“Papa, where did I come from?” The six year old boy looked up at his father questioningly. His father paused in his methodical way of stocking colorfully striped boxes filled with candies and cookies onto shelves.

He hesitantly replied, “Where did you come from?”

“Ya, where did I come from?”

“Well, your mama and I...made you.”

“How?”

“...We made you in Mama's oven.”

“Like a gingerbread man?”

“Kind of. But we baked you in Mama's oven.”

“Oh. Okay.”

This is about to be my longest post ever. I'm taking a writing class, and I'm finally beginning to work on a story I've been thinking about for a while. Here is the first scene I've begun to work on.

Quick synopsis: This is a story of a girl who works for her uncle in his bakery. He’s known as the gingerbread man because he is famous for his gingerbread. Here is part of a scene somewhere near the beginning where the girl and her friend discover a well of magical molasses. They’re both kids. It's not finished.

We've made it to over four months now and the baby is still alive! Hurray!

I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday. The ultra sound could not have been any more obvious. We've got a nice little picture with legs spread wide and a little something popping way out there. It's a boy!

Wow! It's been nearly two months since I've updated. Here's what's new:

On Tuesday, I took Jonathan to a playgroup. He tottered about playing with toys more or less ignoring me. The lady next to me was holding a little baby, and she let me hold him.

I've been having some strange dreams lately. This last one occurred Sunday morning when I awoke feeling anxious. It went something like this:

Jonathan was two years old, and we had a one month old baby. David and I decided we'd take a family vacation and see some obscure European country. We arrived acting like regular tourists seeing all the sights. And then I was kidnapped.

Jonathan is learning to talk! He's been able to say Momma and Daddy for some time as well as sign for food, drink, please and cheese.

Today I took Jonathan to a play group at RAF Akrotiri for the first time in months. At first, he just sat with me and watched the other kids. After a while, he stood next to me. I eventually took him over to a house-like toy where he could spin some toy birdies and open and close a door. He ended up playing in that for quite some time - especially once a little girl with blond curls came over with a bag of Cheetos.

Wednesday I went to visit another little village in the mountains called Kakopetria with Jalene and Haley. It took about an hour to drive up there. At first, everything was much like down by the sea. Desertous. Scrubby plants. Off-white rock. Then as we went over the mountain, it changed.

On the other side, there is all kinds of greenery. Thick forest with various kinds of pine trees and leaf trees. It reminded us a lot of home.

Jonathan likes circles. He will put circle shapes inside bigger circle shapes. Monday was the first time that funny little quirk was at all annoying though. We had French toast for breakfast. When I was putting food away. I couldn't find the lid to the nutella. Then I noticed that the lid to the peanut butter was slightly askew. I found the smaller lid amidst all the peanut butter, covered and gooey. Sometime when David and I weren't looking, he had opened the peanut butter jar, plopped it in and closed it up again. Funny.