because some days I still need to be reminded...

A few weeks ago a doctor confirmed a diagnosis which gave me a medical explanation for our infertility lo those many years. My first thought was, "this is absolutely crazy!" I mean, all those years of trying for a baby and seeing doctors and tests and I'm JUST NOW fully understanding what was/is happening with my wacky hormones while at a routine doctor visit? It's absolutely crazy, if you look at it from an earthly perspective. Truth is, I look back and am extremely grateful that at the time I didn't have a "diagnosis." In my heart of hearts, I think God knows I would have sunk into an even deeper pit than I was already in. Truth is God didn't have to answer my prayer for children but He did. Knowing how difficult it is for women with my diagnosis to get pregnant has made me stop again and praise Him for choosing to allow me on this motherhood journey. It also makes those extra drama-filled days that come with having wee ones a bit easier. Something our family likes to do after dinner sometimes is turn on music and dance in the living room. Even Trinity gets in on the action now with her little toddler moves. Last week I pulled out a cd I haven't listened to in over a year but it immediately took me back in time. (Does anyone else have music that does that for them?) When we lived in Ft. Worth, I drove all over town for my job, which gave me some great times for praise and worship on I-35! The Lord used many songs and scriptures to comfort during our "infertility days" but one in particular was Hillsong's "Blessed" cd. And so as my girls and I danced around our living room with Hillsong in the background I was reminded that I still need to choose thankfulness over annoyance when I hear "MOMM-MMYYYY!" for the 140th time in a day because there are many nights I wrestled with the Lord and asked Him for that very privilege. I am so completely blessed. Back in 2004, Kevin and I quickly bonded with a precious couple who also came to live on the East Side. I think one of the things that bonded us so quickly, besides the fact that they are just plain awesome, was our shared infertility journey. They rejoiced with so many others who had children while they prayerfully, beautifully, expectantly waited to become parents. And finally, last year they experienced the miracle of adoption! It has been one of the most beautiful journeys to parenthood I've ever seen. And not long ago they discovered they are expecting another child. JD2, from 0 to 2 kids in 13 months...can you believe it?! We are rejoicing with you! Ok, and since I always love a post with pictures, can I show you a few pictures of our girls taken in February? (I know, taken 2 months ago...I'm so on top of it!)

Easter weekend

Easter completely snuck up on me this year. I'm not too happy about it because I wanted my heart to be more prepared. Days and weeks all seem to run together over here at times like we're in a time warp. So when Nana and Pappaw came and brought Easter dresses for the girls I had to ask when Easter was on the calendar! But I'm thankful we had a great Easter weekend. On Thursday our fellowship had a Maundy Thursday service and we had the L. Supper together. I really liked doing (and needed) this to be reminded of the events leading up to His suffering. On Friday our family took a short trip to the countryside to begin apartment-hunting for our impending move this summer. Again, the time warp thing strikes! We are looking to move in about 2-3 months' time and I can't believe it's upon us so quickly. Our housing options in this new town are limited but we have a few leads on an apartment. (More on this later!) Saturday we indeed dyed some eggs. Grace was in heaven. Since last year's Easter, egg hunting has continued to be one of Grace's favorite things to do. As in, year-round we hide and hunt eggs from time to time. As we were approaching Easter this year we had some re-teaching to do. "Grace, do you remember why we celebrate Easter?" At first she said, "Because Jesus wants us to have egg hunts." and "because we need to celebrate his birthday!" But she eventually remembered it's because "Jesus is Alive!"

Trinity's role in the egg-dyeing process was to tickle Grace's feet. She is fascinated with toes. Oh, and by the way, my baby girl started walking this past week! She's slowly been taking more and more steps and tonight she worked her way across the room several times.

On Sunday morning Daddy was gone helping at an event while the girls and I headed to an Easter breakfast and service. Without Daddy around to help pose the girls, these were the best Sunday morning shots I could get. Nana, we loved the dresses!

Later that afternoon, our friends organized a big egg hunt for both foreign and neighborhood kids. They did a fabulous job! Here's Trinity with two of her favorite big girls. They are so very sweet to her!

