Ah, after a lovely post-Christmas holiday in Marysville, Ohio, where we were able to hug ALL of our children and grandchildren, we are back in our own little 300 square foot house. And I confess, it feels great! We did have a wonderful visit with our gang – for Gary it was the first time he’s seen some of them since last Christmas. And even if we had seen them several times throughout the year, when your grandchildren are 2, 5, and (almost)7, you know the changes will be great each and every time you are together. We were amazed at how verbal little Maddie was (age 2), what a great game player Hayley is (age 5), and how well Ellie is reading.
Here’s Maddie –

And Hayley –

and the biggest sister – Ellie –

Ok, I know I’m their grandmother, but really….cutest ever?
Just sayin’.

Since we were there for over a week, we were pleased to see that Toby had come up with a project for us (Well, Gary really. I’m pretty happy to play Sorry with the big girls or read another book to little Maddie) to work on while we were there. They tackled the basement – building shelves and then working to fill them up.
From this –

to this –

By the time we left, those shelves were pretty full, the “garage sale” stuff had been separated and the girls’ play area had been pretty well organized. By the way – those boxes that are on the shelves? That is all our “stuff.” Literally, that is all we have that we don’t have with us.
But our holiday wasn’t just about playing with the grand-girls and staying out of trouble in the basement. It was also about catching up with the Big Kids. To see how Lara is doing after her first year in Texas (just fine!), to see what great parents Toby and Tammy are becoming and to see how Josiah and Abigail are blossoming where the Lord has planted them in Lancaster. So here is our family picture – with a little visual on how interesting is to actually GET a family photo!

(The big beautiful puppy, Nali (age 7 months!), lives with Lara!)
What a wonderful family we have been blessed with!

But, as I said earlier, we are Home. And Home this month is Cherry Valley Christian School in Beaumont, CA. We’ll be getting better acquainted with the area over the weekend ahead, but right now it’s been nice to enjoy the beautiful weather (it was sunny and in the high 60’s today), get ourselves unpacked, and generally just kick back and take naps.

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