Earth's Crammed With Heaven

Here's an October update on my sweetie pie, Piper Joy. She is officially 13 months old these days. Tom and I made the important decision that she does indeed have enough hair for a spout or two, and the pictures below demonstrate our wisdom. Piper can say lots of words. Her current favorite is "bear". Because she is, of course, a brilliant child, she can identify stuffed animal bears, puzzle piece bears, bears in pictures, and pretty much any other kind of bear you might find in a toddler's life. She pronounces it "bah" and loves to squeal, "a bah! a bah!" over and over again. I love how her little personality is beginning to show up these days. She has very strong opinions about shoes. They are a must have. She also prefers not to wear socks unless she's wearing shoes. When it comes to books, Tom and I may read one to her once in a sitting and then she needs complete control of it from there. She will flip through the pages and r

At 1:30 p.m. today, my sister, Nurse Cori, arrives back in the U.S. after a two week medical missions trip to Costa Rica. This is the third in a series of trips, one to Mexico, and one to Jordan. We haven't heard much from her while she's been gone, so everyone is chomping at the bit to get a phone call. All I know at this time is that she got to give a fancy wheelchair to a kid who's been bedridden his entire life. That's so fantastic it makes me cry. At 10:30 a.m. yesterday, my mom and I were walking with a giant red stroller full of sweet baby Piper Joy. Piper was trying to fall asleep and I was trying to rouse her enough to keep her awake through the walk so I could take her home for a good nap. I employed such tactics as jumping while singing and flapping my arms as well as racing ahead of the stroller and executing a 360  to end up facing Piper with a giant grin. Neither of these tactics worked and Piper insisted on falling asleep. On our walk with a sleeping