Today was a good day...the weather was warm, so Anna and I spent a good amount of time outside. It was great to go to the park for a while and play in the backyard. Anna was having so much fun that she said she wanted to stay outside forever. After being cooped up in doors all winter it was so nice to be out in the fresh air. I'm looking forward to Spring and Summer before it gets grossly hot. I think we might get a zoo membership so we can take Anna out to there. We went to the zoo last Sunday and she loved seeing all the animals. This evening we went over to a friend's house for a baby shower. It was fun to hang out, see all the cutie baby things, and chat with friends for a while. Anna was there and she had a good time, too. There were cheese balls and for the first thirty minutes or so I kept seeing her with a big bulge in her mouth b/c she had gotten another cheese ball. Can't blame her, though. I love me some cheese balls. In my writing yesterday I focused on memories from Haiti and didn't do my highs and lows. The practice of doing that comes from a process called "Take Five"....it's something we learned about a couple summers ago when the Family Ministry team went to a day conference by this organization called Faith Inc. (stands for Faith Incubators...which I think sounds creepy). The idea behind Take Five is to take "five" minutes in the day with your family to talk about your highs and lows, read a scripture verse together, discuss how your highs and lows relate to the scripture, pray together, and then say a blessing for one another. Mike and I have tried to get this going on a regular basis during dinner, but haven't been very good on maintaining it. It's really good stuff and is a great way to engage the whole family to discuss their day and see where God was in all of it. To tie it into deeper theology it is a discipline of examine. To look back and examine your day is meaningful. In doing so you begin to see (or hopefully you do eventually) the divine moments that may have gone unattended before. That is one of the reasons I am writing during Lent. To look back and examine my day, be thankful for what happened, and look on to what tomorrow may hold. Today I think my high was playing at the park with Anna. I was pushing her in the swing and she said, "Mom, I really like playing with you." At some point I know just being around me will seem like a chore for her, so hearing that now was sweet. My low was getting home from the baby shower tonight. I had been on my feet for a while and that equals an aching back and tired legs. Another high was this evening when I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready and Anna was playing out on the back deck. We had the screen door open so I could hear her when she said, "Hi, Dad!" after Mike got home. I hadn't heard him drive up and it was great knowing that he was there. Tomorrow I have my Creole class in the afternoon and then we'll head out to Lawrence for a nephew's first birthday party. On the Zung side three of Mike's siblings live in Lawrence and when we get together it is always a good time. Lots of people and lots of kids (seven cousins under five). It's been a while since we went out there, so it will be good to see everyone. We were together with all of Mike's family during Christmas and that is a feet in itself to accomplish. Seven siblings spread out across the US means there are few times when everyone is together. This Christmas we were in Texas (Houston and then Austin) and it was great. In Houston the majority of our Vietnamese family live there and we were able to spend some good time with all of them. On Christmas Eve there were 65+ people....luckily a cousin, Tony, had a big house to accommodate everyone. The food was AWESOME...I don't even know how many egg rolls I ate during  a three day span. It's too bad we live far away and can't see that side of the family more often. I guess it just makes you grateful for the times you can be together. We drove down there and I was a bit nervous in taking a long car ride with Anna, but she was a champ and did a great job. Having a portable DVD player was clutch, along with lots of snacks and drinks. We're blessed with great family that are friends as well. That doesn't happen a lot of the time, so I am grateful that I enjoy time spent with my family--both Bowermans and Zungs :) It means a lot to me to have strong families that love each other--a good thing for Anna (and for Mike and I as well) to have in her life and be a part of.