Unexpectedly Nice Afternoon

Today we had an unexpected surprise as Grandma C came back out to Waconia. She came to pick up the family pictures we had had taken in December when my brother and his family from Florida were here. The pictures look great. It is amazing how the photographers at Wedin Studios got 20 people looking so good....a few digital head switches can do wonders. I very gladly hung our new family photo above our mantel, eager to replace the previous one from 2 years ago. There was something about that other one that didn't make me feel happy...we HAD just lost two babies shortly before the picture had been taken, perhaps that was the reason? That reminds me, the other day, just out of the blue, Crispy asked me if Ashley and Matthew would stay forever as babies, without growing up, in heaven. I answered that I guessed they would, as perfected little babies. We talked about our imaginings of Jesus holding them safely in his arms as they wait for us. Once we join them, I will get to hold my own babies forever....babies forever, my dream come true! Now I can let my other kids grow up instead of trying to (ineffectively, of course)convince them to stay little.

We had a lovely little lunch at the Mocha Monkey, and really just had a nice afternoon. Grandma took Michael back to the cities with her so that he could get to his tounament game early in White Bear Lake and I could wait for Bob to get home so that we could ride to the game together. I made the kids homemade waffles before we ditched them for the rest of the night. Michael's team played very well, and WON! Hooray! We will play again tomorrow at 5pm.....after little Laura's birthday party.