Ray and Willa are a full year older now, but not feeling much taller (according to Ray)!!! Their birthdays hit right at the tail end of our first COVID experience so it didn’t quite look as we expected, but we had a wonderful weekend. It started last Friday as Willa turned 7. The team drove by honking their horns and wishing her many happy returns. She was thoroughly surprised and delighted. Then yesterday we celebrated Ray turning 9 just as we were released from isolation. A fellow Pioneer Bible couple (also COVID free) came over for her pizza and movie birthday night. We were immensely impressed with how well they handled the disappointments of the last couple of weeks. Birthday present mishaps, party cancellations, sickness… but they rolled with it all. Not devoid of emotion or sorrow and the various losses, but getting to the other side and finding contentment. I honestly just like being with them. I like doing life with them. I like teaching them. I deeply like them. I’m grateful for this way-too-fast bit of life that has all us under the same roof.