My brother and his family came to visit last week and it was such a treat to have them. The real negative was that the trip wasn’t long enough – but it never would have been. I would buy a house and plant our family next door to them if I could, so 2.5 days was definitely a bit shy of satisfactory. Still, it is what the good Lord ordained and a gift.

The two days couldn’t have been better. The cousins played so well together which meant that Brooke and I got to talk A LOT. Tim Keller happened to be in town and so Honey and Andrew went to hear him speak and then spent the rest of that day out and about together. We did have a sitter one night and went out for a fabulous and fun dinner. It is such a joy to like one’s family.

Andy really is one of my favorite people and God gave him a super wife whom I love. Can’t wait until heaven where we’ll have eternity together. I hope my mansion is near their’s.

The cousins playing well together:

Aunt Brooke with her nieces and nephew:

A make-upless Aunt B getting some lovin’ from the cousins:

It’s fun that these guys were friends before Honey and I knew each other. Some brother-in-law love:

(Brooke, the picture of us didn’t turn out well so we will have to try again at Christmas. I’ll try to lose my second chin by then!)

I have a very distinct memory of riding in the car with my family and my father posing a question. He asked us, “If you were to ask God for a car, what would you want it to look like?” We started listing off things – blue, four doors, AC, radio with tape deck, etc. I remember him telling us we were going to start praying for that car. . . with those specifics. I remember I did. Know what else? I remember the day my daddy came home and told us the church where he was a pastor had decided to begin providing cars for the senior staff and ours was going to be a four door, blue Corsica with AC and a radio with tape deck. I remember that God became realer to me then and I understood for the first time that He cares about the little things that bring me joy.

I love photos. (Wasn’t sure you had picked up on that one) While we were in seminary we lived on a VERY small income and our family grew by two children. There would have been no way for me to purchase portraits of our babies – no way. My God knows I value photos and He cares about the little things that bring me joy. Once again He decided this was something He was going to give me and Picture People sent us a book of coupons for free portraits and I used those to get 8×10 portraits of both Little and Bubba for three years! FREE!

Once KB had come along, Picture People had stopped their free promotions but JCPenney has coupons and we moved 2 miles from a Penneys. It’s funny – I have more desire for family photos and group shots and Penneys is even a better deal!

I am so thankful for a father who had faith and strove to pass that on to his children.
I am so thankful for a Father that loves me so much that He would care enough to provide portraits of my kids.
I am thankful for Penneys *wink*