The first three months

Our life together here in Parkdale is now about 3 months old. As we can see daily with Jacob (who is 2 mos. old) this is a vulnerable and exciting age. Jacob has learned to smile. We too are learning to negotiate one another--read each others expressions and nonverbal cues and the inflections in each others voices. Jacob is looking around soaking in the world. We too are soaking in this neighborhood and learning about it--learning slowly (much slower than Jacob) about this new world we are entering. We are experiencing little victories--a table that could ultimately seat 20, finding church communities, finding fresh veggies, keeping our spaces hospitable, sharing our vision with the local newspaper, and finding jobs for Doug and Ben. We are also experiencing setbacks. We wish there could be more of the original new year's crowd about. We feel weak with all our commitments to budding families, school, and new jobs to start creating rich networks or inviting the people that already have expressed interest to our table. We still might need sometime more of nuturing and comfort and peacefulness. However, we are here. Hoping that we have given birth to something really special.