In which you thought we'd forgotten.
A lot can happen in a month. A lot, just not a journal entry.
Still, in the time that's elapsed we enjoyed a visit from good friend M.J. and her son, John. We saw the temperatures warm up enough for a good fistful of trips to the park as winter nosed up to spring. Great Uncle John and Aunt Laura even invited us to his 50th wedding anniversary party in Leavenworth.
The last of these was a festive event with generations of Henshaws gathered from the four corners of the nation.
One of our favorite holidays also came and went, St. Patrick's Day. Owen's daycare put on a slightly smaller version of Kansas City's infamous Irish parade.
The O-boy's classmates were bundled into, essentially, a giant bucket and trundled through Westport-- the center of nightlife in our town. They were followed by kids in wagons and boys and girls in leprechaun hats. As predicted, Owen saw us over the corner of the bucket. Robin ended up joining the parade as Owen's personal parade float.
You can see him post walk, reunited with his grandparents and school mate, Katie.
I must admit, Robin and I never thought we'd spend St. Pat's in Westport carting children through the streets. Behaving like children, perhaps, but not carrying them.
Such antics probably explains our other experience over the past month: trying to turn Owen into a church-goer.
Since returning from Kazakhstan, Robin and I have been trading shifts at the early services each Sunday. A few weeks ago, we decided it would be a good idea to try going to the later service as a family. The only problem? The day care lets out about twenty minutes before the service actually ends.
For us that meant Owen joined us in the pew just in time for the pre-communion hymn. A fan of music, Owen enjoyed the choir. So much so, in fact, that he felt compelled to stand on the seat and shout, "Sing! SING! SING!"
For future reference, that will get you out of church early two weeks in a row.
We tried to supplement Owen's religious education at home. Having breakfast at Robin's parents', Grandma suggested Owen bow his head in prayer.
He's done it before, she told us. "Bow your head," we said.
"EAT!" he shouted back.
Amen!
