Our Two are Two!!

Scenes from the evening's festivities:

As you can see, it was as rockin' a party as ever a toddler birthday/Halloween/costume extravaganza could be. (It was, in fact, a joint party celebrated with the Malone's, whose daughter, Eva--the sweet little cow pictured above--turned one on Halloween.) After dinner and cake, the group of us went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Evelyn and I went out to gather candy (it took only 3 houses before Evie was holding out her little bag saying "Tree-a-tree") while Brent and Jess remained at the house to give it away. After the kids part of the evening was over, the Malone's put their kids to bed at our house and us grown-ups got to enjoy some time hanging out. All in all, a very fun evening. We're grateful for these children and for the friends (and family) in our lives.

This time last year, I was still waking up each day in amazement and disbelief, thinking "how can it be that we now have twins!?!" Although we're now pretty well accustomed to the shape of this life with Evelyn and Jess, the reality of it hasn't diminished one bit our sense of the goodness of it. In fact, as we celebrated their birthday, I was especially aware of what a gift these little people are to us. There's no denying that life with twin two-year old can be... er, challenging, but, in the end, I'm glad even for that.

I came across the following passage in a book I've been reading, it puts the point perfectly:

"...the Father looks with no esteem upon a bare existence, and is ever working, even by suffering, to render life more rich and plentiful. His gifts are to the overflowing of the cup; but when the cup would overflow, he deepens its hollow, and widens its brim." --George MacDonald, The Miracles of Our Lord