So, we didn't go to the parade - too crowded. But we did go yesterday and see the blossoms just as they're starting to turn into leaves (well, not the blossoms, but the leaves coming out and the blossoms falling - heck, you know what i mean!). very beautiful. I can see what the fuss is about. We had a fab day though with our friends Dan and Jen and their little boy Jaden, all getting lost in DC together!

We had an amazing time together as a church on Sunday. It being Palm Sunday, they decided to do something a bit different. We started with hanging out together for a bit, then moved into an extended time of worship. This wasn't an ordinary time though. It was started by liturgy, then a reading and explanation of the text where Jesus comes into Jerusalem, then we all got given palm branches and then sung worship songs. It was amazing to have great contextualization and liturgy, remembering what has gone on for thousands of years before us. I don't think I have so sincerely worshipped Jesus for a long time. It made such a difference being reminded of who he is before worshipping him.

We are having a passover celebration on Thursday with some friends. I'm really looking forward again to context being put forward to life. Everything seems to make so much more sense, oddly enough!

My seeds are sprouting!

I have spent some time this week on trying to find some fun places to stay for a week or so when our Uk friends come to visit in the summer. We'd like to go out of the city and into the mountains to escape the humidity and bugs. It's going ok - as long as websites advertising cabins can be believed!

Today i planted my seeds into seed trays: sweetcorn, nastursiums and sunflowers. I am excited to see if they will grow or not. I hope so. I want Reuben to be able to watch them grow and then eat (some of) them!

he has mastered please and we are now moving onto 'more' and 'help'. He's starting to get it. The biggest battle we have at the moment though is with the stairs. The staircase is too wide to fit a stairgate on and so we can't very effectively stop him going up and down, especially as his enthusiasm for doing so has now increased since he has found out a. how to come down alone and b. that he can walk up rather than crawl if he hangs onto the railings. Today I had to follow through on the 'if you go upstairs again I will think you're going up to bed and will have to put you there' threat. it was awful! So hard being a parent. YUK!

This coming Saturday is the cherry blossom parade in Washington DC. I think we're going to try and head over - just to see! Then we'll also go back again next week when there are no crowds to check the blossoms out properly. I am really looking forward to hanging out in DC a bit.

God is doing some good stuff in our church at the moment - bringing it to life with some honesty, confession, healing. Really good stuff.

I am enjoying listening to some of the afternoon plays on radio 4 at the moment where they are dramatising the gospels. They're done really nicely and portray Jesus really excellently. They're on the radio 4 website...