My sister and her family left yesterday after spending almost a week with us here in western PA. This is my youngest sister, Sheila, who is married to Kurt and have two children (and one on the way) Silas, age 2, and Nathan, age 1. They were here because Kurt had business in Pittsburgh and they were able to come along. What a blessing to have them here as they live in Colorado and visits tend to be few and far between. We thoroughly enjoyed having them here...we got to love on the little ones and (hopefully) help Sheila out a bit while Kurt was in Pittsburgh. Above picture is Kurt with Silas at the Carnegie Science Museum and below picture is Silas and Nathan.
Highlights of the visit were:
1. Kurt getting tickets for Darrell and Evan to join him and some of his colleagues at the Penguins game on Thursday night - they got to sit in the General Managers box!
2. Taking Sheila and kids and meeting Kurt in Pittsburgh to visit our current favorite place - the science museum!
3. Taking them to the Festival of the Trees at Brady's Run Park - Silas LOVED the upside down tree!
4. Getting to take Sheila on a sister's dinner only to Tinitique restaurant on Monday night.
On Saturday afternoon, Ann-Marie was invited to a Christmas tea party at a friend's house. She was so excited! She got to dress up, I put big curls in her hair, and we put on a little lip gloss. Big excitement for a 6 year old! We also went to a local thrift store and she picked out her own tea cup!
I am so thankful that this visit with my sister worked out. We enjoyed having family see what our life is like here and we got to enjoy them. So thank you to Kurt and Sheila - it is hard traveling with such young children, but the memories of this visit we will treasure for a lifetime!
We woke up to snow this morning, so Darrell and the kids made the first snowman of the season.
And here's our family focus for 2010 (no resolutions...they usually don't make it past January)......no, no one is becoming a nun, the picture is one Darrell took at the Vatican when living in Italy. To me, it represents a contemplative life. I found a plaque to go with it that is especially meaningful to me, it reads, "Make time for quiet moments, as God whispers and the world is loud." I'm reading a book right now titled, "Not So Fast; Slow-Down Solutions for Frenzied Families" by Ann Kroeker. All this put together is our family focus for 2010 - slow down, do less better, live in the moment, enjoy and be content with whatever circumstances we're in and whatever we have, and go in the direction that God leads.
