Seasonal Changes

A wintry morning at church...experimenting with the new camera and trying to stay warm all at once.





We have friends who moved here from Maryland last summer; we met them soon after their move. There are four girls in their family and the youngest are twins just a few months younger than Hannah. They moved down to Sahuarita in the early fall and we've been able to visit a couple of times. On this visit, they'd recently set up their trampoline. As we got bundled up to bounce, Hannah declared, "The trampoline is my favorite thing! Even though I've never been on one." But she's a bouncer...bounce houses and Pump-It-Up (indoor inflateable playground) rate high in Hannah's world. She was right - the trampoline is one of her favorite things. Abigail had a great time, too.



There were a few days during which Abigail was having a field day with my bike gear. Which is fine if I never use it but I've been riding and the thought of losing a glove or having the glasses break led me to hide them. She followed me around post-hiding them demanding, "Where my hat?!"



Hannah and I did some yardwork on a Wednesday afternoon this past week while Abigail napped. We found earthworms and I had to convince her that keeping them as her pets was not something we should do. So she asked if they had teeth, then finding out that they didn't, asked if she could hold them. After holding them, she watched them work their way back into the soil.




We had a picnic in the backyard today...it has been a beautiful day. Not sure why Hannah brought the vtech laptop. I guess it was as good a time as any to review her alphabet recognition.





Abigail doing her own thing and enjoying the day...she's quite something with a ball. Agile, quick.

I don't know how to make a smooth transition to how we're doing in general except to just say we've been having a rough month. In fact, a rough winter! Colds, coughs, sinus infections off and on and now pink eye for Hannah, Abigail and Bill. All three are using the drops and their eyes are back to normal but it's been tough. Yesterday evening, I went to a clinic to get my throat swabbed to test for strep and it was negative. Thankfully. But I have little voice, we're all tired and a bit weary. Our best theory is that our transition period is coming to a close but the accumulated stress and anxiety we've experienced has had an exhaustive effect. I told Bill, "I'm tired," doesn't begin to cover it.

The aftermath of the burglary has been challenging in various ways, too. Although we cancelled our Sears card post-burglary, the guy stole cards we'd never used - still affixed to the paper - and we got a statement this week. Apparently, Sears didn't cancel both cards (the regular and the gold) and I didn't know to ask for that - assumed wrongly it was a blanket cancellation. He'd used it to pay his cell phone bill the day after the burglary. The good news, it's just more evidence and the detective on the case - Jim - dropped by to pick up the statement. Hopefully, he'll be able to subpoena the company and get the phone owner's name. I found out through the process that he'd been released from jail as they continue to build the case against him. And I found out his name which will make our prayers for him even more specific.

I remain grateful for what didn't happen that night and I'm hopeful and confident that we'll get through this hard season. I mean, look at those girls! There's enough joy and hope there to last a lifetime. So I look first to God and his magnificent love for me and for us and then I look around at the gifts I didn't earn, the gifts He gives freely and I'm reminded that He loves me and I can rest in that. It is more than enough. It is everything.

"...But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:14