No Hands

I can't tell you how much this video makes my heart soar and ache at the same time. When it was happening I was cheering and celebrating. Only after, did I feel the sting of seeing time pass before my eyes. My babies are no longer babies. M&M are 18 months old now and I was ever so worried about them still not walking more than a few steps on their own. But each week I was seeing progress and seeing them gain more confidence. So I knew that when they were ready, they would. It is amazing to me how they are becoming little people before our eyes. So cute how Mary Ellen is just sitting there watching him. She'll be close behind. Enjoy!

Pretty Baby Toes

Mary Ellen has the prettiest toes. Now, I know I'm a somewhat biased observer but she really does. Mama Jo (Andrew's Mother) always said she has a piano-players fingers and beautiful toes for sandals. It's true! For her to be so short...she's under the 5% in height for her age...she has such long graceful fingers and toes. We had fun one afternoon painting them up to look like mine. She always notices if I have my toenails painted and loves to touch them. So she thought it was great fun when I painted hers.

His Two Girls

Yesterday we had the most wonderful delivery! Let me start by saying that this week's been rough. Andrew's been night flying, which is always more work for me and no time with M&M for him. On top of that I've gotten a cold and am afraid the babies may have gotten a touch of one too. So when the delivery men came to the door I almost sent them away. He had to show me the invoice. Then...in the back of my mind I remember Andrew telling me he had a surprise for me and Mary Ellen (his girls) for Valentine's Day but it was going to be delayed. Here it is!
This beautiful hand carved Rosewood chest! This is a prized craft here and is, no kidding all hand carved. Amazing!

Andrew chose the beautiful Navy (it's not this royal of a blue in person) velvet for them to line it with and had my initials inlaid in brass on the inside. The top tray lifts out for more storage underneath.

And do you know what he told me? He said "I thought you'd like to keep some of the babies special things in it like a hope chest for them". Can you believe how sweet and thoughtful that is? Now many of you know were I started with Andrew some 12 years ago and boy has his gift-giving ability improved! I think I've told the story a million times when he gave me rope after declaring he had a "surprise" for me. Now those of you that know Andrew, know that a bundle of rope for him is truly a great surprise. Anyway, I digress...

The next item that was delivered was a jewlery box for Mary Ellen. It is also beautiful Rosewood but hers is inlaid with brass on the top and sides along with her initials on top. She really loved it. So sweet to me that she'll always know that her Daddy gave her this special gift for Valentine's Day! She loves jewlery already. The first thing she does most days is find her play necklace that she got for Christmas and put it on her neck. So we may be in trouble in that department!

Thanks again my love. You continually surprise me with your thoughtfulness. We love you!

Our Love

To quote Andrew, "This was the best Valentine's Day we've ever had"! On Thursday, he surprised me by getting a babysitter and taking me to dinner... Mexican (my favorite) and "La Chocolate" the BEST place for desert. A true treat considering how hard-to-come-by babysitters are here. And on Saturday, I returned the favor by preparing a roof-top dinner for him. We have a great roof-top deck. It's huge and has a great view, but unfortunately it's unusable most of the year because it's so dang hot here! But the weather has been perfect lately. We had a dust-storm the end of the week and I was afraid it would spoil my surprise but it cleared up perfectly by Saturday. A great steak dinner and star-gazing with chocolate covered strawberries...PERFECT! It has been a long haul for us over the past 6 years, struggling with infertility and then being separated for the over a year Andrew was here before we arrived. But God used the time we had apart to heal our hearts and our marriage. I can truly say we are better now after 10 years of marriage than when we first met. So for that alone I'll always be grateful for this assignment, as difficult at times as it was. We are headed into a big transition, as Andrew completes his separation from the USAF and we move back state-side permanently. We feel strongly that God has opened this door and will bless us wherever it leads, if we trust. And of course we will. Just look what He's brought us through already!

Valentine Fun

The weather has been just beautiful here. Very spring-like. I guess the 2 weeks of 50 degree days was as close to winter as we're going to get here! But we have loved going for walks and spending time outside. I took these pictures on two different days with M&M sporting their Valentine finest! They especially loved the flowers and Michael can practice his pointing...his new thing. He loves outside so much he often will point and say "ou-fs"...his word for outside.

The "Ladies Man" and "I Love Mommy" shirts were a fun gift from our good friends Pinto and Aly. They are just so cute in them. Andrew will ask Michael, "Who's the Ladies Man, Michael?" and Michael will slap his chest enthusiastically. Very cute!

We've had so much fun doing crafts for Valentine's Day. We've done lots of hearts and fun cards using their hand and foot prints. My "Mommy Blogs", as I like to call them, have been a wealth of information and ideas. We made candy necklaces, which are Mary Ellen's favorite, and heart cookies. As you can see below Mary Ellen loved to help decorate the cookies. In fact, Miss Independent started crying everytime I tried to help her. She wants to do it all on her own! Michael just loved to eat them!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!