Where have I been?

Ok, I do not like reading blogs that are as sporadic as mine. My feeble excuse is that I've been very busy (just like all the rest of you!)
Here's one thing that's kept me hoppin'. Our neighbor children were on a school break in October, so we decided to teach the girls a baking class. They wanted to "learn how to make cake". We settled for cupcakes one night, then chocolate chip cookies, brownies, banana bread, and then pizza on the final night. They wanted shrimp on their pizza, so we obliged them on that one. We had a great pizza party, with them heaping their pizza with ketchup. Yes, I said ketchup. I forgot how much they like ketchup on pizza...
We did this on Tues. and Thurs. nights for about 3 weeks. It was very fun, but it was quite draining to me. The preparation and planning, and all the cleanup afterwards. However, I know its worth it to invest some time into these girls now while they're so young.
Last week was Andrew's birthday, so we invited some friends over for that. Each one of these things is a blessing, but it isn't always easy to reach across the cultural lines. People unknowingly say things that hurt me.  I don't sometime know what's proper, and probably offend them. Even here, I find myself looking for a comfort zone...a place to stay "safe".  I'm glad for Martin on that one...he's good at gently nudging me out, but also knows when I've had enough.