The Second Half

The Second Half of my sister’s visit was just about as sweet as the first.  On Saturday, we drove up for an early lunch at Chick-fil-A, because they don’t have them in Michigan quite yet.  Afterwards, we made a quick Costco stop, because Sarah doesn’t have one of those where she lives either.  The kids had fun filling up on samples while we picked up a few odds and ends of things that we either needed or just plain wanted.

Then, part of the afternoon was spent working on a fun family project.

Ever since we helped build some box gardens for the Community, Ellee had been dreaming about how it would be to have her very own.  Since we knew that Uncle Don was pretty handy with these sorts of things, we drove over to Speonk Lumber and picked up some supplies.  Then, the two of them took time to build a little square foot garden box so that Ellee could have fun planting her very own vegetables this summer.

I had a photography session for a friend’s engagement party, so I drove out to Rock Hill Country Club for an hour in the evening.  When I got home, Jeremy grilled us up some delicious burgers while I chopped up and fried a few batches of sweet potato fries and we enjoyed a nice meal all together.

My favorite part of Saturday was walking into Ellee’s room to see these sweet faces.

The girls have had a fun time all together having sleepovers.  It’s made me smile each night to hear them giggling and chattering away.

Whereas I do wish that our kids were growing up with their cousins, it’s nice to know that they can still have some special cousin time this weekend to make memories.

Today was also pretty delightful.  It was so special and so fun to have Sarah and Don and their five kids join us at Eastport Bible Church for our 9:30am worship service.

I taught Kids Church this week, so got to spend even more fun time with Naomi, Lydia and Josiah.  Sarah and Don have done a beautiful job teaching their little ones about God and His great love for them.

It was sweet to see them participate in the Bible stories that they were familiar with, with such joy and excitement.

(In case you ere wondering which Bible story had Lays Ruffle Chips, it happened to be what we used as a substitution for the Loaves and Fishes where Jesus fed the 5,000.  Lydia had a blast handing out the food to everyone.)

Afterwards, we enjoyed Michaelangelo’s Pizza for lunch.  Because nothing says “New York” more than our pizza and I’m proud to share that the majority of them really loved it.

Sarah and I and the girls went out to do a little thrift store shopping at Savers.  And then, after heading out for another Sweet Sixteen Portrait Session (Spring is very much my busy time when it comes to my photography business) I came home to do a little nail manicure session with these sweet girls.  They talked away while we soaked their hands in rose water and then as I painted their nails.

I even gave Sarah a french manicure and we both agreed that it turned out pretty good.  We had talked about going to get our nails done while she was here, but this worked out just as well.

We wrapped up our fun Sunday evening with a trip out to Snowflake Ice-cream.  It was delightful to share my absolute favorite ice cream with all of my sweet nieces and nephews.  They loved it and we even got our trip in before it started to rain.  We ended up coming home and eating our final meal together a bit late since we were all pretty full from the ice cream.

And there you have it.  Four wonderful, fun filled days with my younger sister and her sweet family.  I know it was a sacrifice for them to come and visit, but it was one that we are so thankful they were willing to do.  The time that we spent together was so special and the memories that our families made will stick with us for years to come.  We’ll be praying that they have a safe trip back to Michigan as they will be driving all Monday and we will look forward with anticipation to the next time that we will get to be all together.