Saying Good-Bye is HARD to Do

Family Visiting!
It was exciting and easy to welcome my brother Josh and his wife Caroline and their kiddos into our home for a visit this week. I was, personally, a bit frazzled because my home was not up to par as a result of the previous week's illness, but I was SO excited to see my brother and his family after more than a year apart!

We had SUCH an amazingly wonderful time. At least, the Gollihughs sure did! I can only hope that visitors had as wonderful a time visiting! I felt love, touched, and trusted when Caroline shared her preconceived fears about the visit in my home and then told me that she'd not been troubled by the reasons for her anxiety. YEAY! I'm making progress, I think. You see, I have been told rather often (especially within my family) that the way I speak my mind can be a bit intimidating and off-putting. I have been consciously working on changing myself in MANY ways (that being one of the many) and it's gratifying to feel that, perhaps, I'm making SOME progress. I hope all ended as well as it started in her mind as well as my brother and their children!

So, the arrived on Wednesday evening. I don't really remember much from that night. Jess had dinner already ready, so we did enjoy a family meal of Turkey... hmmm... I can't remember what the dish was called! Well, it was yummy.

First Full Day
Thursday was our busy day. Jess made pancakes from breakfast. Josh and his two eldest accompanied us to the library and, later, the whole clan came with us to Dance. We walked everywhere, so that was fun - especially to dance because we had all the kids in strollers (three, to be exact). I'm sure we were a sight on the street! For dinner Jessie made meatballs in caper sauce over rice. DE-LISH!!! ^_^

Second
Friday we had a laid back morning. I think it was around 1pm that we finally headed out to Matanzas beach. That's our FAVORITE beach because the waves are really REALLY gentle even when it's high tide. Well, when we arrived the tide was out SO far that we could walk REALLY far out into the little inlet near which we park. And we did. The water was REALLY cold in the deep places, I must say. Josh was determined to ford the deep part, but his kiddos, even as tall as they are, were a bit too short to make it across on their own feet and stay dry. So, Josh put one on each shoulder and started across. It was a SIGHT to see! I hope they upload THAT picture and then I'll link to it (if they don't mind!). We forgot our camera a lot. :( On the way home, we stopped at a grocery store and our guests purchased makings for a meal. Steak, salad, guacamole and chips, cantelope for the next morning, and rissoto. Another hit for the Chef-Daddy!

Last Full Day
Saturday the two eldest visitors stayed with the Gollihughs while Josh, Caroline, and their baby went to meet a friend of Caroline's for lunch. Jess and I packed up a few things (mostly water) and the FIVE kids and headed out to meet J&C at a playground we'd seen a while back, but never visited. We were quite late. I think it took about 30 minutes longer than I expected... maybe that's 15 minutes for each extra child?? ahwell. We made it safely! The park was great. It was PERFECT, really. You see, Josh is a firefighter and the playground is right next to/behind a fire station and the actual equipment is fire fighter themed!!! ^_^ Isn't that too awesome!? It was fun. We had beef stir-fry a la Jessie for dinner.

The Day of Departure
Church this morning. I was under the impression that my brother would be sort of rushing off to get on the road directly after church. He was really laid back about it, though. He was cool with waiting for Jess and me to get out of a meeting with a member of our Bishopric. He and Caroline offered us a picknick lunch after. It was REALLY lovely! The best part, to me, was, certainly and, of course, the opportunity to spend another 45 minutes around this sweet family that I'm lucky enough to call part of mine! ^_^

Ria actually cried as we were driving away from her cousin. These two were amazing together! They were inseperable. They played together ALL day long and really did NOT fight! K became perturbed with Kat a few times, but Ria and K never really fought. I was a bit surprised, but VERY pleased about that!!!

What did they play? Well, I think their favorite activity was dress-up. Saturday they spent about 30 minutes in thier dress-up clothes dancing to J playing the piano. When J was tired of that (little boy not interested in dressing up with his sister), he told them he was done. From there the two girls took turns playing the piano and being the primary dancer on the stage. J danced for a little while after he was done on the piano, but he went back to play in the room when he was bored with the dancing. This lasted for at LEAST 1.5 hours! They were really wonderful. All the kids played very nicely together.

About J dancing... he looked like a little break dancer before they learn their big moves! Seriously! It was amazing to see how BOY-like he really danced! ^_^ SO cute! Of course, I would notice a huge difference since I have only girls to watch as they move, in general.

The Meeting
Did you guess what the meeting was about? Yep. I've received a new call. I was a bit surprised because many other new mothers have been left calling-less for 6+ months after the new arrival. I was actually REALLY bummed to be released soon after Tea was born. I was hoping to keep my lovely Primary Secretary calling. It was not to be. Someone else need it more than me!

I'll be sustained and set apart for me new calling next week. I'll tell ya more about it next Sunday. I'm nervous and even a bit scared. Definitely overwhelmed! You'll see once I can tell ya about it!!! All WILL be well, though.

An exciting twist to my call involves Jessie. Bro. Mclaughlin was very specific that Jessie needed to be in the meeting after church. I figured it was because he, as leadership, needed to ask Jess for his permission and support for me to receive the call - sort of standard operating procedure, I think. Well, that wasn't really it. And I'll tell ya more about THAT next week, too! ^_^

Other News (exciting to me)
A new family moved into our Ward during the time that I was out WAY too often in December. They have 6 kids who are all 1 year apart! Their ages range from 3 to 8. Can you imagine? I'm already impressed by the Mama!! ^_^

Well, not only was I excited by the prospect of more kiddos with whom mine might associate, but their Mama has decided to homeschool!!! Can you believe it?? Okay, well, you might not know why this is SUCH A big deal to me. You see... as of this school year there were two families who decided to homeschool. One a family of 3 (now 4) and another of 5 kiddos! So, now we have 4 homeschooling families in ONE Ward with a total of EIGHTEEN children! Isn't that amazing!? I'm excited and thrilled, really!

The funny thing... somehow the new Mama has learned about Ria reading. This is funny to me because I was planning to share with her the book Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons when we could get together sometime. But someone else has beat me to the punch and told her that Ria is an amazing reader and that she needs to talk to me about it. So cool! I don't have to tell anyone about Ria's reading ability - others tell them for me! ^_^ Funny, right?