Aunts & Nieces

Today we celebrated my Great Aunt Nilja's 90th birthday. She's quite a lady, and you'd never guess she's ninety. She and my great uncle are looking forward to their trip to Las Vegas later this week. They are precious. There were probably thirty or forty family members there to celebrate with her, and we all held hands while my cousin Jeff led us in a prayer of thanks. It was a beautiful prayer, and I just thought how blessed we all are to be family here on Earth and brothers and sisters in Christ. After that, Aunt Nilja said her secret to looking beautiful and living a long life was to laugh everyday and she thanked her husband for giving her lots of reasons to laugh.

Anyway, my favorite moment this afternoon was as I arrived and got out of my car. Running in the street to get to me for a congratulatory hug was my eighteen year old niece (and new college student), Rebecca. She was so excited for me and she said she wanted to be the first to give me a hug. In other words, she wanted to beat her younger sister to it. I just love her sweet spirit and enthusiasm.

My other niece was remarking that she wanted to meet the other kids at the party, who are distant cousins. Sarah just doesn't see them often enough to know them. She then said to me that she was going to know her cousin(s) very well. That she was going to be a good "auntie" to them. That just warmed my heart. I told her she could babysit and change diapers, and she was okay with that. That's my girl. I changed many diapers when my cousins were little. It's good practice!

I am nervous about tomorrow's ultrasound. I just want everything to be okay. I'll post tomorrow night and let you know how it goes.