The little ones lined up to wait their turn for the hunt...

The race is on! And in case you are wondering, yes, once again this year we had to keep other adults, particularly grandmas from pilfering the eggs before the kids could hunt for them. But I talked with one man and he was so pleased and bewildered to find an egg as he walked by that I just didn't have the heart to tell him to put it back. He kept saying, "really? This is a real egg?" He was completely confused because it was dyed green!

This kind "shu shu" (uncle) helped Grace and made sure she didn't miss any eggs!

Life is so simple when you are one. Trinity was content for about 10-15 minutes just to pick up this egg off the ground and then put it back again. Yes, she did this over and over for quite some time.

Hope you had a fabulous Easter! He is risen, indeed!

highlights from HK and other fun with Nana and Pappaw

After we celebrated Trinity's first birthday and let Nana and Pappaw get over jet lag, we set out to show them some of Hong Kong's highlights. I've decided it's a great thing to visit Hong Kong with a 2-to-1 adult/kid ratio, especially when preschoolers are involved. We took turns getting out altogether and separately in pairs. Kevin took his parents on two outings without the kids so they could linger a bit longer at the beautiful scenery. The first stop was to Victoria Peak because, well, it's one of Hong Kong's most popular places to go! It was an overcast day but the view is always beautiful regardless. On another day Kevin took his folks for a cable car ride, and I think they all enjoyed this much more than going to Victoria Peak. The cable car ends at the world's largest bronze sitting Buddha, or something like that. The Buddha isn't what was exciting, of course, but the view was apparently pretty amazing! (Seeing as how I'm not a fan of cable car rides, I gladly offered to stay with the kids and take them to the park. But after I heard how much fun the cable car ride was I decided next time I might just have to temporarily get over my fear of cable cars.)

Smiles on the cable car...obviously Nana and Pappaw do not share my deathly fear

you can see Buddha sitting on his booty in the background

One afternoon Kevin and Pappaw went on a man-outing, which included a movie and some ribs. I have no picture of that. Nor do I have a picture from the date Kevin and I went on in HK...probably because we were having so much fun talking, shopping, and feeding our faces while not being interrupted by little ones. (Thank you Nana and Pappaw for giving us this time together!) But I DO have a picture from High Tea at the Four Seasons Hotel. Yippee! It's supposed to be one of the top things to do in HK and I've always wanted to go, but for some reason my manly husband has never been interested in tea. Or scones. Or frilly little sandwiches. Nana and I had a great time. Look at the spread!

Of course we had to stop by Disneyland and say hi to Mickey and Minnie. Grace was thrilled to be back. And while riding the carousel we unexpectedly ran into some friends! It was fun to catch up, even if it was too brief. I love meetings like that!

Grace was too shy to visit with the princesses this time but was thrilled to see the characters again. Minnie is by far her favorite. (Grace was still sporting a black eye from a major run-in with her bedroom wall following an acrobatic move gone awry.)

We had to pull out the Minnie-ears for Minnie. Grace asked me later, "How do Mickey and Minnie eat? Their mouths are stuck open! And how do they sleep because they can't close their eyes?" And don't even try to convince Grace that Mickey and Minnie are not real. She will not have it that someone else is inside these costumes. Nope, "they're for real."

After our Hong Kong vacation, Nana and Pappaw came home with us and we got some good play time in with the girls.

And there was plenty of silliness going on...

Next door at the park we took our pictures with our respective zodiac signs. We realized that Grace and Pappaw were both born in the year of the dog!

Nana and Pappaw's birthday gift to Trinity was this amazing tunnel and attached tent. The girls have had so much fun playing in this the last few weeks! We'll have to put it up soon and bring it out for rainy days, but for now they are still enjoying the playtime.

Nana and Pappaw, thank you so much for coming and blessing us! We know it's no small thing to travel to Asia and you were both so gracious to come and spend time with us. We love you!

ONE!

