Our family many years ago when it was just the four of us
Our family in 2006 - Melissa and Shane have now joined the clan!
Our family in 2009 - we now have Abigail and Luci!
Everyone enjoying the warm sunshine after a big meal.
The children enjoying wrestling with one of the older boys -I can't tell who it is.
John, Melissa, Kelsey and Lisa waiting their turn for food.
Roy watching the children play and perhaps reflecting on the day.
More fun to be had by attacking one of the older boys.
"Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, said the LORD of hosts". Zechariah 1:3
Our two weeks with Luci flew by and it was a precious time of bonding with our granddaughter. We were blessed to have the privilege to bring her home with us and very much appreciate John and Melissa allowing us to do so. We know how much they missed her. John and Melissa flew home on Saturday, November 7th. We were excited to have them with us. John had not been home since my mother passed away in June 2008 and Melissa had not been to Virginia since June 2007 when her brother graduated high school. It was a joyous reunion for our family to see them again, especially for Jeremy since he did not make the trip with us in October.
We had an "early Thanksgiving" celebration on Sunday after church. I invited Melissa's family to dinner. Counting babies, and there were plenty of babies!, we had a total of 35 people at our house for dinner. How blessed are we! I was also thrilled that John and Melissa joined us for church services. All four of my children and my granddaughter were at church together. It doesn't get any better than that! The weather was warm and it was a blessing. As you will see from the pictures, children of all ages enjoyed the warm Fall day and hours of fun playing outside occurred after dinner. It truly was a special time for many reasons and one of which was that all four of my children were home for the very first time! Our family has grown significantly over the years so I am including pictures reflecting us "then and now". There is never a day that I don't miss my mother but gatherings such as these are a poignant reminder of how much she is missed by our family. I hope she is looking down from Heaven and smiling at us all.
We enjoyed the remainder of the week visiting with John & Melissa and dreaded the time when they would leave and return to Boise. John, Abigail and I drove them to BWI on Thursday evening. It was rainy drive and while we enjoyed our last moments together, we were all sad to be saying good-bye again. We all miss them very much and I am already counting down the days until we all together again..........a little trip to Boise after the holidays may be in store for me!
1 comment:
Hi Doris! It looks like you had a very special early Thanksgiving celebration! Your family looks like fun, can I come next year?! ;) I enjoyed all of the pictures...especially the first one when your family was just made up of 4! Abagail & Shane are precious as always....& Luci is a little dolly!
Post a Comment