Reality Bytes

Our pastor spoke today about God's "steadfast love", a gentle and welcomed reminder. It's been a bit tough these days to stay optimistic when so much around us is negative. Kwang has been out of work for a little while, our 401k has dropped 30%, and nothing in the news gives any sort of hope. Yet I know full well that God is in control. As my sister shared from her pastor, "A God that is present in the good but absent from the bad, is not big enough for life." Our God's hand is sovereign.

So after watching the news, I like to give myself a dose of Eli:

This year, I've noticed a difference in Jude from his previous two years of preschool. Last year, if I'd ask what he did or who his friends were, without fail his answer would always be, "I don't know." But now on our way home, he'll share in detail what he did in school, who he played with, and what his thoughts are about certain things. It's my favorite time of the day, our drive home in the car.

And in the last week, something of a miracle has happened in our home. Jude and Eli have always loved playing with each other, but it's been a love/hate relationship with equal amounts of love and hate. There really is no such thing as a day in our home without time-outs. But these days, Jude and Eli will play together for long periods of time WITHOUT FIGHTING. The first day it happened, I assumed it was a fluke. But after a week, I timed it one evening and sure enough, the boys played together on their own non-stop for OVER TWO HOURS. It's probably pathetic that I'm overjoyed about this, but I'd been starting to wonder why I thought it was a good idea to pop three kids out so close in age and now I think I might have my answer. This is what I turned around to yesterday after washing the dishes (the picture is blurry, because I couldn't take my gloves off and focus the camera quickly enough):