Waiting for my nephew and his family

Well, it seems the picture insert didn't work... I thought it had worked for about an hour or so after I did it. But then, even I saw the red X boxes in the previous entry. Time to follow the directions this time, like Karen and Jackie suggest.

In the meantime, I'm up before I wanted to be. Insistent dog scratching at my bedroom door. I don't need an alarm clock with Max around! He knows when I'm supposed to get up, and if I'm not by 7 a.m., he gently scratches the door. During the school year, I seldom hear his scratching because I get up before he is even thinking about it. Maybe this is his way of paying me back for ten months of getting him up too early?

But he's right. There's work to do, and the day only appears to be long enough.

Before I prepare for my children's Sunday School class, I wanted to write about something very special.

My nephew, his wife, and their three tots are going to visit us twice this week: once on their way down to Georgia (to visit his mother, my sister) and again on their way back to Connecticut. They should be arriving early Monday morning. I'm so excited!!

Tom recently graduated with Group 34 from the Connecticut Fire Academy, and is now a fireman in Naugatuck. His wife Becky is a teacher. Awesome pair! Their three boys, Avery, Brody, and Casey (ABC, for short) are nearly three years old... yes, they are triplets!

I can't wait to meet the boys... I hear they are very funny together, but I'm not surprised. Tom, his brothers Tim and TJ, and their sisters Tammy and TC, are pretty funny together... when they get together... and fun. They get along better than any siblings I know, their love reflecting strength drawn from difficult times growing up.

Tom is a twin... his twin, Tammy, lives far away in Arizona with her lovely family (she and her husband have three boys as well, not trips; she is a teacher, and he is a policeman). Still, they manage to keep in touch. I know how hard that is to do. I haven't done a very good job of keeping in touch with my five siblings for the past ten years.

When I was younger, and when I wasn't working full-time, I was more mindful in this area, writing letters, sending cards, making phone calls, but over the years, neglect in this area of relationships was the consequence of attending to other areas of living closer to home. Not to mention that my siblings and their children are spread out across the U.S.: California, Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, and recently, Alabama. That's right, none of them live in North Carolina (well, my son does).

My husband's family all live in North Carolina... all of them. Interesting observation. There's a story there. Actually, part of the reason for my side of the family being so far apart may have to do with my father being an Air Force serviceman.... we seldom lived more than two years in any one place for over 20 years. Then, his sons joined the military as well, and off they went to far away places, some foreign, meeting their future wives, and settling down far from where they began their lives. His daughters married men that took them away from their homeplaces as well. At least now we are all living in the same country, bordered by the same oceans!

Anyway, the visit of my nephew and his family will be short, but I expect I will be taking lots of pictures. Hopefully, I will get mom and dad's permission to put at least one picture of the great-nephews on this journal page... which is why I've been so urgently seeking a way to add the bigger sized pictures.... I will keep trying.

Becky and Tom, I am waiting for you. Drive safely overnight. I will love being your boys' (great) Aunt Bea! I wish you were coming tonight instead!