During my quiet time today I thought about my friend and teacher Boley who unfortunately passed away last week (his funeral was today). Boley was such a gentle, sweet individual with a great deal of patience. Often when someone I know or had any continuous contact with dies, I think about how they impacted my life and how I hopefully impacted their life. Boley worked in the sign language lab at UALR and taught me a lot of my basic skills. He was always there to help me and never made me feel stupid because I didn't know a sign. Boley taught me to be patient with people who are trying to learn something new. I later used what I learned from him to teach sign language to elementary school children (that takes a ton of patience). I know that Boley knew that I loved him unconditionally and thought he was a fantastic teacher. I hope that I also had an influence on his life eternally (I will know if I did, someday).

While Mili and I took a walk early this morning, we enjoyed all of God's creation. What a wonderful breeze while the birds sang their tunes. Mili learned how to sign "tree" and tried "bird" but signed it down by her leg (like dog) instead of up by her face. A guy walked out of his apartment with a dog and Mili was signing dog over and over as she watched him, laughing the whole time. The dog was like the one on the Taco Bell commercial for so long (cute....huh). He stopped and let Mili look at the dog. She enjoyed that. She also likes to watch the squirrels.

We hope that the weather will be more like summer soon. We bought Mili a floatie with a canopy for the pool. The tricky part is finding mommy a bathing suit that will stay on when I come up out of the water (it is like trying to make a rubber band fit tightly on a toothpick....it doesn't matter how many times you wrap it around and around it never seems to get tight enough). I have decided they need to make suits that you can put on then blow-up as much as you need to (like those arm floaties) in order to have it close enough to the skin to stay up. Anyway.....enough about my suit.....I will not be ashamed to jump in with my shorts and t-shirt on if I have to so Mili can get in and splash. It will definitely take a week or so of warm weather before I will be able to get in anyway (don't like the water to be so cold that my lips turn blue...my niece, Abby and her friend, Chris don't mind blue, shivering lips....but I do).

Mili has found the volume button on the TV (it has been fun with the roller coaster volume control today.....she turns it up then doesn't know how to get it back down.....I turn it down and then Mili turns it down more and doesn't know how to get it back up.....and so on). I have had my exercise today (up and down...up and down).

Well, I need to go and feed my garbage disposal (she gets restless if I wait too long to feed her). If you can't tell by the pictures in the past entries, she is 32 inches and weighs 23 pounds. She could definitely miss a few meals and still be a-okay (before all of you go calling SCAN on me....you need to come pick her up). I tell everyone to watch out for my "strong" arm. My left arm is the one I always hold Mili with because I am right handed. So literally my left arm is quite a bit different in size compared to my right.

Got to go for now.

Yeeeepppeeee 30 Minutes of Sunlight

Okay so it was probably longer than 30 minutes of sunlight but it sure has felt like we are going to float away recently. Mili and I had a short window with no rain in order to go for a walk to the playground on campus and we went to take a look at the pool. The lifeguard was having lunch and no one was in the pool. The pool looks like it may have over flowed last night. I think they were emptying some of the water out this morning.

Mili has been quite fussy today because I am trying to change her schedule from two naps (morning and afternoon) to one nap in the middle of the day. She slept a whole 45 minutes today. I should have known what to expect. Mili does this type of thing any time I change her schedule. It will take a week or two before she will sleep for a full 2 hours. It sure makes it tough to put up with her in the afternoon until she gets on track.

I did get my bible study in today. I have found out if I put the Baby Praise (DVD) on for Mili she praises Jesus (she puts her tiny hands in the air with the other babies on the video) and I can talk with Jesus and read His Word. We don't have the TV on much during the day but Mili is always begging for the Baby Praise. I do let her watch it but I would rather her listen to music and not sit in front of the TV so much. When I feel like she has watched too much TV, we compromise with turning on the CD she loves so much.

