Our weekend getaway and Zach is 10 months old

Last weekend Daniel flew our family to the city of Timika to spend the weekend at the lovely Rimba hotel. This was our first real vacation since moving to Wamena 8 months ago, and it was fun to do something special together as a family. We chose to stay at the Rimba hotel because we heard that the pool was nice, and it didn't disappoint us. Zoe and Ariella loved playing in the water!

With 3 small kids, we kept our schedule very simple:

We woke up.
We enjoyed the breakfast buffet.
I went to the pool with Zoe and Ariella while Daniel stayed at the hotel room during Zach's morning nap.
Zach and Daniel joined us at the pool after naptime.
We went back to our hotel room to change out of swimsuits, and then ate lunch at the hotel restaurant.
Afternoons were filled with naptime and sometimes Zoe played outside at the playground or walked around with Daniel or with me.
After naps we went for a walk and then to dinner at the hotel.
Then we went back to our room, played games and read stories, and put the kids to bed.
Daniel and I hid in the bathroom for a while. I read while he worked on writing a novel.
And then we slept too.

Sisters "reading" together

The bathroom

I think that I would have liked to do other things (like sit by the pool in the afternoon, go for more extensive walks, etc) if I was there without my little ones, but this vacation was relaxing! And I really enjoyed the pretty flowers, butterflies, fountain and other lovely features at the hotel. Beauty is refreshing too!

"fishing" in the lily pond

pretty fountain!

I love these blue flowers (and this girl)!

Flying with Daniel to and from Timika (with stops at interior villages) was fun! Here is a photo of us at Qwijawigi.

Zach was their favorite person to meet.

Flying with my husband!

On Monday, the day we returned from our little getaway, Zach turned 10 months old. He is crawling quickly now, eating lots of food, and playing with everything. He is a champion hair-puller and loves to chase us around the house, sometimes trying to chew on our feet! Zechariah is continuing to grow, and weighs almost 25 pounds. I love how interactive he is, communicating with sounds, clicks, smiles, laughter, and hand motions. I am told that he pulled himself up a few days ago, but have yet to see it myself. He loves taking baths and playing with his sisters. I feel blessed to have had another fun month with my precious baby boy! (Though at the same time, I find parenting 3 kids to be very overwhelming!) You are special to us, Zach!

Fruit...yum!

So much exploring to do!

Let's take a photo all together....

Zoe's 3rd Birthday

Just over a month ago Zoe celebrated her 3rd birthday. We were in Ohio with her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins (on Daniel's side) for the week!

We took family photos on the birthday morning in Daniel's parents beautiful back yard.

Cousins!

Happy birthday Zoe and Seth! Seth was exactly twice Zoe's age on their birthday.

Zoe got into my make-up during her "nap." What a mess!

Beautiful birthday princess Zoe opening presents.

I am so grateful to be mommy to my precious daughter Zoe! Happy happy birthday, my Love! :)

Seven Months

I just realized that Ariella is 7 months old today so I snapped some photos.

 She is crawling everywhere now, climbing into and under things, and pulling up!

What a cute girl! Ariella crawls to wherever I am and climbs on me. (When she does the same to her sister, she gets yelled at "No! Ariella no! Don't get me!" That doesn't seem to stop her...)

A few days ago Ariella got her first tooth. Today her second one broke through. She nurses a lot and eats bananas, rice cereal, cheerios that Zoe dropped on the floor, and grass and small wood chips.

I am so grateful to be mommy to this sweet, fun, little girl! What a blessing she is to me! Right now she is growling at the sliding glass doors, hoping to go outside. Time for me to play with her. :)

Baby Smiles

What is it about a baby's smile that is so amazingly wonderful? Ariella's little smiles light up her face and I cannot help smiling back. Perhaps these smiles are even a cure for sleep deprivation and general grumpiness?!

3 month old Ariella

Zoe and Ariella together

Zoe when she was Ariella's age

I remember feeling the exact same way about Zoe. What could be cuter than a big gummy smile? Of course, now I know that a smile full of teeth is really cute too. And the ability to talk makes my "big girl" even more fun. Still, I am very grateful for these precious smiles from my beautiful baby!

My Little 2 Year Old

Zoe is 2! 

Two years ago I met her for the first time. We had already completed 3 months of language school and she was born in a hospital in Indonesia 1.5 hours away from where we lived.

One year ago we celebrated her birthday in Idaho at the MAF headquarters and she loved eating her cupcake.

And now we live in Papua, Indonesia and she loves to run around, play in water, and practice saying new words.

I love her so much!

In approximately 4 months she will be a big sister!

The love of a parent

Since having a baby I have changed.  "How?" you may ask.  Is it that I have adapted to never sleeping more than 5 hours at a time?  Or that I have become more patient, learned to slow down when I need to nurse or wait to go out until after Zoe's nap time, gotten used to body function sounds, and grown to feel more grace in my heart towards parents with misbehaving children?  Those things are true, but not what I am thinking about.

I have always liked children.  I started babysitting at a young age, loved the nanny job that I had my first year out of college, and I intentionally sit beside children who are traveling alone on airplanes (really!).  But now my liking children has somehow morphed into a crazy love for my own baby and fascination with every little thing she does.  I am delighted and entertained when she makes a new clicking sound, when her first tooth starts to show up in her little gummy mouth, and when she stops nursing to grin at her daddy who has just burped loudly from the other side of the living room.  There is no sound in the world that is more lovely than her laughter. 

Having Zoe makes me more interested in other peoples' kids too.  I used to think that babies were a little boring and prefer kids who can talk.  Now I see that babies communicate in lots of ways!  And every friends' baby is a potential friend for little Zoe as she grows up.  :)

Yes, being a mommy is hard work.  There are times when I am very tired but Zoe will not sleep.  Sometimes I can't figure out how to comfort her.  There are many things that I used to be able to do but cannot do now.  But somehow even sleep deprivation and baby cries cannot take away the deep well of love and admiration that I feel towards my little Zoe.  I am so amazingly blessed to have her in my life.  She is so beautiful and so fun!  I love watching her interact with people, herself, and her world.

I have been thinking about my fascination with Zoe and my love for her, and am reminded that God interacts with us as our parent.  He has adopted us as His precious children.  Is He as excited about my "baby steps" and development as I am about Zoe's?  Does He really have a deep well of unconditional love for me and for each of us?  I know in my head that the answers are yes and yes!  But somehow this seems very significant and like something that I need to think more about.

How has being a parent changed your understanding of God's love?