Before I get into my “faves” for the week, I wanted to announce that Daniel and I just moved in with my parents in northern California. Don’t worry — Jon and I are not divorcing. At the present time, my parents can give me better support with Daniel than our living situation in southern California could and I’m grateful to my in-laws for giving us a home for 16 months.

My parents’ cat Homer. When Daniel and I arrived on Monday, Daniel was chattering to my dad using the word “cat” in which he pronounced all three letters instead of it sounding like “cah” or “tah”. He then started repeating the syllable “gree” with “cat”. We put together today that he was talking about Homer and was saying “gris cat”. (We call Homer “gris-gris” because he is a gray cat.) Homer has been Daniel’s buddy — tolerating him, hanging out with him, and even was asleep on my bed when I came in to start putting Daniel to bed last night.

The Trader Joe’s in Claremont, California. I love Trader Joe’s anyway but the store in Claremont has gone above and beyond in how they’ve loved on Daniel for the last 16 months. Almost every crew member in the store knows his name and greeted him by it when we walk in. Their assistant store manager let him ring their bell and one of the crew members who is a psych major would find new and interesting ways to communicate with him. If you are anywhere nearby, please consider patronizing them — they could seriously give lessons to churches and businesses on how to interact with customers who have special needs.

Rain. It was cloudy last night and we got enough to wet down the patio a bit. I am ecstatic. Bring it on, El Niño!

My friend Jenn. Girlfriend had an article on NFP that was picked up by Cosmo, Redbook, and Good Housekeeping. Eschet chayil!

“Open Your Ears, O Faithful People”. I had been listening to a hymn mix that included this hymn on Saturday night and we sang it on Sunday morning. It’s one of my favorites as well!

Go love up Jenna and the others.