His bags are packed

Tommy's boxes on their way down the road last Friday. He'll see them again in Dallas on or about August 28th.

Favorite things

At six weeks old, Meghan already has a few favorite things. We can tell because she gazes at them with rapt attention:

the headboard of our bed and the picture Joseph hung above it,

the curly end of the headboard,

ceiling fans, especially when they are spinning

the view around her in the bassinette

the panda mobile--a 6-time favorite

She loves her friends, the pandas. She even smiles at them and "talks" to them. Her latest word is "aaaa." ;-)

First smiles

4 weeks old--one of her first smiles

a month and a week old

she's getting better at this smiling thing

She's a smiling expert at 6 weeks old :-)

We're completely charmed!

Tummy time

Meghan has been learning to lift her head. This video is from July 14th, when she was 5 1/2 weeks old. Sorry it's a little dark. We're still figuring out the video on our camera.

Notice her proud big sister in the background. :-)

One month

Meghan at 4-5 weeks old:

Catching our breath

As Mom and Dad departed, my post-baby rest also ended.

We hit the ground running Monday morning with Vacation Bible School on base. Everyone but John was involved this year, and Tommy and Patrick made it great fun with their daily opening skits. Katie and Joseph enjoyed the crafts, stories, and other activities. Matthew and Meghan helped me help the music director teach the kids a couple of songs each day. Our hard work paid off when the kids performed some of the songs for their parents at the closing gathering yesterday.

We also had to say goodbye to another great family this week. Katie will miss her friend Claire very much, and I will miss visiting with Claire's mom on Sundays and at CWOC (the women's group at church). It's a challenge for a person who tends to be introverted in the military environment. It takes me awhile to build up to friendships, and while I love the community and the openness of almost everyone I meet, often just as I feel I am beginning to know a person, she has to move on (or I do). Still, I am grateful for these short friendships that God leads me toward. My life would be much poorer without them.

We wish them well in their new assignment and rejoice with them that they will be near home and family this time. Godspeed!

Today, I am settling down. Enjoying being in the house for more than sleeping. Tunneling my way through the mountains of laundry that have not been done while we were out. Grateful for early rain that led to canceled ball games to clear the day and afternoon sun to bleach Meghan's diapers. Listening to the cheerful shouts of my two middle children playing ball in the yard for the first time with the Japanese neighbor's grandchildren. Happy for the scent of cut grass and the promise of watermelon for dessert tonight. Summer is here.

Thanks for a great visit!

What a wonderful visit we had with Mom and Dad! It meant a great deal to us to have them here for Meghan's baptism and Patrick's Eagle Court of Honor. And it was just plain nice to have a chance to reconnect with them. Even though telephone and internet communication are great blessings, they cannot completely replace the joy of being in the presence of those whom we love.

Mom was amazing, as usual. While still jet-lagged, she baked a brown sugar pound cake for Meghan's baptism party and took care of many other details for both of the parties we had the first weekend they were here. And then she and Dad did most of the washing up of pans and serving trays that had to be returned to the club the morning after the court of honor. I know we would not have had such low stress levels (or gotten to bed before one a.m.) if they hadn't been here to help.

Besides all that, Mom finished an embroidery project that has been waiting to be done since before Matthew was born. Our shower curtain looks so much prettier now, thanks to her. :-)

And Dad was great with all of the kids, but especially Matthew, who latched onto Papapa almost as soon as he arrived and kept him very busy reading stories, playing puppets and trains, and tossing the ball outside. Besides that, Dad brought us pictures on CD of family events. It was so much fun to see all the cousins, aunts and uncles.

We had been missing our annual summer trip home very much, and Mom and Dad brought us a bit of home. It was hard to let them go on Monday, but we know our cousins are happy to have them back again, and they must be happy to be back in their own bed--if they've recovered enough from the jet lag to notice where they are ;-).