I seriously cannot believe it has been exactly one month today since we left Minneapolis!  Wow, time does fly by.  I am sitting here, kids asleep, Eric doing his nightly workout at the gym, listening to country music and it makes me smile because so many of these country songs are about how time flys by and counting your blessings from God (of course they throw in the heartaches of life too, but I love it).   Eric’s 27th birthday is coming up this Tuesday (funny thing is he thought he was turning 28! ha! We even feel older time is flying so fast).  I started writing a journal to Rebecca just as I have done for Ben, just little stories and things I want them to know, and realized she is exactly just over 2 months old now.  She has literally spent half her life in the States and half her life in Japan.  🙂  Getting to know her has been slow coming for me, but each time like tonight when I totally immerse myself into connecting with this little life it is so precious.  Just like with Ben, it really takes time to get to know each other and figure each other out-all her cries, all her noises.   She is such a beautiful gift from God, the prettiest deep blue eyes I’ve ever stared into.  I cannot wait to see her little personality come alive the next few months as she starts to smile and laugh.  I’ve tickled a few smiles out this past week and I am eager for more!  The past 4 weeks I’ve just kept crazy busy with all the fun chores a mom of 2 and a husband (fair to say 3?) has!  I never imagined it could add so much to the laundry and dishes, just this little person!  How huge families do it is beyond me and my hats off to all of you.  Still trying to get a routine down pat, but I am guessing I’ll be doing that the next 20 years or so 🙂 as our travels, trials, and times change along the way.  I wrote to her tonight that loving someone gives your life purpose and pleasure.  God made love as the soul point and purpose of this life.  God is love and love is God the bible says and tells us why love is so sought after, fought over, died for, and lived for.  I use to only think in terms of romantic love, but true love is so much more, and can be found anywhere and everywhere God’s fingerprints are-in our hearts and in our actions.  Volunteering, taking care of the Earth, lending a helping hand to someone in need, being kind to our own spouse or anyone for that matter.  Loving a baby when they are screaming bloody murder is difficult, but if we can look past it to their hearts, to their hurt and have compassion that is love and it just fills my heart overflowing with love and joy.   IN the same sense, if we could have compassion, despite other people’s anger, offenses,or imperfections, we can learn to love them too and fill our own hearts with joy even when someone is not acting how we would like.