As Amelia says, "Yay for firetrucks!!" ...

Been meaning to get these two to a fire station for ages so I was excited when my friend invited us along for her twins' birthday surprise (their uncle is a firefighter so we got a great tour and the kids all got to play on the truck!)  Needless to say: loved it!  Happy birthday dear Elliott and Silas!

Family photos!

Recently our friend, Jennica, blessed us by using her gift of photography to capture our family at this phase of life.  So thankful!  We needed updated family photos for our dossier (the international piece of our adoption paperwork -- which we are getting SO CLOSE to completing!  An update on that soon!) so Jennica came to the park with us one day ...

Bend!

Don't have too much time since we're still scrambling to get ready for the work week (We extended our Bend trip by a day because we were having too much fun to come home!  Maybe not the most responsible choice since we both have to be at work super early on Monday morning but obviously if I'm blogging I'm either in denial or not too worried about the laundry/dishes/unpacking situation).  There were a few minor disasters (Amelia getting carsick on the way over -- how I was NOT prepared for this girl to throw up after having been her mama for almost 2.5 years is still a mystery to me!  I should know by now to ALWAYS have towels and trash bags ready!) and a mega tantrum/meltdown yesterday.  Sigh.  Traveling with two toddlers:  enough said.  But otherwise a wonderful, relaxing, restoring weekend!  A few fun highlights ...

Amelia walking Sam!  (Who is possibly one of the best dogs EVER!)

Bite?!  A stop for frozen yogurt :)

Amelia looks SO BIG to me here!  And Marisa looks so stinking cute!

3 Sisters.  Beautiful.

Yay for ergos!  Although at this point Amelia isn''t saying "Hooray!" I think she's saying "All done!"

Oh these two ...

Oh these two ... such a trying phase and yet so much joy ... Isn't that just life?  Both difficult and beautiful.

Happy Birthday to Marisa!!

Today was such a sweet day -- good for my soul.  Luke and Gretchen and I got to drive down to celebrate Marisa's first birthday!  (The child who will sleep in the car is the one that got to go :)  Amelia spent the day at the pool with my parents so was having fun too!) Sweet baby girl is already turning one!  What a perfect day -- beautiful weather and food and people.
It was an intense week at work -- a week in which I love what I do -- I feel like it is such an honor and privledge to get to enter into peoples' stories and lives at such vulnerable times.  This week I worked with an amazing family that is facing heartbreaking decisions about the health and life of their child ... I cried with them and prayed with them and it never ceases to amaze me how people will allow their nurses into their lives and hearts in powerful ways.  My job changes me.
I don't always know how to transfer what I do into my home life.  Parts of it I keep separate for survival purposes (I've done pediatrics for enough years now that I'd be the most paranoid mother alive if I let every story impact my parenting).  Parts of it make me want to grab the sweet moments of life and hang on to them just a bit longer.  Parts of it leave me wondering why.  Parts of it make me KNOW that suffering and joy exist in this life in a strange tension that we are all struggling to figure out.  Today I soaked up getting to spend a whole day in the sun with my boy and some of my favorite people in the world.  Today I watched Marisa enjoying her first birthday cupcake surrounded by people that love her. Tomorrow may have troubles I can't even imagine yet.  But I will live in today and trust Him with tomorrow.

More Rosey!

Ring around the rosey is the current favorite at the Coyle house :)  My kids (being that they're both persuasive and cute) even got my dad to do a few rounds of "rosey" this week!
Here they are dancing around on the porch today ...

Love those two!

Taking a step back to enjoy my kiddos ...

Today was one of those beautiful Oregon spring days where you just take a deep breath of fresh air and feel thankful to get to be outside together as a family.  It was good for my heart to just get to be together (without the never-ending to-do list that goes along with parenting, a house, work and the crazy paperwork trail that goes along with adoption).  It just felt good to watch the joy on Luke and Amelia's faces as they threw rock after rock in the river (they would have stayed forever, I think) and giggled with each other.  It made me excited for this summer.  It feels like the first summer that we are all mobile enough (as in, not terribly sleep deprived) to really enjoy some fun adventures together.  Looking forward to lots of "hikes" and berry picking and day trips with these two little people.  I know we all live busy and hectic lives -- but I feel most content when I'm fully present with people ... especially when those people are my children (okay, except for the few minutes I spent taking photos :) Didn't miss the irony there!  But thankfully the park we were at didn't have cell phone reception so I couldn't be doing other "important" smart phone things :)).