flying through february

This month is FLYING by. If I were a better blogger (and a better time manager!!), I'd have insightful and interesting blog posts about all that we've been up to over the last few weeks. Unfortunately, I'm just hanging on over here, so this blog post is mostly just to "catch up" on our happenings, picture style. And kinda speedy. Enjoy.

February began with a mission trip to Gracias Honduras. I was there for a week with a brigade of about 50 medical people from west michigan. We partner with the Luke's society, which has been a presence in Gracias for over 17 years. My week consisted assisting in urology surgery at the surgery center in Gracias, traveling to a rural village an hour into the mountains to help the dental team for a day, working in the outpatient area for a day, and some rest and relaxation in Copan before traveling home. It was a GREAT trip, full of awesome personal growth in my faith and spiritual journey. I am so grateful for a mission trip that uses my gifts, talents, and education to serve people in a way so desperately needed. This was my second time to Gracias, and I hope it is not my last.
beautiful Honduras

outpatient day with Karla, Jane, and Katherine

assisting Dr Lindhout and the dental team in the village

And shortly after I returned home to my sweet little family, it was Valentine's day! Elise and I made cookies for Bryan, and the four of us enjoyed a candle light dinner of tortellini. I was on-call for the night, so no big plans were in order. It was fun to explain to Elise what we were celebrating.

the girls had matching valentine's day outfits, which they wore

to daycare that day. Macy was just a tick exhausted here. :)

I'm a terrible baker, so these cookies looked cute, but tasted quite

awful. Thankfully, I have a very gracious husband who ate them anyway.

Now that's love! :)

Finally, sweet Macy turned 7 months old. She's sweet as can be, happy most of the time, and growing bigger by the day. She sits well on her own, hates tummy time, loves to eat EVERYTHING, drools a lot, has TWO teeth, sleeps wonderfully, wears 6-9 month clothes, babbles all the time, and I swear she shook her head "no" at me tonight when I tried to get her to finish her avacado. I'm loving each day with this precious girl, and if I could stop the clock and keep her a little longer in this super-fun phase, I would.

Cheesy smile to show off those two new teeth!

Sweetie Girl!