it's been a while! michael is working late and the girls are asleep...what's a mom to do with time on her hands??? i'll skip the cleaning and take some time to share some fun photos and chat about the happenings in our area...it's really a lot of work and play to be honest. i am loving my work on labor and delivery; i enjoy the people i work with and the patients are genuinely interesting (what's more interesting than adding a whole new person to the world?)! there've been some sad, difficult situations but i am using these opportunities to share that i am a christian and pray for these ladies and their families. it's actually quite liberating--and i've found the more i work up the courage to share about what God has done for me, the easier it gets! i'm not super bold yet, but i am working up to it. the most challenging part is knowing what to say and when to say it. i am confident God will lend me the proper words as he allows my confidence and boldness to grow.

eva's three...we had a lot of fun for her birthday!

presents!

her pink balloon

demonstrating how to smile for the camera

joy

mmm...cake!

she definitely knew she wanted to go to the zoo and have pink cake when she turned three, so that's just what we did. we visited the national zoo with friends and family the saturday after her birthday and i do believe a good time to be had by all--though joy slept through the majority of the outing.

sleeping beauty

eva's favorite!

bird of paradise

eva and her buddies

my three year old eva!!!

awake--just in time for the ride home

a double rainbow to end the day

i am a little shocked right now--one of the nurses i worked with in arlington just lost her husband in a firearm accident. apparently he was cleaning his gun saturday morning and it discharged, killing him. please pray for this young woman--she is truly an exceptional nurse and one of those people in life you would wish nothing but the best. and they are our age; so young to go through such a life altering loss. i pray she has strong family and friends to ease her through her grief.

obviously two very different levels of appreciation for the climate conditions...

snow angels--sort of

see our snowman that's proportional to the size of our yard?

workin' hard

she's so strong!

clearly enthused

watch out for the yellow stuff!

ready to head in to dry off and warm up