The Ring! And other things...

Here it is....a picture of the ring!!


I promise I was wearing a cute dress the night he proposed. I knew it was coming, so I had to dress up! But it was so cold, I had to put on a sweater and scarf AND coat!



Isn't it pretty? The diamonds are the ones my dad gave my mom. They were taken from two separate rings, and Matt had them put together into one new ring. He did a great job! And I love that the diamonds are so sentimental. :)


In other news, a few days ago I heard my neighbors outside the window. They're just so darn cute I had to get a look, so I opened my door and this is what I saw:



The bear is bigger than the girl! So of course, we invited the girls in to come play. Emily brought back a basket of toys after Spring Break so now we have things for our neighbor kids to do when they come over, especially if we need to study!



These two girls are so sweet. P* is the little one, and B* is the bigger one. There are a lot more girls in their family but these are the two we see most often. The day we moved into our apartment in December, B* asked me as I was unloading things from my car, "can I help??"

She helped me carry a small rug into the house, and she was so thrilled to have been able to help. Then little P* came running up. She wanted hugs, of course, but then she wouldn't let go! The fist few times we saw her we thought, "that little girl is a wild child!" But the more we've gotten to know her the more we've seen just how sweet she is. She's calmed down a bit now that the newness of our big move has died down.

After the girls played for a while, we told them that we needed to study so they would have to leave. Emily went to work and I hunkered down on the futon to work on a research paper. A few minutes later, I heard knocking at the door.

*tap tap tap*

I ignored it.

*tap tap tap*

I ignored it again.

*tap tap tap*

"Miss Laura!! Miss Laura!! I have something for you!"

Of course, I had to open it.

And there was tiny little P*, with something in her hands.

"I have a flower for you!"

"Oh, thank you!"

I reached out my hand to take what I thought would be a daffodil, or some other weed-like flower from down by the stairs.

Nope. Not quite.

Instead, her hand was full of actual weeds. Just the weeds. No flower. Just green, leafy, prickly weeds.



She was so proud of herself. I gave her a hug and sent her away. I walked towards the trash can but stopped thinking, "what if she asks what I did with them?"

So instead, I put them on the coffee table.

Sure enough, two minutes later, she was back. With more weeds. And she wanted to know what I had done with the first weeds.

Thankfully, I was able to show her exactly where they were.

It's always an adventure living here! From weeds, to giant teddy bears, to Shakira dance parties with 10 little kids and spontaneous crafting...there's so much to tell!!

Speaking of which, does anybody have any craft/quilting/sewing supplies they could donate? Two of the Iraqi ladies here told me that they want to do something to contribute to their family income. They can sew and make all kinds of things, purses, decorative items, etc, but they don't have any supplies. Surely we can get something together, get these ladies busy crafting with their endless hours of free time, and sell some stuff on Etsy.com or some other venue!

Ideas? Suggestions? Donations?