Glimpses of early spring

I love to hear squeals of happiness and creak of tricycle wheels.  Windows flung open to let in the crisp spring air. The scent of warm oatmeal cookies mingled with drying apples drifts through the house and I see baby toes digging into the floor for balance in standing.  The story of Lucy and Mrs. Tiggywinkle reminds me how much I love Beatrix Potter and I am thankful that my children have a daddy who will take the time to read to them in the morning sunshine before heading to work. 

Spring is here, however unofficially according to my calendar, and with it, the arrival of spring teams from far out of state.  We have three teams here, one from Mississippi State, one from Covenant College in Georgia, and one from Ole Miss.  These teams of college students have come like a whirlwind of joy in my life.  As we sang "Happy birthday" over 10-year-old Jessica, my friend's little girl, I teared up.  Why did the exuberant cheering and clapping bring tears to my eyes?  It was a little taste of heaven on earth to see all these different people here together and cheering for a child I love and making her feel as special as she is.  These tastes of heaven brought by the teams help those of us who carry on their work through the rest of the year be able to see again the hope of Christ.  There are so many good reasons to bring these wonderful short term teams out here, and from my seat at 10:00 on a Wednesday night, the encouragement they bring with them is a great benefit to the long term ministry. Thank you, God, for your perfect timing, and for your children about your work. 

Rosie is starting to stand independently more now.  I thought she would surely be walking by 9 months, but here she is at ten months and just starting to let go finally.  That girl was in a rush to be upright and cruising on furniture, but apparently was content with that.  The appointment to look at her hips turned out to be amazingly unnecessary - the x-ray was just bad!!!  She was pushing up with her pelvis when they took the image (which I actually did suspect) but the other x-ray they took showed that her hips were clearly normal developing. Thank you to everyone who was praying for us during that stressful time.