Great Grandpa Gil is 87!

This weekend we celberated Great Gpa Gil's 87th B'day.The celebration brought a visit from Uncle Abe and Aunt Renee as well! The kids were so excited to see everyone they were counting the days. This great man is so loving and fun with the kids and such a great encourager to them. Grandma Verna is a doll as well. They hold a special place in my heart, too, as I haven't had any of my own grandparents around for quite sometime now. They are always so willing to share stories of the past with the kids and to teach them all they can about their life experiences. They are so wonderfully generous with their thoughtful little gifts and money that gets slipped into their hands from time to time. Though most of all we just love seeing their smiles and hearing their laughs! Someday we won't have them around anymore and when that day comes we will be sad, but we are blessed for now and thrilled to celebrate this 87th birthday. Grandpa is in great health and comes from a family of long lives, so we pray he's around for many more years. God knows what is in store for him and us and we take it one year at a time. He said as he told us goodbye that he hopes he is around for Rae Rae's 16th year- so do we!


The wonderful birthday brought a special Aunt and Uncle as well. Aunt Renee and Uncle Abe(and if you didn't know Tirzah is named for Grandma Verna and Aunt Renee- her name is Tirzah Renee Verna). Each day the kids asked," Is this the day we see Aunt Renee and Uncle Abe?" They live in The Bay Area so we don't see them as often as we would like, but it makes their trips so special. We treasure the time we spend with them. They are both so great at really focusing on the kids when they come, too; asking about their activities, talking and playing. They each played catch with Andy and watched Rae Rae's DVD of a current show of hers. Tirzah got her fair share of attention as well. They are so fun and the kids were sent off with the typical "last tag" game that Aunt Renee has passed down through the years!

Uncle Evan also came, which is always fun! He got the really good pictures, so when he sends them I'll post again. I'll be sure to post Aunt Renee's monkey face! :)

So a very Happy birthday to Grandpa and an official cyber space,"last tag," for Aunt Renee!