Among the many reasons I love JR....

Besides the fact that he came home from working late and ran me a bath just to be thoughtful, or that he sat side by side with me and stitched tier curtains for our kitchen windows (and ended up doing most of the work-he'd probably die knowing that went out into cyberspace)....he also enjoys fabulous literature. Which brings me to a new poem he pointed out and that we now LOVE. We're going to hang it in our house because it embodies all of the things a person could want for their children, or really to strive for yourself.

If:
"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you but make allowance for their doubting too, If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, and stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss, and lose, and start again at your beginnings and never breath a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much, If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son! "
--Rudyard Kipling

I will miss you Sassy Massey!

G with Best Friend B

At the end of December, we had to say our goodbye's to the Colemans. That was too hard. And, we still haven't recovered. Now, the harsh reality is setting in that Erin, Bryan, and little Brooks have to go. We knew it was coming, however staunchly we tried to deny it! We knew it was drawing near, but tomorrow it is here. So, because it is moments like these that make a person realize just what they've got in life....I better say thank you! Thank you Erin, Kristen and little families for being such an influence in my life! Thank you for making me laugh, for supporting my family, and for always being there when you were needed. Thank you for sharing so many amazing memories, for being my family away from family, and for making me a better person simply because I knew you! I love you!

Good things come in pairs...or half a pair...

Well, I guess when you turn half a year old, you get half of a pair of teeth. E hasn't been sleeping much these past few nights (try a few hours) and I knew something was up. Sure enough, when I felt her gums, there was a fabulous little tooth there! So, for now she has a little snaggle tooth! I LOVE it!