beautiful chaos

our family just returned from a trip to texas. a trip to texas always includes much eating of food that casey and i never prepare for ourselves, but do not mind making ourselves sick on when my mom makes it; three wonderful, and very energetic nephews; much visiting with friends; and very little sleep. this trip was no different, save for the fact that we now have a child thrown into the mix of that. from the pictures, you can see a certain trend - asher being held by his papa; asher being held by his nanny; asher being held by his aunt or uncle; asher being held by his cousins (i suppose there is also a trend in sitting in the recliner while holding him). it goes without saying that yesterday, the day after we came home, was a "special" day.

the beautiful thing about said chaos is that it is time spent with family. family is a thing taken so lightly, but is so irreplacable. asher is growing up in an environment rich with love and community and value built into it. i cherish the fact that asher has family here that instill that value into his life on a regular basis, and i cherish the times we spend in texas, although too few and far between, knowing that the same will be lavished upon him as well. they say it takes a village to raise a child, and i totally agree. i am just so thankful that the village surrounding our son includes those intimately connected in his life: his family.