Texas Life

Dear Life,

You move so quickly. So much has changed. And here I sit, not exactly where we left off and where I should begin. But... I guess just starting somewhere is good. So that's what I'll do.

Emberly is 3. The real three. Not the terrible twos that make you think you have a three year old three, but the "I eat only cauliflower at dinner unless you suggest I eat it and have a fit because I'm not hungry but am immediately telling you I'm starving 3 seconds after asking to be excused and telling you I'm completely full" kind of three. It's awesome and awful and exhausting but truly amazing to watch her grow into an independent, full of love, awkward kid. She is a peculiar kind of polite, asking, "may I...?" and "would you please...." and "would it be alright if...?" in the sweetest three year old manners of all time. Followed by a sincere meltdown of epic proportions if the permission is not granted or the request doesn't fall to her desires. But I see progress. Slow, steady, three year old progress.

She also LOVES her little sister. "Sissy" or "Pip" or "little Pi" or whatever nickname she comes up with in the moment. She demonstrates this by frequent toy snatching and full body LOVE. But also with encouragement and the sweetest hugs after naps and singing her songs when she can't sleep and translating when we don't understand what she needs. She often gets in trouble for getting out of bed to retrieve Piper's pacifier or bring her a doll or cover her up. Overall, her love is all kinds of adorable.

And then there's Piper, who goes by just about every nickname you could imagine and an occasional "Piper Elizabeth!" when she's into something she shouldn't be. Piper is a lover of all things. Especially soft things. If there is a blanket on the floor, Piper will be on it, face down, snuggling into it and rubbing her face on it and kissing it. {Sometimes Jordan and I play a game where we throw something soft onto the floor just to see how fast she'll flop onto it...} She loves to kiss, and don't even think about going for a cheek. That child will find your lips! She is also into everything that Emmy is doing and often let's us know this by shouting, "Enny!!" (Which we've translated to mean, "I want to do that JUST.like.Emberly.is.doing!")

Piper rocks a solid afternoon nap, which is awesome considering Emmy has just given hers up in the last week or so, and this mama is usually very much in need. We spend our day doing projects like coloring, painting, cutting, and glueing. The first question out of Em's mouth in the morning is, "May I do a project????" and is on repeat until you're together enough to get something with art supplies out to appease her. Both girls LOVE to be outside, and living in Texas is all kinds of wonderful for that. And we make random trips to the BX, commissary, library, children's museum, kid gym, etc.

Overall our Texas life is pretty grand. Filled with margin and less commitments and less space to maintain and truly being able to enjoy the simple things. We were terrified, but God has proven to be so so faithful, providing all we need and more, including a church family, friends that feel like we've known our whole lives, an occasional date night, and that good old aforementioned margin. I didn't even realize how out of control it was until it came back. Thank you, Jesus.

And now? J has a nice break from classes where we get to just BE family. Enjoy each other. Celebrate the birth of Christ. Work on our marriage. Teach our children together. Learn together. Work on implementing healthier habits into our lives. And all that jazz. We realize that it may not be this simple for a long time. And are trying to just soak it in.


It feels good to write again. I need to remember this. Because I fear that I'll look back before long and not remember the little things, like how the girls devour book after book when we get home from the library, and how their favorite foods are hummus and peas and cauliflower.

So... Let's do this again soon, ok?

Sincerely Yours,
Molly