Alright, so when I say I'm going to put some pictures up in the next day or two, I usually mean in the next month or two. Same thing, really.



Here's some from Hosea's bday. The Very Hungry Caterpillar cake idea was shamelessly stolen from the internet, but it was fun to make in any event.

Hosea had a Very Hungry birthday bash at his Friday playgroup. I wasn't there to witness it, but I hear he had a good time!

"Guys! We forgot the lollipops! Nooooo"


Other than the cake, they had a bunch of foods from the book, like strawberries, plums, apples, etc. Awesome.


Meanwhile, I've been taking final year very seriously. Here's me and Merv being loopy on the last day of our pathology/epidemiology/vet public health/microbiology rotation.




Here's our final year group, looking fly in our jackets and lab coats.

Merv came with Matt and I to Hosea's birthday dinner. It was sushi. Hosea ate an entire plate of tuna sashimi.


Here's the man looking super tough.

Me and Hosea, playing with Matt's anniversary gift to me: a tiny tripod that fits in my purse! Adorable!



Hosea, running around on the grass being cute two.

Lastly, Edinburgh is so beautiful Matt and Hosea and I took this pic less than a 20 minute *walk* from our flat.

Yay, pictures!

Yeah, that. Um, life is busy? I'm out all day? Matt's running around with a toddler? The cats's ate my homework?

These excuses are falling pretty flat, even to me. I'm trying to decide what this space will look like as I waltz gracefully (ha!) into final year.

Does anyone even stop by here anymore?

...Yep.

Hosea is 21 months old today. He's been learning how to "knuckle-bump" Ryan. Also, he loves life and his cats and baked beans and caramel ice cream, to name a few things.

I passed all my 4th year exams. I'm now a final year vet student! I have a jacket and everything. Woohoo! Next year is all rotations and externships and exams, oh my!

We're in Louisville, KY right now, staying with Ryan and Mere. They are so cool. We went on a brief tour of the seminary here, which was gorgeous. The town is bloody brilliant. We've gotten free beer, snacks, espresso, and pie so far, and it's only Thursday.

Next up is a week in Lexington, where I'm doing an externship. We'll be staying with Rachelle's parents. Woohoo! Also, Matt's taking HBP to North Carolina to visit Grandma Eileen for 3 days.

Then we're heading back to SoCal for 5 weeks. I'm working at the same awesome horse hospital I worked at last summer. We're living with the Souzas and Bowlings. It's going to rock.

Here are a couple of pictures from the last couple of months, for you non-facebook people:

Matt in Stirling, where he and I went for a daytrip.



Hosea being adorable in Dublin.


I have a lot to say (like, for instance, where all I've been in the last few months and what our plans are after/if I graduate and a list of the cute things Hosea says and does EVERY DAY), but I'm tired. I miss you guys, though.

Ireland pictures post soon, but right now here's my today song for Hosea:

Boys (Lesson One) by Jars of Clay

Lesson one, do not hide.
Lesson two, there are right ways to fight
and if you have questions we can talk through the night

So you know who you are and you know what you want
I've been where you're going, and it's not that far
it's too far to walk, but you don't have to run
you get there in time

Lesson three, you're not alone
Not since I saw you start breathing on your own
You can leave, you can run
This will still be your home

So you know who you are and you know what you want
I've been where you're going, and it's not that far
It's too far to walk, but you don't have to run
You get there in time, get there in time

In time, to wonder where the days have gone
In time, to be old enough to wish that you were young
When good things are unravelling, bad things come undone
If you weather love or lose your innocence

There will be liars and thieves who take from you
Not to undermine the consequence, but you are not what you do
And when you need it most: I have a 100 reasons why I love you

So you know who you are and you know what you want
I've been where you're going, and it's not that far
It's too far to walk, but you don't have to run
You get there in time

So you know who you are and you know what you want
I've been where you're going, and it's not that far
It's too far to walk, but you don't have to run
You get there in time, you get there in time

If you weather love or lose your innocence,
just remember
Lesson one

"I look beyond the empty cross, forgetting what my life has cost..."

This Easter I find myself living in the midst of some frustrating, even heart-breaking contradictions. Rich coalesces with poor, kindness with arrogance, mercy with ruthless judgment. Encouragement is pushed up against rudeness, hope and despair.

Okay, so I've just been working at the equine hospital, but still. It's one of those places that really piles everything on top of everything else. It's been fun, though.

It does, however, makes me focus on the more serious contradictions that occur in my peri-Lent Christian life. If I am free in Christ, why do I live as on in chains? I am chained by my anxiety, my selfishness, my laziness. Despite being raised from the dead, I lay at the bottom of a deep grave, fully alive but unwilling to climb out. What presses on my beating heart? Doubt, pride, self-loathing. In the face of sweet salvation, I turn my head and walk in condemnation, cheapening the work of Christ by refusing to live in its reality. It's no' good, is it?

"Can I be the one to sacrifice, or grip the spear and watch the blood and water flow?"

My Lenten fast failed. What started at a faith-focusing challenge turned into a legalistic battle, into which temptation walked easily and I didn't even look back, like Lot's wife but in reverse. Maybe I should be turned into a pillar of sugar.

I'm glad my husband prays for me. I think I need the intercession.

*with apologies to Mr. Donne

But until then, here's this:

Everything awesome ever.

A while ago (in days, not posts) I told y'all about HB's newfound and super-annoying pickiness about food. At that time, he was eating only an extremely small handful of foods, enough so that it was a real struggle to find 3 meals and 2 snacks that were composed of different foods of which there was even a remote chance he'd eat. Not only was the list shrinking, it was not at all balanced in terms of proteins, carbs, fats, vitamins, etc. In fact, it was pretty much an All Crackers, All The Time diet with a few raisins.

Not Ideal.

Matt and I were increasingly frustrated/anxious/upset/pleading at mealtimes, which in turn made Hosea more recalcitrant/obnoxious/upset/screamy/inappetant. Something had to give, and it did.

Matt The Invincible came up with a list of possible foods to try with Hosea (basically, anything he had ever eaten before). We also discussed and agreed upon some general guidelines in terms of both food expectations and mealtime behaviours. We wanted to offer him at least two options at every meal. We wanted him to have closer to 5-a-day of fruit/veg (he was getting closer to 1-a-day. of raisins). We wanted there to be a clear understanding that the food he was offered at a particular sitting was It, and there was no "back-up cracker" if he didn't want it. Mostly, we said out loud and agreed with each other that he was NOT going to starve if he skipped a meal or 2, and that it was going to be okay with us if he refused the food we gave him (which may sound silly, but it is kinda hard not to take it personally when you cook something tasty up to have it unceremoniously dumped onto the floor).

It really had been a rousing success. HB has loved being introduced (or reacquainted) with a bunch of produce, has become more adventurous, and generally is less obnoxious at meals. Matt and I are less anxious about what we feed him (though we do still have to repeat a carb or something in the day). It isn't perfect, by any means, but we feel like we've gone from having That Kid to having a normal, slightly fussy toddler.

Here's tonight's meal as, in my opinion, a sign of how far we've come from the cracker-n-raisins of yestermonth:

On the plate, clockwise from top: red bell pepper, tofu cubes and strips, cucumber, yellow bell pepper, baby purple spring onions, and soba noodles with toasted sesame seeds. On the side is a cashew butter- soy- sesame dipping sauce.

He didn't like the sauce, but ate everything else on the plate with gusto. Yay!

(Incidentally, this was the dinner from which his was appropriated. Yummy, but needed more spiciness.)