Our whole family joined in for a most wonderful baby shower for our 15th grandchild!

Even though our family is spread out from Atlanta Georgia to the Olympic Peninsula on the Pacific Coast,  we all came together to celebrate Owen and Mila’s fourth child….a little boy that will be born any day now.  

This will be our 15th grandchild.  We love each one of our dear grandchildren so very much. We have so much love in our hearts for all these children, that it is simply overwhelming.  These big and little creatures that God has blessed us with, that we get to grandparent together, give meaning to our lives.

This day, the day that we all celebrated the newest child in our family, was a good day….a day to remember!

Even Marina, who is studying in Japan, joined in our prayer and celebration of this new wee little life.

This was a good day in all our lives….a day we will always remember. 

Our prayer before our dinner tonight was to give thanks for all the blessings that we are given.  One of these blessings are the bonds and love of our family that stretches across our great country from the Pacific to Atlantic Oceans and throughout the World.

We give thanks to Mila’s Russian family who lives on the other side of the world for our dear Mila. And we pray that they will be able to travel to the United States in the future to see all of us….their family here in the USA.

My wonderful birthday

This week I turned 78.  That means I'm closer to 80 than to 75.  Can I really have lived that many years?  

28489 days.  And I can only remember bits and pieces of a fraction of those days.  Some are big events that I remember, and some are quite small, interestingly.....where I probably didn't really register them at the time.

Thank goodness for photographs and movies.  I remember so much more from them, which is what I want since my life has been so very good.

I spent 30 years working (plus another 11 getting prepared for working).  I can remember only snatches of those years.  

My most vivid memories are in three categories:  1.  my childhood and adolescence.  2.  my children.  3.  My time with Vicky and all of the wonderful things we shared together.

And virtually all of my memories are positive.  All maybe.  The most powerfully negative ones aren't really even inherently negative.  They are the death of my parents.  I would feel worse about that except that I know they had full, rich, and loving lives.  And died old.  I was holding my mother's hand as she died.  I often say that I want to live a good life so that, if there's a heaven, I can go there and see them again.  I know the first thing I will say to my father:  "Dad, Mom did not die alone."   

As an old guy I do a lot of reflection.  So does Vicky (although she's neither old nor a guy).  We like to talk about our remembrances.

Well, my 78th birthday celebration(s) will be, someday, a part of those remembrances. 

Texts, phone calls, and emails from all our children and grandchildren wishing me a Happy Birthday and sending me so much love!

 

Vicky. making Mom’s signature dish, noodles with roast beef…

My birthday #2….celebrating with Owen, Mila, and the children at the cabin!

Grandma teaching Hannah how to cook Mom’s noodles….