Family love...

A few photos of my nieces and nephews that I am loving right now....I have to say that being an aunt is one of life's greatest unexpected blessings!

I spent some time in Decorah helping Tony with the kids so Kelly could go home to see her mom. It was a lot of fun! I truly enjoyed playing their mom!

 My niece and goddaughter, Grace, was confirmed! We got to see her read her faith statement too! So so proud of this beautiful girl.

 We celebrated Kelly's 40th birthday with a pool party at our house and a dinner downtown! It was a lot of fun!

And, worth mentioning in all of this - Joey got braces, we celebrated 14 years of marriage, Saylor got her ears pierced, and Saylor went to kindergarten round up. We're growing up as a whole family it seems....and the days are going by so fast. Just so thankful every day to have more days together!

At the end of the day, life is good. But between all the good, there seems to be a little cloud over all of us these days....lots of loved ones hurting physically and emotionally in our families. That's the hard stuff that you don't see on a blog or instagram or facebook....and the stuff I'd rather not remember years from now. But, for now, our prayers seem awfully lengthy and we wonder if God is sick of hearing from us. But, each day, we wake up with new hope and strength and still find time to marvel at all the blessings and marvels of God's world. Sometimes, I just wish we all felt His presence more...but I think that's what faith is. It's not being sure of anything but hopeful for everything. It's knowing that we may not fly, but if we fall, there will be a soft place for us to land. Keep on keeping on, as they say....