Family

My Brother Patrick was the last one of our parents' five children. Born late in their life after four girls, that male child was very welcomed by all of us (even though old Doc Lindsey told my Dad it was another girl -- when he unwrapped the blanket to show him, he and Dad both got squirted...)

One of the nice things about having a sibling so much younger then the rest of us is that when we all had kids that were teenagers or older, Pat was just getting into the baby business. And now, when the rest of us have grandkids that are tweens or teens or older, Pat's children have youngsters. So you see, one way or the other, we've had years of little ones around to enjoy.

Last week, Patrick's oldest son, my Nephew Jared and his wife Becky, invited us to come over tonight for a barbecued steak dinner. Jared is an engineer and Becky works in Human Resources. They have two delightful children, a four-year old daughter and a two-year old son. Becky and Jared live out in the Five Mile area of north Spokane in a neighborhood that had just a couple of houses when they first moved there a couple of years back. Now there is a full neighborhood of new houses.

We had a very scrumptious dinner. Becky made carrots with bourbon, fruit salad, and a very delicious Gorgonzola cream sauce for the steak that Jared grilled. Then she topped it off with a homemade Oreo cookie cheesecake. What a feast!

Forry and I feel extremely blessed by family and by our connections to them.