Thawing out!

Nora with Zuly's dad, whom she now identifies as "bue," short for "Abuelo"

Nora hugging her favorite doll, Lavonne

At the mall on Nate's birthday

Mami's favorite helper

Since the last update, we took a trip to the Bronx where we visited Zuly's family for a few days. Nathan turned a whopping 34 years old on February 7! Nora has become busier than ever, and Zuly's abdomen has distended into a men's basketball.

This month Calvary Chapel launched several community groups that will meet throughout the week in different homes. The purpose is to build community and relationships, study the Bible and reach out to others. The groups began meeting this past week. The groups are currently studying the book of Acts. We are the youngest members in our group. One member affectionately coined our group the "Geriatric Group" after a couple of members exchanged leaky valve and bypass stories.

Nora loves to help. As of late, she insists on placing groceries on the conveyor belt at the checkout. She has become quite adept at anticipating our moves, for instance, rushing to the trash bin after Zuly uses a tissue to blow her nose. She has also begun to string words together as in "wowu" for "love you" or "otro pie" for "other foot." Her favorite author right now is Ezra Jack Keats, and her favorite fruit is "wiwi" for "kiwi."

Zuly is 27 weeks along in her pregnancy...only 13 weeks to go!!! The little baby wiggles as Nora did. There seems to be little difference between this pregnancy and the first. Zuly continues to host the young women's Bible study, currently studying the epistle to the Galatians.

We are about to take our first walk in months thanks to the milder weather.