2/3 done

in two days, adam will begin his final year of residency. and though we have been fighting a little tiredness and frustration with the schedule for next year, i do not want to forget to be thankful that we are getting close to completing this phase. a couple weeks ago we attended the graduation dinner for the department of medicine and it was a sweet evening to remember what my sweet husband has accomplished thus far, by God's grace. we are thankful.

we enjoyed sitting with two interns and their sweet wives.


we are now in the looking for jobs phase as well. there are a lot of primary care jobs, but we are praying for clarity about where to serve...where adam's gifts will be utilized...and also a good fit for our family. somehow all our conversations are about this decision lately. join us in praying for this if you like!

where i found her this morning

when i asked her why she slept in the chair last night, she said "because it was so soft and comfortable." my suspicions are that her bed was too crowded with the stuffed animal shelter and library she likes to keep there...

marit's first wedding

taking it all in


we went to a neighbor's wedding this weekend. we decided to take marit with us for her first official wedding since she is a flower girl in my sister's wedding in a few weeks. her sweet friend was the flower girl in this wedding and so we wanted her to watch and learn the important duties of a flower girl. this is essential because marit is convinced that she is getting married at charlotte's wedding. she loved every bit of it, but was a little confused about why the bridesmaids and groomsmen didn't go ahead and tie the knot(s) too, i mean it would be convenient right?

grahamer talk

i miss blogging. time and energy are in short supply these days. i've missed some bloggable things, like miles' 8 month birthday, father's day, or i could write about this wonderful book a friend lent me (thank you lauren!)that i devoured or this encouraging article by the same author. however, today i bring just a few photos of scrammer grahamer and some of the things he is saying.

he has taken into his rapidly growing language skills, the use of expressions. i love it. he cracks me up. he gets VERY close to my face and uses an inappropriately loud voice and says things like:
"i love our baby, mom" or "miles is a darlin' mom." God has gifted us with such a tender heart in graham, especially toward his baby brother. we are so thankful. this week, graham and miles have been exploring the world of rolling a ball back and forth. when we pray for our day and i ask graham what he would like to thank God for, he usually thanks God for our doggie. today his fish, rub-a-dub, died and we flushed it down the toilet to a simple "too bad." that's another one of his new expressions. whatever it is...i may say, "sorry all the dessert is gone" or "daddy won't be home until late tonight" and graham will roll it off with a shrug and say "hmm, too bad." other times, this expression provokes marit to no end...she wants something that we have to say no to and graham pipes up, "too bad!" to be followed by another dramatic wail from his sister. the other thing he has been saying a lot is "fourteen minutes." say he wakes up after a wakeful night (he seems to have misplaced his ability to sleep at night lately) and asks "did i stay in my bed?" i answer "not really graham." and he says "i stayed in my bed for fourteen minutes!" as if it were an eternity. i usually dryly reply, "it did feel like it was about that long." or i say "almost time to leave the playground" to which he replies "i'm going to slide for fourteen more minutes!"

we go to the library a lot(about 5 blocks away). graham loves to read books. snuggled up reading on the couch is one of my very favorite things to do with the little people. this summer the library has had all kinds of special programs...reptile shows, firetrucks and fire safety. graham talks about it for days. he has been carrying his firehat around ever since.

summer yard play

time for a little therapeutic blogging. i feel sad...just feeling the weight of brokenness all around, the parenting failures, this loooong season of residency that saps us both of energy. perusing pictures (while nicole takes my big kids to a block party and miles naps...thanks friend!) of the many joys we experience everyday lifts my spirits. we have been playing in water in the back yard a lot in the june heat. what. a. muddy. mess. but, my oh my so much fun!
enjoying the morning shade from this big ol' tree






i love gladiolas

sweet as pie giggle pants loving the swing lately

roses and sunflowers

sort of a fledgling little garden...just tomatoes and a few things starting from seed (time is so short). sometimes i weed when the kids play in the water



being chased by daddy is a thrill!

doubles on the slide (i love it when they create cute sibling-friend games)

my sweet neighbor gave me some sunflower seedlings and they will be something i plant every year now. such cheer!

who cares if the water is muddy?

sweet neighbor love