A Touch of Laughter and Other Good Things

Watching Annalise, I am amazed at the qualities of humanity that come to her naturally, things I don’t have to teach her. Negative things sometimes, of course–but I revel in the positive and linger longest over those. Imagination, humor, a sense of justice, joy…how beautiful to see that these things are so intrinsic to human nature they can be observed in a one-and-a-half year old. (Intrinsic because our nature is shaped by God, I believe. Every good gift is there because he plants it.)

I love to kiss her under her round white chin and see her stretch her neck back like a bird’s, with laughter gurgling out like water.

I love the following video so much–with Annalise laughing and Grandma Dorothy talking in the background–I just have to share it. I know videos tend to be slow and bulky in a blog post. Here’s hoping this one doesn’t cause too much trouble.

And yes, we did visit Grandma Dorothy recently, at the beginning of March. Here’s a picture of her and Annalise together.

We also joined a gathering of Ivan’s siblings in Kentucky, surprise birthday party included. That’s Annalise with her first-and-a-half cousin Newton in the feature photo at the top of this post.

AND we enjoyed a last-minute afternoon visit from my baby sister Elizabeth and her husband Brett. So much fun! And not bad for a March in which we were also fighting colds and sickness. I’m glad we got to see so many of our long-distance family this month.

You might notice three words on the bookshelf in the background in the photo above. Trust. Teamwork. Faith. I purposely didn’t trim them because I wanted to share them with you. When Ivan and I were dating, those were our theme words, and my sister-in-law-who’s-an-artist painted them on those small square canvases to hang at our reception. Every once in a while, I look at them perched on our bookshelf and remember. This is what we’re about as a couple. These are the things we’re working for.

It’s good to be reminded.