one year = big changes

Our family picture was taken almost one year ago.  It's amazing how different your life can be in one short year.  For starters, we lost our much loved - but very hairy- German Shepherd, Topsannah.  But, as often happens, we gained a new "puppy" who is less hairy but just as wonderful with our kids, Annie.  Also added a cat, Isis, who adorns the front stoop of our house in nice weather.  Then we decided that we were finally ready for another child.  What??  Yes, that's right, we are having another child, but this time we are adopting from Ethiopia. Why is a topic for another post(s), I think! Anyway, I was reading a book this weekend and the author compared living our lives to working on a big puzzle (you know, something over 500 pieces) without seeing what the completed puzzle will look like.  That really stuck with me as a way to explain our family and life and the joy of piecing all of these tiny parts together, hoping we'll come up with something lovely in the end, but not knowing until our life is all done. Here's to creating a beautiful picture!