gratitude:

There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.- Ralph H. Blum

All our moments are last moments. We abide in the forever leaving of our own coming? We can put our hands together, palm to palm, settling here on the last leaf of our brief flight, and bow to the wonder of it.- Jen Jensen, Bowing to Receive the Mountain, 1997

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.- Melody Beattie


Happy Thanksgiving family and friends! We have been thinking of all of you. We spent the beautiful late morning at Crystal Cove Beach intending to have a nice walk, but due to the incredible temperature ended up playing and napping on the sand. Later, we shared a marvelous feast with our friends Jeff and Nysa. (Nysa's mom did all of the cooking, so I was able to simply relax and enjoy.) Sam loved the feast, particularly the pumpkin pie with whip cream. As my boys are already fast asleep, I just wanted to take a moment to marvel at some of the blessings in my life:

• family-what a gift to create a family with someone you love. I also find it fascinating how the immediate family unit shifts throughout the generations.
• little ones-from the first breath to the present is so rich with life. This fullness is sometimes more challenging than anything I have experienced, yet it is this struggle that brings so much joy.
• health-this body, this mind, this spirit, this breath, this earth, this sky, this sun, this moon, this ocean, this mountain, this bird, this flower....we are all connected. I am in awe of the female body through pregnancy and labor doing exactly what it is designed to do, and so thankful for the tools and trust that have been passed down to me from my mother.

Blessings to you on this beautiful Thanksgiving Weekend.........

Introducing....."Sam on the drums!"

Camping in November

Perhaps the more appropriate title would be "Camping Nine Months Pregnant". Yes, we made it and had a great time.....well, great for the most part. This past weekend we braved the wall of traffic heading north to LA and then east to Joshua Tree National Park. It is a new experience dealing with bumper to bumper vehicles for miles just to get out of town. This turns a two and a half hour drive into four and as many of you know this is not ideal when you're traveling with kids. We arrived at our campsite well past light. Luckily Sam's friend Kendra was anxiously waiting to see her camping buddy. They immediately took off running around and climbing the surrounding boulders by the light of the moon. What a beautiful night and an incredible setting. I was excited to see what everything would look like in daylight.

Not too worry, we wouldn't miss a single moment of the following day. Sam woke at the crack of dawn, actually I think that it was still slightly dark. It is a difficult combination to have adults up late talking around the campfire followed by little ones up before the sunshine. (This would catch up with me later.) In the late morning the troupes gathered for a hike out in the desert. Joshua Tree is a well known spot to climbers and provides ample opportunity to free climb the rounded, grippy, granite rocks. I headed out with the group planning to stay on the dirt and enjoy a relaxing stroll. For some reason the rocks pull you in. I knew my limits and would turn around when I needed to, but absorbed in the moment I ended up higher than I had anticipated. Joe decided to head back with me considering he was carrying Sam in the backpack. Why is it that going down is often harder than going up? I definitely felt and looked awkward on the descent. Imagine a very pregnant lady crawling on her bum. We made it back to camp safely, ate and took advantage of any shade we could find to rest.

The desert in November is hot, at least on this particular day it was probably in the 80's. That evening the wind began to blow and continued through the night making our new family size tent an ideal sail. Sam slept next to me on a blow up air mattress and didn't seem to mind the shaking and snapping. Joe next to us in sleeping bag also didn't seem too bothered by the sounds. For me, it was a constant disturbance to an already restless sleep (too many bathroom breaks to count). Sam was up again at 5AM. This time it was my turn to get up with him. Due to the wind and cold we spent most of the morning playing in the car. When 7:30am rolled around I was losing it, totally exhausted and ready to go home. I realize now what camping involves for parents....a lot of work: packing, cleaning, unpacking, cooking, loading, unloading, etc., etc. Was it worth it? Of course. I loved watching Sam totally engaged in the freedom of playing in the wild: dirty, wearing his pj's most of the day, eating at all times, running barefoot, seeing shooting stars, singing around the campfire, climbing and jumping on rocks, harassing the ant hills and trying to do most things "all by myself". We'll get better at this and the lack of sleep hopefully won't be as disturbing when I am no longer prego.

We're staying home now and nesting until the baby arrives. Thanks mom and dad for all of our camping memories as kids. We love and miss all of you...xoxoxox

"Scary"