healthy and growing, happy days

one of the things i enjoy about updating this little blog space is that it forces me to remember things...to think about what we are doing and engage and relish and delight in so much goodness that is graciously given. with discipline, i can do this without taking pictures and noting it afterwards, but it is just a little help for my heart to be in the moment. of course there are a gazillion moments that i do not mention...some of the hard, messy, tantrum, battles with my own self-pity, ugly parts of life that i do not want to dwell on. that does not mean i do not acknowledge the existence of disappointment and frustration in our lives. let it be known that we are far from perfect, limping along in this broken world like everyone else...clinging to truth, grace, and Christ who is our peace, and striving to be faithful with the work and life He gives. and we look at our daily lives and seek to give thanks for these fleeting moments.

 speaking of fleeting moments, we had 5,4, and 2 yr well-checks for everyone over the last week. six shots and a finger-stick and a flu mist later, there were no tears. what? i was amazed. they did not get that courage from me. what's more, everyone is healthy and growing with sizes in the 25th (marit), 50th (miles), and 75th (graham, the always hungry one) percentiles. poor marit is still too little for the booster seat, while graham is allowed to move up. we are thankful, as we know well that health is not to be taken for granted.   and bonus, sweet butternut broke the pacifier habit, thanks to my friend nicole asking him if she could have it and he willingly gave it away!  that transition was way easier than i expected.

we are falling into our home-school groove and really enjoying it! we have also been doing better with adam's schedule, trying to maximize family time at odd hours of the day. sometimes, the many days in a row with pretty much zero conversation to ourselves (lots of evening shifts this month) wears on our marriage. then, by God's grace, just in time, we are able to find a quiet moment that restores and gets us back on the same page.

we are thankful for:

sunny hobbit reading dates

beautiful weather and big old trees perfect for climbing

personality

sweet brother friendship budding

and the brother-sister one too

happy rolling-down-hill-moments

miles is their trainee

annual leaf waxing

2 yr-old "good doggy" s

nearby beauty and boy-net love

tired, time-change cuddles