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Heaven is Inside

 Don't blame me for feeling Amorous!

The Flu virus is almost on its way outta town!

Mr. Urban has gifted me with the baddest mix tape (on ipod of course), which just listening to makes me feel more energetic and HIP - well one step less distant from popular culture...  and loved.  After all aren't mix tapes the ultimate expression of adoration to your crush?

Oh, and then there is this lump of love...
  
 

A new Urban has arrived among us!  If she was furrier and was sporting some whiskers she could have passed for a Persian Kitten.  She is cute and super cuddly and we are thrilled to have her. 


The Urbans have actually savored having to spend this winter indoors.  Most of all our jolly big girl, who is an amazing big sister and a craft-maker extraordinaire.  Just look at the Fascinator she made (above)...


Sisters just instantly bond.  It is so special to see that... that falling in love is a true human instinct, that there really are no awkward first impressions where love is concerned... 


And of course, one of the real reason that I am so relaxed and Mr. Urban is making mix tapes and lovingly holding the back of our big girl's bike for hours on end to teach her balance, is my parents. 


They came to help us welcome our newest one... and my mother who laughs loudly and generously,  stayed on long enough to get us set up and pampered...  we shared so many cups of luke warm tea, always laughing over how something needs our immediate attention as soon as hot tea is poured into our cups...

I loved having my mother around.  I always do, but this time more than ever before.  Perhaps because the universe surrounded us with so many funny moments to laugh heartily about together... but it was also how much we agreed on things... and when you are going through a new experience, nothing is more comforting than having a friend that validates and celebrates your every wobbly instinct...  One of those life events which I will cherish for ever...

And then, just in time for Valentine's day, my little sister same into town.  All the girls decorated tea pots and teabags for a  Valentine's tea, and we talked of love, the various shapes of it that we each encounter in our lives these days... me, a wife and mama of two cute girls in the country, and her, a fun and smart single girl in the city...



And guess what else?  Spring flowers are blooming in our pots and all over our property.  Hundreds of tulips and narcissus springing out of places (empty pots, the redwood grove, the hillside meadow) we had not imagined before.  A gift left behind by the sweet previous owenrs of our home, an elderly couple who told our daughter that "coming Spring time, watch for surprises we left behind for you around the property".

So much more beauty awaiting us all.  And for all that and much much more, I am so Thankful!

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