milestones

 this week was simultaneously long and went by in a flash.

it was manageable from a work perspective although i was... not very motivated.

two special things have occurred, though, that made this a weekend to celebrate:

1. since last year, i've been pouring a lot of time and energy into building a mobile app and portal and this week was the first time that i managed to put it into my client's hands. it's ugly as sin and i have understood now that i finally need to buckle down and learn all about css, but the client's (at least two of the users) first response was so enthusiastic and grateful that i'm feeling very validated and excited about the prospects of this app for the future.

2. aside from a week of rough mornings with an uncooperative mr smear, things have been generally good between us. then yesterday, i introduced him to opus magnum. i've now sunk in quite a few hours since last weekend, and it's amazing, but i realized when he showed an interest that it's actually a fantastic way to introduce someone who's (pretty much) illiterate to coding concepts! witnessing him "get" it, successfully making products, getting excited, and coming up with very different ways of solving the puzzles from me made for an incredible experience.

 otherwise, our little family is breathing a huge sigh of relief since monday, when we realized that a huge source of our stress (gd's in particular) was the idea of having to return to canada in order to make aliyah. so we stopped, reevalutated, and made a decision to stay here until our file is in order and approved. this will entail extending her south african visa again, but compared to the alternative that's not such a big deal.