We had two or three more heavy downpours today. In the middle of the night last night some people in the next town over (Rockville) were evacuated from their homes because there was a leak in the damn close to their houses (about 100 homes). Other than that, we have seen little affect from all this water in our area, except that we are tired of being wet and ready to dry out a bit. Tomorrow is suppose to be less rain and then Friday is suppose to be sunny 83 degrees with NO RAIN.....YYYEEEEPPPPPEEE!!!! I think I may take Brian to work and then take Mili out somewhere. We have been couped up in the house for too many days.

Well I am tired and plan to rest a bit until we go to bed. Hope all is well with our friends and family. We think of ya'll often. Hugs and Kisses.

Double Date and 1/2

In the pictures above Mili was checking out her new shoes, hat and buttons on her vest. She is busy all the time.....especially when I am trying to take pictures of her. I put a pink ball cap on her because it is raining here (yes, again) but it was too big. She cried when I took the other one away so we compromised with this hat and she wore it the entire time we were in the resturant.

Today we (Brian, Mili and I) went on a double date (and 1/2) with Peter and Anna (friends from church). They are one of the first couples that helped us get plugged-in to the church and we have been to their house for parties and dinner several times. Mili was great except for her normal begging technique. She wants what is on your plate but doesn't want it in her mouth (just a taste, that's all). Brian had an apple ....her favorite (she just wants to naw on it leaving teeth track marks and she also likes to suck on it.

Mili is learning the B-I-B-L-E song. My mom gave her a book for Easter that has a CD with it (if you have read previous entries, this is the CD that we listen to about 20 times a day). Mili's version is something like this....B-I-B-I-BEEEE. It is so sweet when she sings. I will play the CD as many times as she wants if she will learn the songs and apply them to her life someday, smile.

I will go for now and try to post this....it has not posted the last two times and I am tired of typing it over again. It gets shorter every time I type it up again. Pardon the spelling....couldn't use the spell check.

Love to all !!!!! 

Rain, rain go away!!

What a down pour. It has been raining cats, dogs, sheep, cows, horses and pigs. Mili is not sure she likes it. The thunder scares her. She cries when it gets very loud and becomes extremely clingy. We got about 8.4 inches of rain in 36 hours. That figure is how much rain we are suppose to have in two months. We had some flooding close by but not in our specific area (thank God). There were many parking decks that flooded and ruined many cars. I think the worst was in VA and closer to the DC area. The beltway (the main highway around DC) was closed on one side until this morning when they opened two lanes (there was debris on the road and it took a while to clean it up). Traffic was terrible this morning because of all the flooded streets around. Many people got to work very late to find out their office was closed due to flooding in the basement. We are glad that Brian only has a short distance to work and all the roads there were clear.

Yesterday Brian and I were busy at work again. Our Pastor is on sabbatical and so we are having different people fill in to preach for him (no, Brian did not preach). Yesterday our Life Group leader was preaching so Brian taught Life Group again. I worked with the 2 year olds (it was me and Brian's scheduled day to work, we worked last week because we traded with someone so we would be covered when we went home in May/June).

We had a great sermon about the things we all know about already (he called it a reminder sermon). How important it is to go to church, read God's Word, and live the lifestyle outside the church. You know I really don't have a problem with the the attending church part. I grew up with great parents who made sure I was in church every time the doors were open so it is not even a question on Sunday and Wednesday if I will go to church or not (we had to be bleeding, dying or throwing up to stay home). One of the things I want to teach Mili is that we (her dad and I) are not sporadic about church (we don't want her to think that something else we want to do on that day is more important than God....kids are smarter than we think they are). I do sometimes have problems getting my bible study and prayer time in on a regular basis. I feel so much better when I can have my quiet time with God. Many times I only have the time that Mili is asleep to get that in (and everything else too). If I have other things going on like work or cleaning the house, I will sometimes not get in my quiet time with the Lord. I also would love to live like Christ everyday, not just on Sunday. You and I both know that we are all sinners so this is an extremely difficult task. Our goal should be to strive to live like Christ everyday of our lives. Now that I have Mili it is even more important to me that I explain to her when I fail so she doesn't follow the wrong influences. It was hard enough to live the right lifestyle before we had Mili but now I feel a lot more responsibility to live right so I can teach her the right way. I know I will make mistakes (we all do) but I want Mili to know how much I love God.

