14 weeks.

Dear baby,

After New York, we took a bus down to DC to spend Thanksgiving with some wonderful friends. We shared a property with these friends for five years (we lived in the back house) until they had to move to DC, and I am sad that they won't be around when we bring you home. We just recently bought our whole property from them, and are incredibly grateful for the new house we live in, the house we'll get to bring you home to. We are excited to create a little room for you even though you won't know the difference. 

DC was beautiful. I love history, and so I especially enjoyed all the monuments and memorials. To think of all the history that has been made in that city is quite inspiring. To stand on the steps where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his speech at the March on Washington, and to think of how much progress has been made in our country since it's inception truly gives me hope for the future. It can be easy to look out at the world and see so many problems and feel a little hopeless, but actually one of the things that gives me hope is looking back to history. Just in the last 100 years, so many strides have been made toward equality and human rights. Surely there is hope for the next 100 years. 

During our last night in DC, we went to an immigration reform rally called Fast for Families in a tent on the Washington Mall, since our friends were involved. There were people in the tent that had been fasting for 20 days for the sake of wanting all people to be treated with respect and dignity, and for families being able to stay together. Peter from Peter, Paul, and Mary was there, and he sang the song "Blowin' in the Wind," which is on one of my favorite records we have. He gave a speech about how he sang the same song at the March on Washington, and the entire crowd sang along with him there. He asked us to sing along with him that night, and as I was singing I was brought to tears. Throughout history, people have come to the United States in hopes for a better life for their children. And thousands are deported and separated from their families each month. I thought about you, and if I was in a different and desperate situation, I know I would do anything I could to provide you a better life, and the thought of being separated from you would just about tear me apart. I thought about the families for whom that is a reality, and it brought me to tears. There's got to be a better way in a country that was founded on immigrants. 

One of my hopes for you is that you will have a heart for social justice and a compassionate spirit, because surely this world needs more people like that. 

Love, 

Mama

(This weeks's photos were taken on the lawn next to the Capitol building.)