Monday

Ok, so sadly it's Wednesday and I'm only now getting back to blogging. It's funny how even when you're doing "nothing", the days can be full.

A foursome round of golf happened on Monday morning as well as Durrell's family taking Mom and Dad out for breakfast (on the night to cook, that family is also responsible for taking care of Mom and Dad's breakfast and lunch). It's been fun to see individual families enjoying focused time with Mom and Dad over those meal times. This may be the first time that Mom has been completely out of the kitchen and has seemed completely content to sit and watch. We all love it!

It was a beautiful sunny day with a couple scattered gray clouds, but the temp was high enough to enjoy most of the day at the beach. It was sooo fun to hang on the beach with everyone, especially watching our boys (Eli actually wasn't napping) playing with their cousins. A bunch of us played some sand volleyball with "no rules" before heading back for lunch in the early afternoon. There's usually always some hot tub/pool spa time on the roof at some point in the day, which always includes opportunity for meaningful adult conversation in between some shivers (it is May here!) and bonks on the head from splash balls that the kids are throwing. Smile. Delightful.

Durrell and Heidi served snow crab legs and grilled chicken that night. It was fun to "compete" with some of my nephews for the biggest piece of "meat" as we were cracking, digging and pulling at those crabs. Many memories of my days at Red Lobster in college came flooding back. Dad and Mom and have been thinking through some of their wishes for this season of their lives so a little sibling/spouse family meeting was held after dinner while the "Grandkids Team A" (the older 20-something grandchildren) hung out with the younger grandkid crowd downstairs. ("Everybody was kung fu fighting ...") It was delightful to sit around the table with the siblings/spouses to listen and discuss their intentions and then follow it with prayer together. New territory and a welcomed conversation for all of us. Having seven children makes these matters even more sensitive and important to put together. In my memory, our family always operated/did business at the kitchen table together as a group, so the venue seemed super appropriate. Not surprising, our time ended with prayer as we do this together as a family.res

Since the Stauffers weren't in the picture when we made the plans for this vacation back in the fall of 2008, Terry and the Stauffer kids headed back to Turbotville tonight to finish their last week of school. I just love the new dynamic that that family brings to ours. It's really beautiful at how well they have quickly fit into this extended family. What a testimony to God's grace and faithfulness. I just love their story.

I can't find my camera cord to download pictures at this moment, so I'll add a couple pictures later to this post.