Grandparents Visit

I'm really close to my parents and they live 8,400 miles away (really, Google? That far?!) so there's almost nothing more magical and more special than when they come for a visit.

My dad was given a three month sabbatical from work. He spent the very first day of his sabbatical watching my nephew's adoption at the courthouse, going to the subsequent adoption party celebrating both my niece and nephew, and then hopping on an airplane with my mom that evening to fly to Thailand. Can you tell he loves his grandkids?

They headed back to Colorado almost a week ago, and I finally looked through my pictures tonight. May these memories carry us through to the next time we see them... we don't know yet when that will be.

~

Cora hadn't seen this set of grandparents since October, but she clearly settled right back into her granddaughter role.

Grace sliding down a water slide into Nana's arms at a waterpark on the roof of a Bangkok mall.

Precious.

Cora would have been terrified if she wasn't in Papa's arms.

The new school year began two days before my parents left, so they got to send off our little preschoolers. But, you'd better believe we kept our kids home the next day, the last day their grandparents were in country.

Writing to Share - Final Thoughts

Over the past couple of years, I've written more and more in my private journals and shared less and less here on my blog. At the end of March, I decided to post ten times in the month of April instead of just once or twice. I didn't know what would happen, but I knew I felt inspired and excited by it.

I enjoyed the challenge, but I also found that I have to let my words compost. I dump the apple cores, carrot peels, hacked off vines of my words into the compost pile of my journals. Turn them over. Wait. Let the sun heat them and the rain wet them and the insects crawl and eat and defecate all over them.

Then, when the organic matter has morphed into rich, rich soil, I finally share those words. And, by grace, I get to watch shoots spring out of those words. And to see already established trees and plants enjoy the nourishment of rich soil.

I cannot produce "content" quickly or it is just silty dust hastily shoveled up and scattered out to plants with little nourishing power.

My words must be chewed, mulled over, sifted, played with, enjoyed. Then, shared.

So, over the next few months, I'll be going back to posting as ready. And when that little baby comes in October, who knows what will happen! All I know is that everything will change.

Here are my ten posts written (mostly) in April:

Writing to Share - An intro to my writing challenge

Kids One Year Ago and Today - Some thoughts on my kids' adjustment process from moving from California to Bangkok, Thailand

I've Never Read the Whole Bible and That's OK

Conversation Between a Toddler and a Preschooler

How to Wash Your Clothes When You're New to Thailand - Remembering those nutty first weeks of our international move.

14 Thoughts at 14 Weeks - A few lighthearted thoughts on my third pregnancy.

Tropical Birds - A homage to the birds outside my bathroom window.

A Monday in My Life - No two days and no two weeks are the same, but here's one recent Monday in my life.

Currently Loving - Four things I'm enjoying from a fun app to my kids' school pictures to a couple of great books.

And this post makes 10!

Thanks for following along! I don't think I'd do this without readers... you!