Before reading this, I know most of you thought I was perfect (yeah right) but now you know the real truth. This entry may not have helped you any, but it was good for me to get my thoughts out.

Love to all....hugs and kisses.

Today has been a good day. We started out the day with some family time. Some of my favorite times are in the morning after Mili wakes up (many times before 6 am) and we bring her to bed with us (our rule is that it has to be light outside in order for her to get to come to the bed with us....we don't want her to wake up in the middle of the night or early morning and expect to be taken to our bed). She will sometimes fall back to sleep for another hour or so in our bed in the morning. When she wakes up she thinks it is her job to wake mommy and daddy up too. The other day Mili woke Brian up with a good tug on his eyelashes in order to open his eye. Our time in the bed is the best ever!!!!

After family time we got ready to go to a Cook Out at one of Brian's co-workers houses. I enjoyed getting to meet some of the people Brian works with and the food was great. The rule was to bring something native to your home country. There were some interesting foods there. We took good ole fashion cheesy potatoes (can anyone say fattening, fattening, fattening). We wanted to make sure it reflected our southern roots, smile.

While at the Cook Out, Mili enjoyed their dog and cat. She is not around animals much (only the squirrels that run back and forth across the sidewalks at the apartment building). We had to teach her she could not "pat" (hit) the dog and the cat really didn't come close enough to her (smart cat....but Mili did try to chase it down once or twice). These are times when I am thankful she is not walking yet. She is trying to let go and step but has not quite got it down.

We then went to buy Mili 's big girl car seat. She loves the seat and wants to sit in it in the house and as you can see by the pictures above she enjoyed the box as well.

I then went to pick up a few groceries. When I come home with all the bags, Mili wants to "help". She takes everything out of the bags and stacks it up and I put it away. We are a great team. I love to watch her concentrate on something and accomplish her task. Her face is priceless when she has a big pile of groceries beside her and the sacks are empty.

We are all tired and going to bed now. We love you all and miss you lots.

2 Days in a Row!!!

Wow....Thursday was another day like Wednesday. Mili had her 12 month check-up at 3:30 pm. Up til that point everything was fine. Brian came home to let me have the car and then I dropped him off at work (because of the security at Brian's work I am not allowed in because I don't have a badge.....he has to walk from the gate to the building he works in...not fun in the extreme heat or extreme cold).

Anyway, I took Mili to the doctor (a new doctor for us). He is absolutely awesome with Mili. When he was about to enter the room he stuck a puppet in the door first and talked to Mili. During the whole exam and question-answer time he played with her. I was very impressed. I also love the drive to the doctor's office because it reminds me of Arkansas. It is on a two lane country road and in a very small town outside of Gaithersburg. We were there until 10 after six because I asked the doctor about me needing the Rubella vaccination (while I was pregnant I tested positive for not being immune to Rubella). He wanted me to get the vaccination while I was there so I had to fill out paper work on myself and then wait for the nurse to give me the shot. Meanwhile....Mili had not eaten or had an afternoon nap and we had small group bible study at 7:00 pm two towns over. Because I was not planning on it taking so long, I thought we would be able to go home first. Boy, was I wrong.

Like I said before...I left the office at 10 after six to go pick up Brian from work. In the process of driving and trying to get Brian on the phone to let him know I was coming, I took a wrong turn. Thank God, I immediately knew I was on the wrong street. So in the process of finding a place to turn around, Brian calls me back. Now I am talking on the phone and trying to find a place to turn around and we are going to be late for bible study. Fortunately even though Mili was hungry, sleepy, and wet, she was by this time snoozing in the back and I am on my way (on the right street) to get Brian. After picking up Brian, we tried to take a "short cut" (are there such in Maryland??) which did not work because it was rush hour (in Maryland rush hour is from about 3-7 pm). We were now trying to get to Target for milk and diapers for Mili (she drank all the milk I had for her in the doctor's office because she was so hungry and I had one diaper in her bag). I fed Mili while Brian went shopping. We finished at about the same time and went to check out. The poor little guy (new guy, of course) didn't ring it up right and had to ring it up again. We get in the car at 10 after seven (suppose to be at small group at seven) and I call the leader to tell him we are on our way and we have had a day!!! They were very supportive of us and met us at the door with hugs and breathing exercises, smile. Just like yesterday, I felt so much better after fellowship with friends and bible study. God has a way of calming me from a hectic day with supportive people from Greenridge (that is the name of our church for those of you that don't know).

