Catching Up: Springing out of Winter!

Spring finally rolled into town in late April, and we finally had warmer days with sunshine and green leaves sprouting from the dreary brown tree trunks. That's always my sign of spring in these parts of the country - once the trees are green again I breath a sigh of relief. This meant that we were out and about at the parks ALL THE TIME! So excited to get out of the house, breath fresh air, and let Madeline run and climb her little heart out.

We also frequented the library quite a bit on those rainy spring days. She loves all the puzzles and little games in the children's section, and we are working on not ransacking all the books off the bookshelves. Just so many books to explore!

We spent one Saturday afternoon for a long, lazy stroll along a nearby riverwalk. Madeline loved all the Mallard ducks, and we even saw (so James tells me) a Wood duck. It was so beautifully painted.

We finished off our walk at Starbucks, and Madeline got her first drink - a strawberry smoothie. This girl thinks she is SO cool when she gets to have the same cup/food/plate as her mommy and daddy.

We had an end of the year celebration with our small group from church. We started off with four couples and no children 2.5 years ago. We now have 5 couples, 5 children, and two babies (and possibly one more via adoption) on the way. Such a joy to share in the ups and downs and spiritual journeys with these friends.

And some of our friends moved to Texas late spring, and left us thier old jogging stroller. We are using it tons on the Prairie Path these days. So much better than our other strollers - but now I just lost my excuse to only walk with Madeline. I've been slowly picking up jogging with her in the stroller, and James has been getting back into running shape as well.

Thank you, Lord, for spring and new life. This past winter was a long one for us, both because of cold and blustery days but also because of career disappoints and unknowns in our future. And although we are still living in some unsettling uncertainty about our future, we are grateful for all the small pleasures and sighs of relief that spring brought with it.