Christmas 2006

Christmas 2006 was very fun. Terry's folks had moved back to Michigan that July, and the kids missed them so much. Mikayla especially had a hard time. She would cry and mope about. She and her Nana have a special bond. Nana and Grandpapa decided to surprise us all, and showed up at church on the Sunday before Christmas. Ironically, Mikayla had caught a kids stomach virus and missed church that morning. I stayed with her during S.S. but I had to play the piano for the morning worship service, so I figured she would be alright for an hour at home alone. I went into the auditorium and there they were. I hugged and hugged them, and then I got all teary thinking of Mikayla at home missing out on it all. We decided to keep it a secret all day and see if she would be alright to attend the evening service. You can imagine what we had to go through to keep the other two kids quiet all afternoon. We just about had to threaten bodily harm a couple of times. I suspected that it was just an eight hour bug, and sure enough, she was fine a little later that afternoon. We loaded into the car, and on the way we met Nana and Grandpapa's car. We held our breath, and Mikayla said." hey, there's a car that looks like Nana's. Hey, look, the guy driving looks like Grandpapa." I snapped picts the whole way down Fleming street. You can see the realization and surprise hit. It's funny! When we got into the parking lot, Mikayla jumped out and ran to hug Nana. I jumped out too determined to capture the moment . There I was flying out of the car, my purse slinging its treasures everywhere, while I wildly tried to hurry into position to get a good picture. That would have been a good picture ,too. They stayed and enjoyed Christmas with us. It was really good for the kids, and they seemed to be able to move on and accept that Nana and Grandpapa live in Michigan now.