Bye-Bye Summertime

We're coming up on the year anniversary of our big move overseas. This time last year I was sorting and packing and unable to grasp just how life altering the next year would be. There is no way I'd recommend to anyone moving overseas while six months pregnant with a first child, but now it's all done, and I do thank God for this year and all it entailed. That's one of those things that you can sometimes only do in retrospect.


I'm finding that I enjoy this phase of baby life. I really like watching Asher figuring out things around him, and I love that he will play with you now -it's fun to have some back and forth interaction. And I love his cute little voice. It's a blessing that God makes you fall in love with your kids, isn't it? He is very much a people person - he may go through the stranger anxiety stage later in life, but for now, everyone is a friend, whether we are on a train or bus or standing in line somewhere. People at church like to say I only come for the free babysitting, because the minute we enter the door, there are open arms waiting to hold him. Of course, I do enjoy that. Sunday mornings are sometimes the only time I see another adult I actually know other than Ryan during a week, and it is really nice that they love Asher so much and that I get a little break. That really is the hardest part of being here. I just don't know people, and we do not live in a very residential area, so we have no clue who our neighbors are.


Right now we're trying to decide whether or not we should move for this next year. I've been visiting apartments for a couple of weeks, and I'm very ready to make a decision one way or another, but since I'm married to someone who studies decision making for a living, it's unlikely that the issue will be resolved any time too soon. :)


Yesterday I did see a friend, and we went downtown to hear scenes from the opera Hansel and Gretel, which were being performed in an outdoor amphitheatre. It was fun, and I know it's this kind of thing I'll miss when we're gone. It's fun to be in a city where there are lots of things to do and see, and can you imagine enjoying an outdoor performance over the lunch hour in August in Texas or Indiana? I had to wear a jacket and hat!


Most recent photo of Asher. We spent last Saturday in Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Done Leary) - lunch in a pub, walk to a park and a walk near the marina where the sailboats were out looking pretty.

These roses grow on our apartment grounds. Asher and I go out to see them on afternoons when I'm tired of walking but need to get out again.

I'm feeling awfully chatty, but nap time is a-wasting! Bye!