After small group we came home, put Mili to bed (again and again....now that she can stand up, she likes to do that instead of lay down....and she loves to flick the light on and off), I made Brian and I some bacon sandwiches and then I talked on the phone to my mom til almost midnight. Needless to say, we were pooped. Okay....enough about yesterday.

Today has been a fairly decent day. Mili has been a little tired and cranky (I think from getting her shots yesterday). We went for a walk today (the doctor told me that she needs to be outside at least one hour a day if not more. He says that kids have so many allergies these days because they stay in an air tight home with stale air). Makes sense to me. We enjoyed our walk and Brian came home, while we were out walking/strolling, for lunch.

We plan to go look for a front facing car seat for Mili tonight. It will be the first time in a long time that we have been out as a family. Sometimes it is easier for Brian to pick up things on the way home or for him to come home and then I go to the store to get out of the house and have a break from Mili.

Well, thanks for listening to my venting and I hope the last two days are as funny to you as they are to us now.

Hugs and Kisses to all.....we love ya'll!!!

What a Day....Resting Now!!!

Don't even know where to start...hum....well....okay. I had one of those days today. We have all had them...some have more than their fair share (thankfully I usually have fewer than others). Wednesdays tend to be hectic for me anyway.....and today.......whoa! On Wednesdays we have church so I normally have the day planned out to the minute in order to achieve everything that needs to be done before we leave the house. The good part of the day is that Mili slept and ate on schedule today (or close to it). The day started going down hill at about 5:30 pm after my shower and after feeding Mili and giving her a bath. I actually thought to myself....Wow....we are going to be ready early (normally I am running around getting last minute things done until we walk out the door because something didn't quite go as planned).

I was happy until.....the phone rang.....it was a personal business call. This call was about something that was suppose to already be taken care of when we moved here and then again we tried to take care of it in April....but still no one seems to understand my story and frankly I am very tired of telling it over and over. I was nice on the phone at first (just like always) but the more and more that I had to explain myself (of course, a repeat of what I've said before) the more frustrated I became. Meanwhile....Mili is tearing up everything in site, pulling everything off the shelves, pulling on my pants (jeans...so they didn't fall down), screaming and crying when I wouldn't (couldn't) pick her up. I was telling her to "be quiet"(wanted to tell the guy on the phone to be quiet) and pulling her out of the closet and out from under the bed. He continued to talk and it was now close to 6:00 pm and we leave the house at 6:20 pm for church. I let him know that I needed to go because I would be leaving within the half hour and my baby won't stop crying. He continued to tell me how to "solve" the problem and I told him I would call back when I had more time. While leaving the room to get a pen, Mili shut the door to her room. Usually this would not worry me but if you have been reading my other entries then you know that Mili is now touching the door knobs. I was terrified that she had locked the door (we have the push button locks). I could turn the door knob (relief...aahhh) but I couldn't open the door. Mili was sitting against the door. Trying not to hurt her, I pushed on the door slowly all while I am still listening to the guy on the phone. I wrote down the number and finally hung up the phone at about 6:15 pm. I had....thought I had....five minutes to put on Mili's shoes, pack her cup, and put her bow in her hair. After fighting, kicking, and screaming (both me and Mili) I accomplished all tasks. Then 6:20 came....and went... and at 6:25 I called Brian to see if he was on his way. He got caught up at work and couldn't leave. By the time he arrived, Mili had taken out her bow about ten times and changed pacifiers three times. After arriving to church about 10 minutes late, Mili had pulled off both her shoes. I gave up and let her go barefoot and no bow in her hair. I was too exhausted to fight that battle tonight.

