Happy Thoughts so I Don't Get Stabby

This post is brought to you courtesy of two things: one, my post-everyday-in-May-o-rama! (Yay!) And two, I am trying to distract myself from the stabby thoughts I am having about the neighbors behind us and their loud, bass-thumping party. It's not the first time. You can read here about the letter I'd like to write to the shrieking girls over there. They need guidance! You guys, I am having, um, uncharitable thoughts. So I decided to think about happy things. Cool?

For Nate's "news" the other day, he wanted to take in some of his baby pictures on a USB stick to show the class. His teacher can put it onto the smartboard (which looks like a whiteboard, but is so, so much more!). These kids and their Modern Conveniences. In my day, we took a dirt clod in for show-and-tell and that was good enough!

Look at my little, slightly jaundiced dude.

Look at little 2 yr old Ava--she and Grace could be sisters. Oh, wait.

Looking at those pictures, I can't believe how much has happened over the last 6-ish years. When Nate was born, we'd only been in Australia for 3 months. He was born prematurely, as I mentioned here, and when these pics were taken I can remember just feeling so relieved and thankful that everything had worked out--that he was healthy, and that we were all okay.

That time is a blur in so many ways. We were settling into life and ministry here, I was still scared to drive on the "wrong" side of the road, we were learning all the stuff you have to learn to set up life in a new country. Learning it on the fly, really--which unfortunately seems to be a theme with us.

But really, I'm amazed when I think how our little family has grown.

(Oh man, I just realized this could sound like a "We're pregnant!" post. We are not pregnant. Mom? I promise. Okay? Alright, anyway.)



In lots of ways, I still feel like we're adjusting to life here--it will always feel "different" in some respects, I imagine. And although we think we'll end up back in the US one day (Mom? We do!), we are happy with our lives here. It's a great place to be, and we feel blessed. Heck, we are blessed. There's a Psalm that kind of expresses that sentiment--it says, "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places." That's pretty much how we feel.

(Now, I am going to try to go to bed, so that laser-like anger rays don't shoot from my eyes and burn a hole in the back fence.)