day to day

    as every mother knows, seasons come and go so fast...newborn... to smiling... to rolling... to crawling...teething and rashes...waking up in the night. seasons or time periods that feel so long in the middle of them, but then they without warning are over. budda boom. 

   I am reflecting on our daily lives this season. Being back in Lebanon about a month and reflecting on what is normal for us...what is life giving...what is  happening...

Still feels like summer. my spirit and body are at war with one another. one is saying to read books and sip hot drinks by candle light. the other is scantily clad in the house due to overheating. One is dreaming of soups and homemade bread. the other is only making salads and tacos because using the oven is a little too hot for comfort. 

but that means we are still looking for options to cool off...it means the beach in september and going to the River with our buddies.








 It means really long extended bath times at various points in the day to cool off. Which make for hilarious moments of claire discovering that if she is standing and sophia is standing and they are both dancing-then their bootys are bumping..well...it makes for lots of giggles!

 Sophia, doll baby,has entered into the total phase of steal-my-heart interactive. she claps when she sees me. she claps when we sing or when she hears any music. She sings with me every time i break into song...she does this cute shy thing when i am holding her where if i am excited or talking excitedly she arches her neck to look me in the eyes and smiles real shy and sweet like she wants to connect with me in my excitement.

 she is crawling and talking and chasing balls with Layla. Claire is exlaiming about how “cute!” or how “sweet!” sophia is and want to hold her, wrestle her, dance with her...and has started wanting to match with her. ha! 

back to life here...

we are loving having the Demans as neighbors...going to the park with them...prayer slots with them...hosting parties and meetings at our houses

i am loving making more lebanese meals...shish tawouk...taboleh, salads, mujadarra, uzzi...complimented with authentic ful and hummus whenever we want. 

loving our house looking  more and more cozy...pictures on the wall...centerpieces... hints of fall decor up...

our options of family fun...walking on the cornish...parks...beaches...camping...

sweet young lebanese man really wanted Layla to touch this crab. this is as close as we got. 

 

how having a crawling cutie that interacts more and more makes us feel so much like a family of four. 

going to our local church here...loving the relationships coming out of that...

working on Claire to get a better handle on arabic. Drew is speaking to her 75% of the time in arabic. she loves it. and we put her in a little preschool two mornings a week to help her also in this..

envisioning how we can change things up...move forward...what the next adventure for our family is...where we  can use our talents...and we sure love talking about these type of topics...

and nightly storytelling with the Bear.


her brain is just a delight. debriefing her day and praying and telling stories. imagination is so important to me, and i don't totally understand how to cultivate an active lively one, but this girl has got it. she is dreaming and scheming and cracking us up.

Nala's lion mane she told me. i love her curls!!

 well this turned more into a feeling post than a detailed picture of life..but i guess that is primarily due to my brain.

found her sleeping like this early one afternoon....heavenly.