The Circle of (Daily) Life

So there are a few days, okay, many days when I wonder just what it is that I'm supposed to be doing in this world because the circle of (daily) life seems so unimportant--wake up, think of what food to make, make it, eat, cleanup, play with child, rest, do it again...and again...and again. The other day, Joe and I made a nice dinner complete with side dishes and all. It took hours of preparation (at various times of the day) in order to be ready and then we sat down to eat and in, oh, about eight minutes the meal was over and it was time to clean the sinkful of dishes. True, the food had tasted good and I felt like it was a balanced meal but it felt like all the effort didn't result in much satisfaction or at least not lasting satisfaction since one of the three of us was bound to be hungry within an hour. So why? Why do we need the circle of daily life? Can't clothes stay clean for a month at a time and food just fix itself? I guess it's food for thought...(pun intended). :)

As you look at the pictures on our blog, please realize that the majority of the time I am doing one of the mundane parts of my circle of daily life and Joe is at work repeating his own circle of daily life. We don't take a lot of pictures of us doing those things. Come to think of it, this blog is like looking back on my mission pictures. If you look at my pictures, it seems like all I did was sightsee, stand around and smile with groups of friends, or go bowling (I did get really good!), but the reality was that the pictures represent about 2% of what I did in Japan. Most of the time I was too busy learning Japanese or teaching about Jesus Christ to take pictures. I did take two or three completely staged pictures at the very end of my time as a full-time missionary trying to show what we really did there but I could never quite catch the reality. I would post those pictures here as a reference but (should I admit it?) that was before digital cameras were a part of my life.

Instead, I'll show you what Xavier did when he saw his cousin, Baby Izzy, for the first time last week. We planned to spend one night in Oakland to see her but Xavier was playing so well and went to bed so easily the first night that I asked if we could stay another day. For future reference, this is a BAD parental move. Stick with your original plan and go home while your hosts still remember that they enjoyed having you, not when you stretch it until the meltdown stage or the loud and crazy stage (we hit both--sorry Ben and Esther!). Joe and I have been trying to convince Xavier that there really is no baby in Aunt Esther's belly anymore. He's getting close to believing us now but you should have seen the look on his face when I told him his babysitter, Hilary, has a baby in her belly now. I think he's going to check my source!

Hmmmm...interesting little specimen. A girl huh? I wonder what that means?

Xavier really enjoyed his few moments we let him close to eight-day-old Izzy. See the finger he is holding back? He really wanted to touch her. I let him touch her head but no where else. He told us tonight (a week later) that Baby Izzy has eyes but "no touch!" What a good memory!

Isn't she a cutie? She is so expressive and loves to furrow her eyebrows and look around already.