Are you happy?

At almost-three years old, Zachary has begun to place labels on emotions that we experience. Curiously, he is particularly interested in, and in tune with, mommy's emotions.

In recent weeks, receiving a stern talking-to, or being disciplined, he stops, looks at me, shines his genuine, signature smile and says, "Are you happy?"

That makes it difficult to continue with the stern mommy-face. I am sure he sees that, and that is why he does it. What a goofy, goofy dude. He sure makes us laugh!

New habits

So, Zachary is *almost* potty trained. He is, in that, he wears underwear, has accidents if we don't put him on the potty regularly, and still wears diapers at nap, night, and for "number 2." We still have a long way to go, but I now have hope that he will be trained before heading to pre-school in the fall.

Along with his new potty habit, he has taken to falling asleep in "his chair." We have found him fast asleep in the chair each night for close to two weeks now. We finally had to take a picture of it, because neither one of us imagine being able to sleep in the particular position we found him a few nights ago.

A few pics of the aforementioned activities follow:

Thumbs up for underwear!

Showing our muscles is a favorite pass-time

How in the world can he do this?

Gettin' a little perspective

Sometimes it just takes a little peek outside of ourselves and our circumstances to gain a little perspective.

I admit, over the past few months I have been wrapped up largely in my own concerns. Both Adam and I have been busy with work, taking care of family tasks (big and small), and trying to make headway with seemingly unending projects.

Two weeks ago, we had the pleasure of packing food for Feed My Starving Children with our church. 115 of us packed 108 boxes of food in just over an hour. Those boxes will feed 64 children for a year, in one of the 50 countries that FMSC serves. What a truly great experience to be a part of something to make the life of a child richer. Perhaps I should say, it is gratifying to know our work may help save lives.

Last week, we took Zachary to a pediatric dermatologist at University of Chicago. He has a birthmark we have been watching for some time, and felt it was time to get it checked out to make sure it wasn't anything more threatening than just a birthmark. Thankfully, it's not an urgent concern. But, while at University of Chicago, I was constantly reminded of the urgent concerns that others were facing at the very same time we were breathing a sigh of relief.

Both of these opportunities gave me a gentle reminder that--although we do have stress and concerns--life is rich for us. We do not rely on the kindness of strangers for our one meal per day, we have good health, and we have a community to support us, encourage us, and pray for us when things are not quite smooth sailing.

We are thankful for the perspective we gained in the past few weeks. To end this post on a lighter note, I am posting two photos below: one is Zachary in his very first "doctor's visit gown", and Adam at the food packing party.