Look who's one!! And guess who traveled across the ocean for her birthday? Trinity had a Hong Kong birthday this year since we had to leave the country again. (Yes, I know it feels like we've been to HK many times this year. 3 to be exact!) Nana and Pappaw flew in the night before Trinity's birthday. We had a fun little family party. Grace was more excited than anyone. That girl loves a good party. It was sweet to see her excited for her sister. Last year at my baby shower for Trinity the only time I got teary-eyed was opening this cute little "One" outfit from Rebekah M. (thank you, friend!) I think the tears came because I knew the first year would fly by quickly. And wouldn't you know it? It did. Trinity, how are you a year old already? Weren't we just in Lubbock at the hospital? I'm thankful for your first year of life. It's given me a chance to stop and savor baby-dom again. You have been such a sweet and wanted addition to our family. We all love you. You had a great, smiley, cuddly birthday. We ate at Amaroni's for lunch and you loved your strawberry birthday cake. Sister helped me make it. She also helped you open your gifts. Trinity, at one year:

• You are cruising furniture and standing on your own. We hope you take your first steps while Nana and Pappaw are here.
• You are completely on table food and eat almost anything we serve you. I guess it's only fitting since you have so many teeth! All four of your molars have partially cut through the gumline.
• You are a good sleeper but will stir if I even set foot in your room at night! I guess you sleep pretty light!
• You love to raise your hands if we say "Hallelujah" or "How big is Trinity?" and clap for us when we sing songs.
• You can say a few words like "Mama," "night-night," and "bye bye." Nana is really working on "Nana" right now and it seems like you've said it a few times :)
• You love to look at books and point to babies' eyes, give us high-fives and "head bonks."
• You love to cuddle (please don't stop this) and suck your thumb while rubbing your ear when you are tired.
• You have the cutest little kinky-curly patch of hair on the back of your head. Sometimes it makes a little mohawk. You will definitely be our curly-top. I apologize in advance for my lack of curly hair-do skills.
• You think your sister hung the moon and give her the biggest cackles of anyone

Happy Birthday, little one!

tunnels and walls and picnics, oh my!

Remember camp? I loved camp. Well, all except the campy, athletic-type stuff. Trust falls, big walls to scale, spider webs and the sort all made me break out into the sweats. I would generally do the minimum I had to do and wait it out until we could move on to other activities. (Don't even get me started on Sunday night volleyball...my head was a magnet for the balls!) So, as you might imagine my athletic prowess was pretty much limited to nertz-playing in the cabin. I'm not just real big on adventure in general (stop laughing, Kristen.) And I thought perhaps my eldest daughter would inherit this from me because she has generally seemed to be on the timid side when it comes to playing outdoors. I can't imagine, cough cough, who might be holding her back.

A few weeks ago, before all the Chinese New Year fun, we were having some crazy warm weather and headed next door to the park for a picnic. It was probably one of the funnest family outings we've had in a long time. We live next door to GORGEOUS Green Mountain park but have not gone very often, sad to say. It's a "pay-to-get-in" park. Most of the year it's hot and humid. The park is huge and takes quite a time commitment to go through...you get the idea. But this day in February was gorgeous and we had the time. In fact, we've had many family trips to Green Mountain park this month. Even bought the month pass...

We were surprised to see some new equipment. Campy, ropes course-type equipment. Let me just that one of the first things I saw was "the wall," and I immediately had flashbacks to camp. I think I started sweating just thinking about it!

But Grace SHOCKED us and starting climbing up this little tunnel.

and went all the way to the tippy top...

then climbed down the 15-foot ladder (with Daddy spotting, of course!)

and did a little victory dance. She was so excited! Much more tunnel climbing followed...

There are some smaller, not-so-scary things to do. This was about my speed. My big stud of a husband is the athlete of the family and scaled the huge wall (proof posted above!) in like 3 seconds. Seriously.

Smiles all afternoon...

We ended our day with a picnic, complete with expensive imported Diet Dr. Pepper from the import store. Hooray for the import store!

And I wonder what this one will think of tunnels and walls at age 3? (Ok, really I don't just yet. But how could I NOT post a picture of this cutie at the picnic?!!)

the snuggler

I will never, ever get tired of this...