Luke is home!

Praise God! We welcomed Luke home from Afghanistan last night. It was so nice to celebrate his homecoming with so many friends from church and work. We thank God for bringing Luke home to us. Everything else I try to write about this is inadequate, so I'm going to stop here.

Almost Everybody

We were thrilled to spend this last week with Grammy and Grandpa, Uncle Joe and Aunt Megan, Uncle Frankie and Aunt Kori, Aunt Becky, and her fiance Ben. It started snowing during the worship service today and still hasn't stopped. It's just cold enough for snow, so the flakes are my favorite kind, big and fat.

We took a family picture this evening. It's so wonderful to see my brothers and sisters growing up and bringing their spouses to our family. It's also bittersweet, because I long for my own family to be together again.

We are so proud of Luke, we love him so much, and we are so excited for his homecoming!

Our Recent Accomplishments

I found it really helpful to set some goals for myself during Luke's deployment. In August, I completed a one mile open water swim, in the ocean of all places. The swim was in a nice, calm harbor, but the water was still cold and salty. I have new respect for people who swim in the ocean regularly. I'm also glad that the shark sightings off Cape Cod were reported after my race.
In September, I completed a sprint triathlon (400 meter swim, 11 mile bike, 5K run). At the end of September I ran my first half marathon. I was so happy to see my mom, Ellie, and Clar at the finish line!
My sister braved the early morning chill to bring the kids to the triathlon. Here's Ellie sporting my finisher's medal and showing off one of her new faces.


Clar was content to sit in his stroller and eat crackers.

Ellie has been working hard on mastering jigsaw puzzles. It's a great activity for rainy days with Grammy.

Of course, Clar has to participate. He likes taking puzzles apart more than putting them back together.
I spend every day with the kids, so sometimes it takes my ancient blog to show me how much they're growing and changing. We're enjoying our time here so much, but we look forward to being back at home in Albuquerque and showing our friends and family there how much we've grown!

Summer in Pictures

Fourth of July parade in Wakefield

Dress Like a Cow Day at Chick-Fil-A (we didn't go, but Frankie and Kori brought back hats!)

The Tall Ships in Boston

Clar learned to eat and Ellie learned to feed him

Ellie's first movie: an IMAX show at the New England Aquarium

A Rare Moment

A Boy and A Frog

So, he's not always happy. I was trying to get a picture of the kids in their Pentagon outfits (from Grandpa C, of course), but it was late and Clar wasn't having it.

Summer's over, and it's time to...

...Bring on the fall!

New Every Morning

"Yet this I call to mind,

And therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

His mercies never come to an end;

They are new every morning;

Great is your faithfulness."

Lamentations 3:21-23

I Know I'll Forget

I really like scrapbooking as a way of storing pictures. They're better than photo albums for being able to look back and tell the story of when someone was born, or when we went on that camping trip. But since I'm two years behind on scrapbooking and I just seem to keep taking pictures, when I finally get to the pictures I'm taking these days I know I won't remember the kids' milestones to complete the memories.

Like how Ellie's so proud of herself for knowing "the whole song" (many whole songs), so I don't correct her when she sings, "Tea, a drink with John and Fred. And that will bring us back to Doe, oh, oh, oh, Doe!"

Perks

There are a lot of upsides to living with so many grown-ups. There are lots of people to play with Ellie and Clar. We take turns making dinner and grocery shopping, so the burden of feeding everyone is shared. Also, my brother Frankie works at Edible Arrangements and occasionally brings home extras!