I know, I know...

It's been WAY too long. Life is busy. Rich's jobsite at Hope Pres (building the new sanctuary) is wrapping up so he's been working a lot. Maisie and I spend most of our days trying to keep the house clean and making good food. We also enjoy small doses of PBS programming like "It's a Big, Big World", "Word World", "Barney" (yes, it's true...but here's the worst) and "Teletubbies".

Horrendous, I know. But she loves these shows and the joy she exudes when she recognizes the characters and the songs (coupled with the free moments I get while she is enthralled with her on-screen friends) makes it very, very worthwhile.

I have been teaching French lessons which has really challenged my fluency and has been a lot of fun. Rich and I are on "hiatus" from music and leading worship, and just listening to God. At the moment, He's telling me I think much more highly of myself than I ought to but, for most of you, that probably comes as no surprise. Isn't it great to be free to know you're not perfect?

Maisie is an incredible little girl. We look at her every day and think "There's no way she's only 17 months old". She feels things very deeply and with very big emotions. She's expressive, lovely, and funny. She loves laughing, dancing, talking, exploring, climbing, trying new things and challenging herself to do things she finds interesting. She is so, so smart and is gaining a lot of momentum with language and communication. And she loves to go to sleep when she's tired. That's probably one of the things I appreciate the most about her right now. She will come to me and tell me that she's tired and it's time for bed. No fighting it, no crying, but insisting that I recognize she's tired and it's time for "night-night" (which she says, very clearly). She's an amazing little life and we are really beginning to enjoy her.

Here are some pictures of Maisie over the past couple months as the weather has begun to change (you can click on the pictures to enlarge them).



The wind in the trees will capture her attention and leave her still for minutes at a time




Riding her whip around the yard (whip is slang for car, for those of you in less "urban" areas)




If there's water, her hands are in it - her drinking glass, the dog's water bowl, you name it.


Our Beautiful Baby








The day she fought the cereal. The jury's still out on who won. It was a pretty even match.


In training to be a magician's assistant. Gotta start 'em young.


She was in the middle of telling me a story.



Hope you are doing well. Let us know!