June

Sam with "tiger stripes" on his forehead from school today--Emily, Eva, and Eli in background
Close up--he really liked them
We went to a concert on campus! It was fun--time together is a great thing
Eva sometimes falls asleep in the jumper; she also likes to be upside down, like I did when I was a child

These last weeks of May and then early June are always exciting. It's a busy time, with lots happening, but people seem excited about the completion of the semester's work and the approaching summer.

I'm feeling about the same myself. I have one more class left. I preached three times in the last week and probably have one more sermon to go. Language will keep us busy, the summer is always more relaxed (even if scorching hot).

I'm trying to be more productive. I bought an android tablet this week, but then realized tablets are really best for entertainment. On the upside, it has a night reading mode, so last night I read a novel for forty-five minutes while I waited for Sam to go to sleep. This could be good for my soul.

We're heading into a three day weekend. I think under normal conditions we're both involved parents, but we're looking at three 16 hour + days of parenting ahead. We're going to a boat race tomorrow--should be fun--and then we're not sure what we'll do with our holiday day on Monday.

No great developmental news. Eva can just about sit up. We learned there's a saying in local language to the effect that "six months sitting, seven months crawling, eight months teething." Eli can now go five or six feet over the period of a few minutes and can, unfortunately, push himself out of his bumbo seat (which are supposed to be nearly untippable). Eva goes down a bit more smoothly at night. Sam is using the "spitting" toothpaste now (it can have a small amount of fluoride in it). Sam's still working on his bigger bike--it's still a little too big. He continues to love all manner of vehicles, but also really enjoyed stopping in the campus library tonight. He is now aware that he's speaking two languages and can tell you what the word is in the other language most of the time--pretty cool.

That's the news. I'll try to post lots of pictures and updates over the holiday.