Family Picture

What a victory! I'm sure we're not the only ones who are totally faking the happy smiles in our family photos. After calling someone to take the picture, finding a date/time that works, shopping for clothes, getting ready, finding the right spot, and trying to stay happy and calm so no one is crying in the picture, I am SO glad to have a picture of our family.

We've always wanted to have a picture taken in the desert, so here's our "Tucson Memorial" photo.

Thank you Brittany, for being our "professional" photographer! You did a great job!

Climbing on the rocks on the side of Mt. Lemmon was the best part!

I love this smile and her hair that has finally grown a little.

I think we're about done....

Last picture!

The best part was after taking pictures on a Saturday morning, we went to our church Christmas party that night and came home with a few injuries. Trevor came home with a black eye and Haley cut her lip from running around with the other kids. Great timing!

Langosta!

Here's our first attempt at a home-cooked lobster. I hope you follow these same steps if you decide to try it yourself:

1. Let the critters out of the bag to crawl around for a while.

2. Don't le the lobsters get too close to mom or she'll scream and scare the kids.

(I think Haley thought we had just found the biggest cockroaches in the world and were crazy to keep them in the house.)

3. Show off those big claws!

4. Drop into the big pot of boiling water...

5. Ta da! A delicious, home-cooked lobster dinner.

(I think this might be our last attempt. The mess inside the lobster was a little much for me. I'll just order a tail at a restaurant the next time I'm feeling a little fancy. They can take care of the dissection.)

Everyone Needs Someone Nice

I haven't been the "new guy" very often in my life. I lived in the same city until going away to college and have lived in Tucson since then with many of the same friends when I was single and married.

In the few weeks we've been away from home, it's made me realize how important it is to stop and be friendly. Even if you think you have nothing in common with a person you meet, maybe they just need someone to talk to. That sounds like we've been over here crying in our apartment because we're so lonely, which isn't true, but the people who have welcomed us I've been so grateful for.

Our first week here was rough as we got settled: sick kids, driving back and forth to Boston to figure out our rental car, adjusting bedtimes and naps to time changes and a few cold and rainy days. When we left for church that first Sunday I prayed that we would find friends--someone to talk to and someone for our kids to play with.

We met several families who were also working at the hospital. Some were attending doctors who had been in Portland for years and others had moved there recently for residency. When one family invited us over for dinner that night, I was so relieved! It was nice that we did have some things in common, but I wouldn't have cared if it had been otherwise.

Birch's sister was also so helpful when we first arrived. She picked us up from the airport in Boston and took us to her house where a hot dinner was ready. We borrowed her car for that night until our rental was ready and she sent us away with a bag of breakfast food for the morning and snacks for the kids. We didn't tell her what we needed and she didn't ask--she just decided to help.

I hope that I can be better about welcoming people and inviting them to do things without worrying about details. I usually run through my list of excuses: we have kids and they don't, our kids aren't the same age or gender, the food I made isn't my best, our house isn't clean enough to have people over, etc. And if I see someone who could use some help I have excuses for that too--usually wondering if what I have to offer isn't what they really need.

Now I can see that these things don't matter. Even though the gestures were helpful to us, I mostly appreciated people taking time from their "busy" lives to think about someone else.

Back to the Homeland

We always tell people that Birch and I grew up in Flagstaff, but his family didn't move there until he was 8. Before that he lived in Maine, which was one of the reasons we decided to do a rotation here.

Here he is with his namesake--Birch trees. I'll admit, I didn't even know what a Birch tree looked like until this trip.

This weekend Birch's parents came to visit us and went to see his sister Marie and her family in Boston. We took a mini road trip around Maine on Saturday, visiting the places they knew when they lived here.

At Bar Harbor, we found the trail where they would hike as a family--a perfect .3 mile hike that was quite a climb! It was nice and short (great for kids) but you felt like you had done some work to get to the top.

At the top of the trail overlooking the ocean--gorgeous!

We made it to Orono to see their old house, which Birch's dad built himself. There have been some changes but it's pretty much the same.

I was surprised at the fun things Birch could remember about playing at this house as we walked around the yard. Even though I've known him since we were kids, I don't know much about when he lived in Maine. I feel like I learned another piece about him this weekend and I understand better why he loves this area.