The house has been cleaned, the sheets have been changed, the bathrooms have had a little more attention than I normally give them.  Today we await the arrival of our friends from Birmingham for a long due visit.  It’s not fun having friends that live in other states but it’s always a blessing when we get to visit once or twice a year.

This is a picture of all of our kids at the beach this past summer.

So much has happened since that time.  Becca my friend and mother of these beautiful children has had another girl Murray who has been added to the clan that we have yet to meet.  And in the time we last saw them their son Sterling started having seizures and they found a brain tumor.  He’s had surgery to remove some of it but he’s still having seizures and they are in the midst of some big decisions as to what is next.  Emma has had lots of questions about him and we’ve prayed for him almost every night. She is really looking forward to seeing him.  It’s hard for us to understand the “Why’s” of all of this.  It’s been very hard to watch their family have to journey through these times.  We have no idea or understanding of the emotions and ups and downs they have experienced.  And then to our crew we’ve added Frankie home from Haiti.  To say a lot has happened since we last saw each other is definitely an understatement.

So our family, their family and the Norris family are all sure in need of a lot of laughs and fun and I’m sure some crazy times as a collected total of 10 kids from time to time take over our house for the next few days. I”m thinking us adults should have gone on a cruise or something!   We are just glad they decided to head this way for a bit!