What we've been up to

We have been enjoying a holiday of sorts, simply spending time with family and friends with no particular agenda!

Sleeping with Abba

Growing!

sand castling on a foggy beach

Swimming at Cranberry lake

It was interesting to see how the girls reacted to swimming in a lake rather than a pool.  Grace was intrigued by the uneven rock entry, and Jasmin took quite a bit of convincing that it was okay to not be able to see the bottom!

Sleeping by the lake

photographing (and sneaking up on) ducks in the Gardens downtown

Drawing with Aunty Joy

Reading with

It is so much fun watching the girls spend time with their aunts! Though they monopolize highly effectively and we have yet to have a good talk :o)

Learning

 We've tried to keep a bit of schooling going this summer - the more books we can finish before we return to Asia, the easier Mommy's packing job will be!

Back yard picnicking

Trampoline jumping with and without friends

We could say we are jumping for joy... we finally got some test results for Jasmin, and she is cleared to eat a much more normal diet, only needing to stay away from sesame, cranberries, and coffee - not that hard at all after a few years of staying away from dairy, wheat, soy, eggs...
We are enjoying our culinary freedom and, while not exactly jumping for joy, we most certainly are praising God for this development!

Excitement

Mommy cut a finger badly enough to need stitches yesterday suppertime. Cutting pizza.  It was supposed to be a nice thing that we were bringing supper to Abba and Imma because they had been busy all afternoon and were to host a Bible study that evening.  We were late, they were late, the pizza was taking a long time cooking.  So it became a bit of a hurried, disjointed supper only 1/2 an hour before the study was to start.  And then, while cutting pizza to serve, the handle of the server broke. It was ceramic. The force of the snap combined with the force Mommy was applying to cut through the crust. The broken edge sliced deep across the pad of a finger. Rather than helping to smooth a rough day - we added to it! Now among the calls for pizza, the preparations for Bible study, and various other interruptions, was an urgent discussion trying to arrange transport to the hospital for Mommy and home for the girls and Michael.

Thankfully, it "just so happened" that Jo was eating with us and she graciously offered to take Mommy to the hospital and stay to drive her home afterwards.  It was a very good thing she did, as the wait time was not long, so Aiden needed coaxing to stay calm well past his feeding time as Mommy had her finger stitched.

Far from being traumatized in any way by lots of blood and a hurried departure of Mommy to the hospital, the girls were waiting for us to arrive home - quite disappointed that the finger was well wrapped and they couldn't study the stitching right then and there! I'm sure they probably would have been as curious, interested, and excited to watch the finger being stitched as their aunty Jo and Mommy were...