My Little Valentine

Because at some point I am going to write an awesome post about my rockin' valentine, but didn't have time to because I was too busy on a hot date with him, these pictures of my little Valentine will have to suffice. . .

   

And I will leave you with these kisses from my little mini-valentine!

The Birds

Did you ever see that Alfred Hitchock movie?  So creepy.  That may be the origin of my general dislike of birds.  I had a boss once who loved birds.  I could never fully support that love.  Now don't get me wrong.  I love all of the cute/trendy birds that are all over the place right now on fabric and in other decor.  I just don't like actual birds.  Some dirty birds keep trying to build a nest in Maya's window box and there are regularly nasty eggs out there that need to be gathered up and thrown away.  But that's not what this blog is about.    Do you see the birds on my blog? (upper right hand corner)  How did they get there?  And more importantly, how do I get RID OF THEM?  They were never intentional.  I think I was trying to change the layout of my blog and somehow got the little flock to nest and while they kind of blend in with most of the backgrounds that I have used--I don't really want them.  I've changed my background many times and they stay.  I've tried to change the layout to "Simple" but they stay.  Any thoughts?  I know I've seen the birds on one other person's blog, but now I can't remember who.  Can you help me with my bird problem?

Walking and Talking

Maya has (finally) taken off this week.  She is officially walking!!  Our internet at home is too slow to be able to upload video, and I've been sick most of the week and didn't feel up to venturing out somewhere in search of faster internet, so you'll just have to imagine how cute she is walking all around.  At first, she would really only walk if she was too busy carrying something to realize that she was walking.  But now, she seems to prefer her new method of mobility over crawling (and she still really likes to carry stuff around).

Another thing she started doing not long ago is this:

She's asking to be picked up.  She doesn't do this often, but each time that she does, it melts my heart!

She's also saying two words:  Mama and Dada.  We were quite excited when we realized that she also recognizes two expressions in Arabic: "blow kisses" and "Do you want water?"  Pretty exciting to watch your child respond so quickly and naturally to a language that has taken you years to even semi-grasp.  It's true what the research says--kids can learn language sooooo much faster if we expose them while they are young.  I'm so very grateful that Maya is going to grow up hearing many languages and knowing people from many cultures (even if she does turn out a little bit "weird" by American standards).

Personality

More and more of Maya's personality is coming out each day. 

 More and more of her teeth are coming out too.  Not quite as much fun . . .

 I think she learned this from Laura (who lives with us currently, whom she really likes).  At first, she would go around each morning, making this face, looking for Laura.  She's gotten so many laughs from people when she does this, that now she does it just because she likes it when people laugh at her (sound like her dad much?!). 

 "The Kissy Face" head on.

 How can this not make you smile?

 Her first braid--doesn't she look SOOOO BIG?!

A Normal Day

 "And what's this?"  you ask. Well, that's the contents of our fridge.  Our fridge that Laura (our current housemate) and I named Leaky Lary.  That was to bring some comic relief to the frustrating state of our leaky fridge.  It's been leaking since we came back home.  Little annoying puddles both inside the fridge and on the floor in front of the fridge.  Several times a day. 

So today my sweet husband brought this sweet little old man to look at our fridge.

This is our empty freezer.  Cute little man went through the freezer and explained how to properly place the items, so that the air can "move and play."  And so that "the windows can breathe well."  Also, he tells us, American refrigerators are the only good ones.  The Japanese ones only last for a year or two.  (This is bad news since ours is Japanese).

Then he moves on to look at our leaky washer.  (It hasn't been named yet.)

 Isn't he a cute little old man?  He kept telling Matt, "None of this was here before."  He's been in the neighborhood forever.  He's also Armenian.  I have a soft spot for Armenians.  They came here during the Armenian genocide in Turkey.  I'm always a fan of the underdog.  The Armenians are underdogs.

 Then when I went into the living room I found this.  "What's this?" you ask.  Maya running away after she realized that she was into something she wasn't supposed to be into.

So that's what our morning looked like. 

Oh by the way, we're supposed to leave our fridge and freezer turned off for 24 hours so it can thaw and hopefully the motor will stop running all the time after it's de-iced.  And after the food is properly placed for optimal air playing. . .

On Eating With a Spoon

"Which end do you use?"

"Is this how you do it?"

 "I'm not sure this thing works right."

"There we go . . ."

 "Momma, this is a lot of work."

 "Why can't we just eat it this way?"

 (she reminds me of Pooh Bear here, trying to get the "Hunny" out of his pot)

 "If I could just get down to the bottom. . . "

 "Something has gone terribly wrong . . . "

 "I love to EAT!"

A Coward

This is how I feel.  Like a big coward.  I sense that God is moving us into a new season in our life and in our following Him.  I am experiencing a divine discontent.  I am tired of feeling like a failure.  Tired of feeling like we are having no impact.  Like we are even smaller than a drop in the bucket.  Tired of justifying a mediocre life with thoughts like, "Well, it's just hard here."  Or "Things just take a lot longer here."  Or the oft-quoted statistic that, "It takes Muslims an average of 6 to 7 years. . . "  I am sick and tired of settling for just what I can do (which I assure you, is not much).  I am longing to see what God can do.  But this is where the coward comes in.  I am scared to death of what He might require of me!  What it might cost me.  I am afraid of what people here think of me.  I actually don't know what I am afraid of.  But I am tired of feeling like the cowardly lion!  I have been so inspired by my friend Abbe, who has been so brave in moving forward with God's plan for her life in spite of so much.  Her family has experienced things that would shut most of us down  in the last year.  But she is moving forward, trusting God's good plan for her life, and taking risks.  She is dreaming!

I read on another blog this quote from Francis Chan's book Crazy Love, “God doesn’t call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn’t come through.”
I have been comfortable and I am tired of it.  I don't know what's coming, but I am actually excited.  For the first time in what feels like a long time, I am excited about what is coming.  Stay Tuned. . .