After that lengthy entry of a "wonderful" day, you will be glad to know that we had a great time a church. Just what the doctor ordered for me. We had sandwiches and conversation with our small group (they are terrific) and then sadly finished up our last membership class at Greenridge (now they will really put us to work). We have really enjoyed that class. Getting to know the two other couples and especially Pastor Tim has been great.

AAAAAHHHHHHH......I should sleep good tonight....Mili is!!!
Mom, does the picture above bring back memories???

Mommy, is my light shining???

Here are some photos of Brian and Mili playing the guitar. The picture with Mili's finger in the air is her way of saying, "let's sing, This Little Light of Mine" (yep, that is her little bitty light....cute huh). She even put her finger in the air when I was bathing her, which meant Mommy had to "sing" while she was in the tub. It did keep her calm while I was trying to get her dressed (she doesn't like to put clothes on) and while I was trying to towel dry her hair (she is getting more hair now and it takes too long for her to sit and let me dry it, so she screams).

Today has been a fairly good day. Mili has been quite clingy as you can see in one of the photos. I have to be careful with the clothes I wear out (she will pull on my pant leg until they hit the floor). At home, that happens at least one time a day depending on the pants I am wearing (hope the neighbors don't have binoculars to look in the balcony door when that happens, smile).

Mili's play time today has consisted of switching her three pacifiers back and forth until she tires of it and playing under the table. I am hoping she will get tired of hitting her head on the kitchen table. She doesn't know that she is too tall and doesn't fit, so when she tries to stand up while playing under the table...well it is something like this...THUD..WWWHHHHHAAAAAA........ This happens at least five times a day. She has also tried many times to get into the kitchen (where she knows she is not to go). I am hoping that she will get tired of getting in trouble for it at some point (so far...not the case). My back is tired of getting her over and over again.

Oh well, no one said parenting would be easy. Aren't we glad God made babies cute so we couldn't get too mad at them, smile. Mili's cute little innocent face looking at me makes it hard to get on to her some days....other days.....it doesn't matter.

Hope all is going well with VBS for Holly Springs. Keep up the good work Holly Springs (Dawn, thanks for the update). I will be thinking of you all when I am working in VBS at Greenridge outside during the daytime in July. Love to all!!!

I'm a Big Girl Now!

What a big girl....Mili is growing so fast. I feel like I can't keep up with everything she is doing new each day. Today she has been showing-off her talents. As you can see in the pictures, she is booggin' with the music. She loves the stereo and we have a hard time keeping her away from it. I am in high hopes that she will inherit her daddy's musical gifts (why not....she looks just like him...even though I gave birth to her....no resentment or anything, smile). She likes to move (dance) to the music already and we are trying to reinforce that (don't know how much we should since we are Baptist). Our daily routine includes Mili crawling over to the stereo and pointing (that is my cue to turn on the music). Although she LOVES the music.....Mommy sometimes can't stand to hear it one more time. Mili has a way of getting her way when she looks up at me with those big, beautiful, blue eyes and puts her tiny clinched hands together to sign more. I then turn on the CD for the 5th, 6th, or 7th time in one day.

After seeing the picture of Mili touching the door knob, you can imagine our home will be needing more child proofing soon. She can't turn it yet but it won't be long. She has become "little miss independent" these days. At lunch time today (earlier than her normal lunch time) she crawled over to the seat with her booster chair in it and pointed saying yum,yum,yum. I put her in the chair and she ate everything in site.

We all know as parents our job is to raise children to let them go. That is such a hard concept to understand. We want Mili to grow-up as she is suppose to and mature into a Christian woman that will love God with all her heart, but part of me wants her not to be so independent (I realize this feeling will get worse with time). My prayer for Mili is that I will never get in the way of her doing God's will in her life.

Mili has now weaseled her way between my feet under the table to play. She is such a joy and I can't imagine life without her (nor do I want to). She has added such meaning to our lives that we had no idea was possible.

Okay, now I am exhausted with all this "big girl" talk and ready to stop thinking of her growing so much, for now anyway, smile.

