allie:  daddy, there’s a new girl in my sunflowers class! daddy:  oh yeah?  what’s her name? allie:  lexi. daddy:  lexi?  hmm…  is she hispanic? allie:  no daddy!  she’s a SUNFLOWER!  ******** she slays me.  🙂

i want to remember for the rest of my life.  even though we’ve had a crazy week including everything from flooding in our first floor/garage (from the rain we got over the weekend and the sopping wet carpet is STILL sitting there– ah the joys of renting.  but that’s another story), my finally catching the cold the kids had for the last few weeks and am currently about to lose a lung from my lovely hacking cough that has kept me up for the last two nights, phil having a couple of job interviews which kind of raises our hopes of staying in the area, lauren booking a job that lasted two…

last week, we had the fun privilege of having our good friends from minnesota stay with us for a few days while they were here on vacation.  dave and phil were in med school together and brooke and i had fun times getting together for playdates and commiserating over our similar plights.  so it was really, really nice to see them again and have a few days to catch up (though it still didn’t feel like enough!) as well as show them a few sights. the fermins were raring to go even after a long flight over.  so off we went to check out the whale fiesta over at the cabrillo…

this picture makes me smile.  i didn’t post it before (it was taken this past summer) because the background behind lauren is so messy and cluttered.  but i’m posting it now because like i said, it makes me smile.  and it reminds me that for this season of my life, having a perfectly clean house is not the goal and that someday, i actually may be able to have a perfectly clean home with everything just where i want it…  when no one else is living in it with me.  and so today, i have to remind myself (again) that the messy house with toys scattered all over is a very…

two saturdays ago, we had the privilege of going to celebrate my niece joy’s first birthday!  baby joy and her family have been through a lot this past year, including three major surgeries, being in and out of the hospital, and dealing with feeding and reflux issues.  so making it to this milestone first birthday was definitely a big deal.  and hearing my brother and joanna share about how their trust and faith in the Lord has grown as they’ve seen His faithfulness to them as He led them through each hurdle.  and about how much joy herself has taught them about being thankful and joyful in all circumstances.  and especially hearing…