations as well as the views that overlook all of Budapest.  Martin and I could have sat there all day but it was starting to get dark and we knew we needed to hurry and get some dinner and feed Lily.  I had set us up for a cruise down the Danube to see the city lights at 8:30 and I was not going to miss it!  

Riding the funicular up to see the castle and cathedral on the hill.

If you ever get to Budapest, do the evening cruise.  I honestly think it was one of the most romantic things I have done our entire trip.  I say it a little “tongue and cheek” though because I’m not sure Martin feels the same way. 

I had told Martin before the cruise started that I had been wanting to go on this cruise ever since I saw a picture of Jennifer Aniston doing it in some magazine like 8 years ago.  So, I told him, “You are in charge of Lily this evening.  This moment is mine.”  Then I put on my cruise guide headphones that told the history of the city, pulled out my camera and started snapping away at all the beautiful buildings.  I let Martin muscle it out with our 3-year-old.  I may have looked over at them maybe one time during the entire cruise.  I knew Lily wasn't going to be the best tourist on this cruise and I wasn't going to let anything spoil this moment.

When we sailed past the Parliament building that was lit up by thousands of lights, I wanted to have a “a little moment” with Martin.  When I looked over at him, he was fighting to keep Lily up off the ground.  She apparently didn’t find the cruise so intoxicating or romantic and wanted to just roll around by Martin’s feet and make funny sounds.  I started cracking up and let them be.  Then I got up and moved to another aisle where it was “quiet” and let them duel it out between the two of them.

The Parliament Building lit up at night.

It was late when we got back to our lovely hotel and Martin and I AND Lily were good and tired from a long day taking in all the beauty that Budapest had to offer.  Simply put, if you haven’t been, go!  You will fall in love with this city.

The next morning, I tried to talk Martin into going to a hot spring, but he still wasn’t biting.  I guess I’ll have to use it as an excuse to return again some day.

What we did do was walk around the city some more and see a few more sights.  Then we had some pastries and ice cream before we were ready to leave and drive to Vienna. 

The Hungarians know how to do ice cream.

If I don’t say this in my next post about Vienna, just know, this is MY kind of city.  Nothing prepares you for Vienna…