More Snapshots from Our Family Reunion

My cousin Julie, her daughter Molly, and my sister Jackie



Picture by Jackie of her daughter Lily with Sophie



Uncle Craig discussing politics with Logan: "Good guy. Bad guy."



View of James and Sophie from the roof



My sister Jen and her youngest son Oren



My sister Loey with Jackie's son Noah and Jen's son Seb

"...And May You See Your Children's Children['s Children]"

My grandmothers live right across the hall from each other in the Home where my mom is the chief administrator. We enjoyed visiting with both of my grandmas during our recent trip east.


Grandma Jennie



Grandma Jennie and Grandma Nadzieja admiring Sophie's artwork



Posing with my sisters Jackie and Jen and my grandmas



...and on a different day.



With my sister Loey and my grandmas



Grandma Jennie with my kids, Loey's daughter Ana and my cousin Julie's baby Molly

Goodbye Aunt Gerry

Here is a different family reunion picture from the 1980's, showing my dad's parents with their three children and families. On the way home from the reunion of my mom's family last week, we got the news that my Aunt Gerry, pictured third from the left in the top row, had died in her sleep after suffering for two years with ALS.

Aunt Gerry's memorial service was held on Wednesday of this week. We were not mourning for her, because she is with Jesus her Savior and is no longer suffering, but we grieved together, because she will be greatly missed.

We will especially be keeping her mother, her brother, her husband Alan, and her children, Tammy, Laurel, and Rick and their families in our prayers. They have always been a tightly knit family, which is a blessing in that they have many good memories, but also makes her loss very difficult.


Aunt Gerry and my cousin Tammy in 2006

Family Reunion Pictures

After driving over 3,000 miles and traveling through eleven different states, we arrived home on Saturday from my Grandma Nadzieja's 90th birthday celebration in Pennsylvania. Over sixty of her relatives reunited to celebrate, including people from Canada, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. All ten of my parent's grandchildren were in the same place at the same time for the first time.


The shot with the most smiles
(Noah is smiling because he has gum on his teeth. He looks like he is saying: "Cheese Gromit!")











In the tree"house" that Grandpa Bruce (my dad) built





With Grandma Margie

More pictures to come...

h/t to Jackie for the state stats.

A Life Declaring God's Faithfulness

I have been spending hours lately putting together a DVD montage of 90 years worth of pictures from my Grandmother's life in celebration of her birthday this month. In viewing her pictures again and again, my heart is filled with gratitude and praise to God for His faithfulness to her and to her family. He is good!

My grandmother Nadzieja was born in 1918 in Moscow, Russia just months after the murder of Czar Nicholas II and his family. Nadia's father died when she was a little child, and her mother fled communist Russia to Poland with her children. To save her girls from starvation, she placed them in a Christian orphanage where they lived for the next twelve years. God blessed Grandma with the opportunity to travel to America in a choir, provided her with a college education while she lived with her generous "American parents", and gave her a loving husband and five children.

My Grandma tells part of her story much more eloquently in a series of letters that she wrote to her grandchildren which I have posted on my previous blog.

Go ahead and press play and watch a little! :) At the beginning of the montage, I refer to Grandma as Jadwiga, because she was given this Polish name in the orphanage to distinguish her from other girls also named Nadia. Later I refer to her as Nadzieja, her Russian name, which she started using again later in life.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Please Read Very Carefully

Just to clarify, I am not pregnant this time. Julie gets to do the "morning" sickness thing etc. all on her own, but I am cheering her on.

On Sunday, Patrick announced, "James and Melissa are not joining us this time, but Julie and I are expecting next June." (Or something to that effect.)

After the service, a sweet lady patted me and said, "Congratulations."

I think I scared her when I exclaimed, "For what?!" (I was taken aback, folks!)

She quickly said, "I don't know!" then went off to question her son (whose response was "Duh Mom!") She came back apologizing, saying that she had her facts straight now, and we had a good laugh together.

I had to correct another friend's mistaken idea before we left as well. I wonder how many other people at church will be silently examining my waistline with interest over the next months. Should I eat more chocolate (if that's possible ;-) to keep it interesting?

Axe the Eggs

As I posted previously, I found out that I must go on a permanent gluten-free diet. I also eliminated dairy due to Logan's eczema.

I just got off the phone with my children's pediatrician who had ordered a blood test for Logan at his 9 month visit to test for food allergies. The pediatrician reported that the blood test indicated that Logan is allergic to eggs and milk. There goes my breakfast of choice: I just happen to eat eggs every morning!

I'm going to have to get even more creative with breakfast!

Logan may grow out of his allergies and that certainly is my prayer.

New Little Cousin

Another one of my Colorado cousins has a new little baby. My cousin John--the one who used to make me play "Jump" by Van Halen on the piano over and over(a dubious accomplishment that I picked up at school), the one who taunted, "Missy's got a boyfriend! Missy's got a boyfriend!" when I went out to eat with James before we were married--welcomed his first baby girl, Piper, into the world last Saturday.

The Denver paper even reported her birth, including all the stats.


Saturday turned out to be an eventful day for the extended family as well. While John's wife, Linde, was laboring, John's sister, Julie was admitted to the same hospital for emergency surgery. Thankfully, Julie is okay and is recovering. She is not allowed to lift her baby, Elijah, for four weeks. She is planning on staying at our house for two days next week. She'll be the brains leading the homeschooling whenever I'm called upon to be the brawn for baby-lifting.

Welcome to the world baby girl! (Note the afghan that my Grandma crocheted!)

Thirteen Years Ago On This Day