Lady Cynthia

Long ago I realized that no matter what I did I could never be as cool as my older sister Cynthia. I wasn't bitter about this because quite frankly I felt lucky to have her as my sister and hopefully have some of her coolness just by association. Five years ago her life took on a new look when she put aside her acceptance letter for a masters program at the American University in Beirut and married Joshua, the Johns Hopkins medical student. But the reason why I would want to live by my sister isn't because she speaks Arabic and has done things like working for an Arab human rights organization in Nazareth (who does those kinds of things?!) but because she is one of the most capable and devoted mothers I know. And the fact that she picks out the coolest clothes for her kids doesn't hurt either.
Here is their oldest, Thomasin, who has hair any girl would be jealous of. It was Thomasin by the way who made the bead necklace for Eve that she was putting on and off all during church on Sunday. One of the kindest and happiest little girls you'll ever meet.

And then there's Marta, who is just two weeks younger than Eve. She is one tough little girl. In fact both her and Thomasin are amazingly tough and adventurous. Marta totally put Eve to shame. Eve may be heavier (ok a lot heavier) and taller but Marta was running circles around Eve. Nothing fazed her. The only time I heard her cry was when she was hungry and then when she got her head stuck under the couch. Ever since we've been home I've been consciously trying to "toughen" Eve up by encouraging her to be more like her cousin Marta and explore even if it means scrapes and her eating all kinds of ... stuff ...