We are back home after an extended trip to Maine. Our niece Jocelyn Jody was born last Tuesday, June 20. She weighed in at 7 pounds 4 ounces and was 19 inches long. She has a head full of dark hair and I think she looks like her mom. Maybe she'll have brown eyes. She's so sweet and small and I just loved holding her. It seems like a million years ago that any of my girls were that tiny. Katie couldn't get enough of her, she was so careful and gentle with her. Becky got to feed her a bottle and was pretty excited about it. And Allison was definitely beginning to understand a little bit about babies. By the end of our visit she was rubbing Jocelyn's head very gently and saying things like, "Aw, you're so cute." I'm glad we were able to be there right after Jocelyn was born. My mother in law was so thrilled to have all of her eight grandchildren together. Now that we live away it's more special to have everyone in the same place at the same time.

It was nice to spend time with my parents and my in laws. I love where we live in Massachusetts. I love my house and community. And I definitely feel like God brought us to this place but I do miss having family close by. It's hard to fit in all the visiting we'd like to do when we go to Maine. We're so torn between spending time with Ed's family and mine as well as trying to get together with old friends. I guess I just have to get used to the fact that that part of our lives (the living close by family) is different now. The time we spend with them is different. There's just no possible way to spend as much time with them as we used to. When people ask me if I miss Maine I say I miss the people we love there, not necessarily Maine. I actually really like living in Massachusetts---WHAT!?---Did I just say that? I never thought I'd admit that but it's true. When we were on the Mass. Pike and we came to the Berkshire mountains I was glad to be back among their beauty.