Father's Day

How about today, It is Father's Day. We started celebration this morning with worship to our Heavenly Father. Our pastor (Pastor Tim) shared important lessons his father taught him growing up and is still teaching him today. We also watched a clip from a video about Dr. Dobbson's father. Wow....what a powerful story it was. Brian and I then served in "helping hands"(we are just an extra set of hands for the teachers during second hour, we do it once a month). Today we were in the 3 year old class. We started out playing instruments, then heard a lesson about Joseph and his father, finally made a card for their fathers, ending up with free play (their favorite part of all of it).

After arriving home, Mili and I hid in the other room in order to make Daddy a card. Mili stuck some of the stickers on (some upside down). Then we presented Brian with his gifts and cards. Mili got daddy a shirt and I got Brian the newest Todd Agnew CD (which we are listening to right now....or at least I am .....Brian and Mili are asleep in the chair (everything these days can be real time with digital cameras, photo above).

I am so blessed to have Brian as my husband and as Mili's father. He is an excellent father who drops everything for Mili (a sometimes very demanding Mili). He tries to always give me breaks so that I don't feel so stressed by trying to accomplish everything. I could not ask for a better husband and father than Brian. I am so glad we followed God's plan in being a couple and especially giving birth to precious Mili. We are so glad to be a family (Mother's and Father's Days used to be very difficult for us).

Our next highlight of the day will be to get a call from the family on the the video phone so we can celebrate Father's Day with our fathers. The video phone has been the only way I have kept my sanity with this move. Being so far away from family is tough and the video phone helps to keep us in close contact. The grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all enjoy seeing Mili grow and I enjoy seeing everyone on Sunday (our normal day to all gather at the Berry's house for lunch, they have a huge table there). They always seem to keep that table full even after we moved. Good for them....God wants us to fellowship with each other and what better way to do that than around the table with some good "southern" food.

I have to run now....don't think I will get a nap today but that is ok. I hope to focus on making it a stress free day for Brian. Something he can enjoy and feel rested from his everyday tasks.

Mili is winking at Daddy in the first picture (I really think she hates the red light on the camera).

Girl's Day Out

Today, Mili and I are having a girls day out while Brian is out with two of his friends at the shooting range (not sure if that is what it is called or not but I think it is skeet shooting). Brian is excited to be shooting today because he doesn't get the opportunity to hunt here (I am not sure but I think you can only bow hunt in this area, or something like that). I am glad Brian is out having fun. He tends to try to help me with Mili on the weekends or let me have a little time to myself since Mili is at the age where she is under my feet on all days that end in "y" (yes, even in the bathroom, no privacy with little ones). I am thankful for his willingness to help me but I also want him to have some time to himself without the responsibility of me or Mili. What a great guy he is. Brian kept Mili while I went to an all day crop (scrapbooking) on the day before Mother's Day. He deserves it on the day before Father's Day.

It is going to take me forever to write this entry because between each sentence I am rescuing what ever Mili is attacking at the moment (in this case, Brian's guitar).

Speaking of guitar....Mili loves it so much. She claps when Brian plays at home and wants to "play" with him. After Brian is finished practicing, he always lets Mili play "gently". This morning Brian and Mili serenaded me with the guitar, clapping, and "singing" while I was eating breakfast (what and excellent way to wake up). Nothing better in life than family time.

Mili and I went out shopping today (window shopping, it takes green stuff or doing other things I am not willing to do, in order to buy (steal) something). We had lunch at Sam's (cheap pizza and coke for me and Mili had squash and milk). You know, it doesn't matter how different things seem to be here in MD compared to AR, I will be doing something and it will remind me of people back home. I miss Tommy so much when I go to Sam's. We had some good times there eating all the samples and if we were still hungry going to spend a big, whoppin' $2.18 on pizza and a coke (told ya it was a cheap lunch).

Mili is now screaming because I won't let her teethe on my toes. I am sitting on one foot with toes fully exposed. They are obviously at mouth level when she stands. I have already had to stop her twice.

