visits with the extended fam

We had so much fun on this vacation spending time with some of our extended family. We started off our vacation at Nanny's house, which I blogged about earlier. Brynlee wanted Nanny to do everything with her...I think she asked Nanny to play "matches" with her at least ten times in the 24 hours we were with her.

She sat with Nanny as long as she could before bedtime and then joined her in her recliner first thing when she woke up the next morning.

I often find that life is more fun in the "unplanned" moments. We happened upon one of those unplanned moments when we got to Nanny's house. Keith's cousin, Becky, had also come to visit Nanny with her two little girls, Lily and Lucy. Usually, we only get to see each other when the whole extended family gets together which makes it a little harder to enjoy laid-back time together. We loved getting time with them - and Keith definitely needed Becky to help him with his crossword puzzle attempts :-). Both of them together still didn't hold a candle to their Nanny though.

I asked Bryn what her favorite part of vacation was when we got back home, and she quickly said, "seeing E." She so loves her E. We were glad to see her too and thankful that the Lord brought them back safe from their spring break trip to Italy.


Karen and Evan were able to come with E. to visit us. I'm really enjoying this season of our relationship. Even though we live pretty far apart, we are doing better about either Skyping or talking on the phone on a more regular basis. She is our only sister, which also means that our kids' only cousin is her son, Evan. It is so fun to see how much our kids love Evan and how much he loves them. I'm thinking his system probably goes into shock after leaving the chaos that accompanies our family to a quiet home! I sure wish they lived closer to us so that we could hang out more often than we get to now. I'm hoping that Alan will get a job at a hospital in the Austin area when he finishes his residency ;-) It is the best place to live in Texas, right?

I was thankful for a chance to visit one of my oldest (in terms of years of friendship) friends during our trip. Her husband just accepted a pastor position in Ponca City, OK, so I knew I needed to catch a couple of hours with her before her move or it might be awhile. This is her youngest son, Elijah, who I was finally able to meet. Isn't he adorable? She is such a precious wife, mom and friend. I hate that we don't get to live closer to each other, but I love that it's as if no time has passed when we are able to get together. She is like a sister to me and I know that God used her and her family during my formative teenage years to teach me what a godly family is supposed to look like.

We stopped by the farm to check-in on Horace and Retta on our way home. I can't even describe how spiritually refreshing it is to spend time with these two heroes of the faith. I'm so thankful for their example of what it looks like to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, as you age (gracefully, I might add ;-).

We also got to see Keith's Uncle Jay and Aunt Elane and his cousin, Bryan, while we were in Gladewater. Brynlee was pretty taken with Uncle Jay - she even asked to see him the next two days after we left Gladewater, so he must have left a pretty big impression.

In a perfect world, we would get to live close to all of these precious relatives and friends so that we could see them more often. They all have played a major role in shaping who Keith and I are today. But, the distance makes the times we do get to spend with them really special. We're so thankful to the Lord for last week and the opportunity to do a little "catching up" with our loved ones.