A Rough Few Weeks

It's been a confusing few weeks for me.  Though everything is going great for Ian and me personally (Willow growing, got to watch the opening of the Olympics, went to a friend's birthday party, etc.) there seem to be tragedies all around us.

Everyone has heard of the horrific shooting in Aurora in Colorado.  I was just coming to terms with the fact that something so awful could happen in a state I love so much, when I get the call from a close friend here in Washington.  Her brother had informed her that his wife had just delivered her baby still-born.  I started crying.  I just couldn't help myself.  I haven't met her extended family personally, but just the previous day my friend was telling me how excited she was to meet her new niece, and how her sister-in-law should be going into labor any day now.  How could this happen?  The pregnancy was perfect, and they were even planning a home birth with a midwife, which is ideal!  Why would God have someone go full term with a beautiful baby, only to take that away at the last second?  While my friend flies home to be with her family, all I can do is pray for her, her family, the midwife, hospital staff, and all others affected by this painful tragedy. 

Don't get me wrong... prayer is powerful, and I am relieved that we can talk directly to God about anything, including difficult topics such as these.  But I wanted to put some of my thoughts down on "paper" to help process the grieving.  Anyways, I ended up re-reading my mom's blog post about the Aurora shooting, and it brought me comfort.  Maybe it will for you, too, during these difficult times.

http://compost-blog.com/2012/07/24/jesus-wept/

Counter-Clockwise

I had an interesting discussion with Ian yesterday.  We were planning out some various life events (yup, we're both planners) and I was trying to explain where different things would happen in the year, using a clock.  See, it makes sense... 12 months, 12 hours...  However, it was all backwards, because the spring is always to the left in my mind, and fall is to the right, because I think counter-clockwise.  Ian, to my utter surprise, had absolutely NO IDEA what I was talking about.  I tried again, drawing a circle diagram, with the months going around.

Whenever I think of something happening in the year, I visualize a circle, and place that event on the circle.  Even when I count months, I count around the circle.  ALWAYS.

Ian looked at me like I was crazy, and then proceeded to explain that he sees time as a line.  Yup!  A straight line that keeps going, since events never exactly repeat themselves again the same way.

But, what about the seasons, and holidays?  Nope, still a line.

Silly engineer.  Hah!

He also explained how he doesn't think about the names of the month, as much as what number they are.  Such as, May is month 5, September is month 9, etc.  And then he told me something that really surprised me.  He dreams in NUMBERS! 

Just goes to show that we're all a little different.  Neat!

And, for your viewing pleasure, here's some new pictures of Willow!

 

Well, it was supposed to be tummy time...

 Getting reading to go for a walk.

 She recently started batting the hanging animals!

'Night!