Visit from Tommy

It was a Happy Valentines Day!!
Tommy, Cherie and kids stopped by on their way to VA for their vacation with friends who live there. After telling them that Dad would like to spend some time with them, while they are here, they got here around 9:30pm after visiting with their friends and Cherie's parents and we spent a delightful evening chatting, while the younger ones prepared for bed. They planned on taking off soon after breakfast in the morning.

♥ They are growing up and up and up and up, LOL!! Don't look anything like the time I drove Ann to PA and went on down to Va to bring back Mike and Zach do they?! That was 13yrs ago!!! Where has the time gone?!! Four more months and Mike will be 19 and putting in his mission papers, YIKES!!! He had a nice talk with me last night about it. He's so excited!!

The friends whom they were heading to VA to visit, are planning to help support him on his mission! He has become their son, whom they never had, so they are excited to be a part of everything in his life!!

I can hardly believe that in 10yrs they will all be grown up...... I'm glad they live in NY now, so we can see them more often, even though it isn't as often or as long as I'd like. The advantages and disadvantages to having them closer are not having to pack and put them out to visit them, but not having as much time to spend with each one every time. Everything is a trade off. I have to learn to make the most of each moment. :)

A friend said, "Families can be so wonderful! It is definitely worth the times we spend cleaning up a sick kid in the middle of the night or driving to school with forgotten homework, lunch or gym clothes or insisting on having family home evening even though eveybody is mad at everybody in the house!"

Ah yes the memories..... we willingly and delightfully sacrificed so very much for our children while they were growing up..... As I get older and they have grown farther away and busier and busier, I have started making plans to do something productive in our retirement years. :) ♥ We are talking about what we can do to serve a senior mission. It will have to be cheap! Our nest egg has dwindled..... But there are many things we can do for the Lord, which do not require us to leave home. It will be a new adventure!!!!

Dad woke them up to say goodbye and ate in a hurry before leaving for work. He was glad that he was able to see them for a while Sunday night. :)