Need to go pick up Brian from his day out and have some family time now.
Love to all and don't forget to worship our Heavenly Father tomorrow (it is Father's Day).

Mommy's Pants are on Fire

After one of my other entries, I just had to post this picture of Mili SMILING (not a little smile) while "locked" up in the hall. Ain't that the way it always is, children make their parents liars all the time. We say they do one thing and then they do another. These are just pictures of the one time today that she was happy behind bars. Oh well, I am sure this is not the last time Mili will make me out to be a liar. I guess I should learn the STOP, DROP and ROLL technique since I will probably be using it a lot in her life time. No complaining here since she was happy during this time period of the day.

SHHHHH Sleeping Baby

There are times in our lives when we get so busy we can't see which way is up (most days, right?). We are so tired and can't seem to find the time for anyone or anything else in our schedules. These are the times when I love to stop and "breathe". Everyone's "breathe" is different and yours may be different on different days of the week or times in your life. Being I am a stay-at-home mom, my "breathe" tends to be looking at Mili Bear while she is sleeping. WOW......It makes me think about the awesome responsibility God has given me to raise her and how much He must trust us to take care of her and teach her the way of the Lord. I see pure perfection in her small, still hands and feet and her precious face is so peaceful . Her long, flowing, black eyelashes are probably the most noticeable feature on her face while sleeping. They sometimes take over her face and are what people comment on the most. I am sure those eyelashes will work to her advantage at some point but right now I am having a hard time keeping stray ones out of her eyes. We have had the drama of several eyelashes in her eyes in the last week or two. They worked their way out, thank goodness, I would hate to have to hold Mili down and try to remove something from her tightly squeezed, shut eye (I think I could rescue someone from a burning car easier).

In all honesty, maybe I just like to watch her sleep because that is the only time she is quiet, big smile.

Speaking of busy.......My "breathe" time is officially over and now it is time for me to get some work done. Hugs and Kisses to all, we love you so much.

This picture was taken today during my "breathe" time.

Silence AHHHH

Well, this is my first try at blogging. I hear it is very therapeutic. I hope for this to also be a way for people back home (Arkansas) to keep up with Mili Bear updates.

Right now I am enjoying the silence, Mili is napping. That little lady has sure found her voice...again and again...all day long. We have had an interesting week this week. We are still awaiting our play pen that we sent Fedex when we were visiting Arkansas almost two weeks ago. Due to the fact that we have had no play pen in the apartment for almost two painfully long weeks, we have had a live wire all over the place. She is quick on her knees and pulling up on everything in sight these days.

Mili is not the only one that has been running (in her case crawling) around like crazy since we returned to Maryland. Brian has been busy at the church. He lead worship the Wednesday night after we returned on that Monday for the International Worship time and then taught our Sunday Life Group last Sunday. Last night we both worked in our Family Fun Festival. So for any of you that were concerned about us being involved in another church like we were at home, no worries here. Word gets out quickly around her and nothing seems to be a secret with our Family.

We are making friends and enjoying our church here. (Well, there goes the silence....Mili is awake and the neighbors know about it). Brian and I are hit and miss serving now but hope to be in more permanent positions when the new school year starts. Brian wants to serve in one of the Worship Teams and I would love to be teaching (which grade is the question now). I miss teaching so much.

Can't be much longer because Mili is tearing up the house and I don't feel like cleaning it all up after her. I have been known to do that when I needed to get some work done the past two weeks. She had everything off her changing table shelves in the floor and working on getting into the drawers (the computer is also in there). She wanted to "work " on my shelves too but I decided I better take her to the hall and "lock" her up (put up the fence and close the doors to all the rooms). When I do this, my silence is truly over. She doesn't like the hall and I can't use the phone at all if she in the hall. Brian and I tried to eat dinner with her in the hall last night. Bad mistake....we couldn't carry on a conversation at all. Oh well, the joy of raising children (child....and I say I want more????) We do want more......when.....don't know.

Got to go for now.....I hope this helps to connect our family and friends back home with some fun info about our family and especially our precious Mili Bear.

Love ya all