Birthday fun!

Its evening and things are winding down around here. It has been a busy day, starting with breakfast, quickly becoming a "tradition" of eating with the "neighbors" (Bryce and Kaylee of course) and going on to celebrating Bryce's 22nd birthday with them. It was fun. We hung out, relaxed and dubbed him "King for the Day" (a tradition at our house). He wanted to go to the Aquarium, something John had never done, so we trekked up to Newport, ate at the Fish Market there in South Beach and slogged our way through the tourists at the Aquarium. It was fun, seeing all the cool exhibits and generally just being together. The "Piece de resistance" was seeing Bryces face when he opened the gift we all chipped in to buy him and used Uncle Mikes help to acquire. The boys, and John thought up getting him a gun (which he has never owned). He was thrilled to get it, you should have seen his face as he looked at it, held it and wanted immediately to go shoot it. I think there will be some target shooting tomorrow after church. The Wetzl's who have become good friends to B &K came over for dinner with their adorable little 18 month old from Ethiopia and we had a good time eating yummy food (John rotisseried some amazing pork loin) and we did a bit of laughing at Aaron W's attempts at throwing horseshoes in the vacinity of the peg and taking on the "other" Aaron at old school Mario. Now they are all playing Counter Strike, Kaylee is even shooting things on the computer screen, and having a great time as a group.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the melding of a family. Last night Kacie Woosley and I talked about the way things go from just the core group of you and you begin to add on, becoming a bigger unit, changing and morphing along the way. This week we have seen Aaron go from thinking everyone was "in" to presents, to understanding that his bro in law was just happy that his younger brother in laws thought up a cool gift for him. You know, it is fun watching these men and women grow up and learn, pray and see God move. I love my family, they are truly my favorite thing in this whole world. They make me smile, they make me laugh, they sometimes make me want to scream, but always, always, I look at them and feel such a sense of accomplishment, a sense of deep deep satisfaction that my amazing husband and I were somehow able to, with Gods incredible grace and intervention, raise these people from tiny infants to responsible adults. I was thinking just this evening about the great advantage they have had to knowing that their dad loves me and that I love him. The security that that has provided for them has made them fertile ground for learning, growing and becoming the people God wants them to be. Yep, I absolutely unequivocally adore them, each and every one. I am counting the days until I get to hug my oldest son and look at his face for 14 straight days...33 days!!!!!!! I cannot even tell you how happy that makes me!

Oh happy day! Happy Birthday Bryce!