Valentine's Day 2011

On Valentine's Day this year, Timmy and I had a little craft time and made valentines for the family and for some friends, and Tabitha really enjoyed posing with them.  Here is our sweet little valentine:

Both Timmy and Tabitha are getting so big!  Tabitha is definitely completely out of the newborn phase and is constantly smiling as if she is overflowing with joy, which of course makes the rest of us smile, too.  Timmy is full of energy and fun, and seems to have gone overnight from being a toddler to a little boy; there is definitely no baby left in him anymore.  Really, why does being almost 3 make him suddenly look like he's ready to go off to school!?

Dan and I were excited to able to go on a quick dinner date while a friend (who is also our teammate and now neighbor) watched the kids for us for a couple of hours.  After walking the kids across the street to their house, Dan and I walked out of our neighborhood and down the main highway through town to our favorite Italian restaurant.  It was closed (and to make it even more laughable, not only was it closed, but a big backhoe was ripping up the entrance)!  So, we enjoyed a longer walk into town to eat out and get ice cream cones for our walk back.  Being able to walk just the two of us into town was a very special Valentine's Day treat!

one month

In the past month, we have...

packed up all our belongings,
moved to a new house,
barely unpacked,
loved living across the street from some good friends,
been adjusting to living in a more tico-style house,
immediately felt at home in our new place,
had our running water go out every day,
enjoyed great visits from Dan's parents and my dad,
set up host families for our five new interns,
welcomed our new interns to Atenas and to EMI,
dedicated Tabitha at Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva (our church here)
hosted a couple of interns overnight,
had a pancake breakfast and several team dinners in our new home,
not been feeling well,
gone to a lot of doctor's appointments,
had intern orientation week,
followed by office staff week,
followed by member care week,
brainstormed with our pastor about our church's upcoming missions conference,
been surprised by a sweet celebration of Tabitha by my tica friends,
had meetings in our home every day last week, 
dreamed about new ministry opportunities in Atenas,
prayed for Tabitha's reflux to get better,
been told about some upcoming major changes for our team,
had some rich times of prayer and learning from God's Word,
laughed every day with our very energetic almost 3-year old Timmy,
rejoiced constantly in the smiles and sweet giggles of 3-month old Tabitha...

Busy?  Yes. 
Tiring?  Yes. 
Good?  Yes!
No time to blog?  Exactly.