Family....Blessings Undeserved and Priceless

~~~Sisters ! Here three of the four sisters, our granddaughters, are posing for me at pond side. They were swinging on the hammock, frog hunting, tossing pebbles in the pond....just being little girls excited to be at Grandma and Grandpa's home and visiting all the relatives that came especially to see THEM and rejoice in long awaited answered prayer. ( Their sister was taking her turn at spending the night at a favorite Auntie's home with cousins to play with )~~~Aunt Joni snuggles with three of the sisters. She has upheld the sisters father ( our oldest son ) in prayer and phone counsel and she and her husband have a soft spot for our son and his plight broke their hearts...they and their church and friends have helped support our son when we despaired of ever being able to get our precious granddaughters the justice that seemed out of reach of reason and sensibility. Thank-you Joni ! ~~~" To us , family means putting your arms around each other and being there." Barbara Bush ~~~Sister Karen sharing what she called a " blonde moment" with three of our very blonde granddaughters. Karen has also been so supportive, and she has had her prayer group praying for our son and his daughters......Karen has had her share of trying times and I have learned so much from my sisters , all three of them, and been so comforted to know they are supporting us and praying for us and just plain there for us ! It kind of makes me ashamed to realize how often I have failed them and they have been there for me anyway ! ~~~" The family. We were a strange little band of characters, trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving. laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together." Erma Bombeck ~~~A favorite Auntie of the granddaughters, our daughter, allowing #4 granddaughter hold her baby ,our #2 grandson. The granddaughters are very kind to their youngest cousin. ( note the jar on the coffee table. The granddaughters found a new pet at our place, FUZZY the caterpillar. ) ~~~From left to right : # 4 granddaughter, # 1 granddaughter and #6 granddaughter hold up the eggs they gathered. They were so excited to gather eggs and pick apples and pears and help me feed the sheep and ducks and bake and.....we are so blessed ! God has protected our granddaughters, He brought our son, their father, home safely from his 2nd tour of Iraq as a tank commander for the USMC. God gave our son the comfort a faithless wife would not, and finally...FINALLY, after 1 and 1/2 years of an indifferent legal system that cost us more dearly than all the money spent...our son and granddaughters are home. Home where healing can begin for 4 precious little girls. Home where four precious little girls can start being little girls again. Where doing chores and homework and learning the very basic and kind rules of life are the hardest things to put up with.

~~~" In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony." Eva Burrows

~~~"What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel they are joined for life- to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories. " George Eliot