Family Ties

I didn't realize how close I am to my family until we moved away.

This week my youngest sister Jenny came down with a super migraine. She was seen by a neurologist and scheduled for a spinal tap and mri on Wednesday. I found all this out on Tuesday night. Needless to say, I quickly packed and left for Houston Wednesday morning and spent the rest of the day with her at the hospital so my mom wouldn't have to miss any more days of work. It was a very scary day, but now she is being treated for Meningitis and they will continue to run tests because they still aren't sure what caused and continues to cause her intense pain. I got to spend Thursday with her also which was such a special treat as we never get to spend so much time together. She is feeling better, but that is to say she went back to work, is no longer living on Vicodin but Tylenol with Codine instead and is learning how to sleep with the pain. Please pray for her.

Phil joined me Friday night. We missed our last Valentines ALONE! Oh well, we plan on celebrating this Tuesday. I am going to make the meal I had planned and we will exchange cards then.

We were already planning on coming into town this weekend for my niece's 3rd birthday. She had a Princess Party on Saturday. This is what my soon-to-be 90 year old Papa does every time we get together. I mean, who can blame the man? 90 years, I'd be pretty tired too....On Sunday we celebrated Papas 90th birthday. My family is throwing him a formal party at Maggiano's next weekend, but Phil and I were not going to be able to come back into town so we threw together our own little party at one of this favorite restaurants, Monument Inn. Here is Chase at lunch giving Papa a "really hard" high five -While I usually do all I can to NOT be the center of attention, my growing belly did attract the eyes and hands of everyone. (I did gladly succumb to the belly rubbing!) I am getting used to the attention and love to see how our little Jack makes so many people smile. Our thought about him is, "By God's grace and for His glory" he is entrusting us with Jack. Here I am - 5 months pregnant now! And so on Sunday afternoon we drove back to Austin and back to our home. It is feeling more like home now. I actually missed our little apartment! I am learning to cherish the times with my family. I'll see them again in a month. Can't wait.