The last week of December was an unbelievably BUSY week… but it was also one of the highlights of the year because it was filled to overflowing with something we love: having tons of people in our home! During the whole week, we had fantastic fellowship and magnificent memories! Let’s tell about the first part first… and maybe we’ll catch up on all the stories before another week goes by…

It started on December 26th. Actually, it was closer to December 27th. After a busy day of preparation, the younger ones had gone to bed and all of the rest of us were waiting with much anticipation for Mommy’s brother and his family to arrive! Though we have seen them several times this year at their home, Uncle Dan, Aunt Lisa, David, Brian, Rachel, and Samantha had not been to our house in over eight years!! (Way too long!!) Well, they finally arrived… and, for now, we’ll let the whole Team give you the highlights of our time together.

Hannah: “Playing games with David and Brian was fun.”

Kathryn: “One of my favorite memories of the weekend was lying out on our deck (in the freezing cold, that is 🙂 ) looking at the stars, the brilliant moon, and Mars, exclaiming rather loudly about the funny shapes we saw in the passing clouds, 🙂 and discussing the magnificent wisdom and goodness of our Creator! When we became so cold that we couldn’t stand it any longer, 🙂 we came inside, prepared steaming cups of hot chocolate, and then went to the basement to spend some time in sharing prayer requests and praying together. What a blessing to have cousins that aren’t just relatives… but good friends and those with whom we can share what the Lord has been teaching us!! A few more highlights were showing Brian some things about the violin, as well as finding out that he is finally taller than me!:)” 

Dad: “It was just a blessing to have them here; it’s been a long time! We’ve been the recipients of their wonderful hospitality many times but they seldom give us the opportunity to return it. I have had a tremendous respect for and have admired big brother Dan for many years and consider myself blessed to be part of their family.  I especially enjoyed our time out with just Dan and Lisa.”

Bethany: “I liked playing with Brian! Herman was a cowboy and me and Brian were the bad guys. It was fun!”

Amanda: “We had a FANTASTIC time with the Conns!! It was such a blessing to have great fellowship with family, and we thoroughly enjoyed having them in our home again after eight too-long years! Without a doubt, my favorite part was the prayer meeting that David, Brian, Jessi, Kathryn, Victoria, and I had on Monday night! There was such a unity between us as we exchanged prayer requests and then lifted our prayers to God! To hear each other’s hearts and then to pray about it together was extremely uplifting, to say the least! Another one of my favorite things was the time that I had to talk one-on-one to Rachel, sharing with her, and her sharing with me. It was a very special time! I also thoroughly enjoyed the general time with everyone… playing games, talking to Uncle Dan and Aunt Lisa, getting up early to make breakfast with our cousins – it was all wonderful!”

Susanna: “One of my favorite times was getting to play in a little hideout with Rachel, Lauren, and Herman. We pretended that we were orphans and that that was a house that our pretend grandfather had once used as a hiding spot during a war. We even “found” some old things that he had hidden in secret places! That was so fun!”

Mom: “How exciting to have my brother and his family here for a visit!! I loved all the  one-on-one time chatting, and our couples night out was a definite favorite!!”

Lauren: “I really liked it when all the parents went out for supper and left all of the kids at home together. We played “Sardines” and “Hide-n-Seek” in the dark!! Then, when the parents called and told us that they were on their way home, we all hid in the basement shower together! It was really squished and kind of hot, but it was so fun! Then the parents had to find us when they came inside. How funny!”

Herman: “I thought it was fun to shoot David’s air-soft gun!”

Victoria: “Our whole weekend was a HUGE blessing! I really enjoyed all the time we got to spend playing games and getting to know all of our cousins better. Spending one-on-one time with Samantha playing the violin was also a  blast!”

Jessica: “Wow! I was told to write a brief summary of my favorite part, but what can you say when everything was buckets of fun! I didn’t used to think about the relationships that I have with our cousins, but the older I get, the more I realize what a treasure I have, not to just have cousins, but to consider them friends. This time that we had to make  memories with them was something that will not soon be forgotten. It is difficult to pick one thing that was my favorite because  everything was so much fun! Lots of memories were made playing “Sardines” and having thirteen people crowded into a small area, laying outside on the deck in freezing weather looking at the stars and talking about the greatness of our Creator, getting up early and making breakfast together, having meaningful discussions, and the list could go on! It was hard to let them leave, but we look forward to the next time we get together, whether it is at our house or theirs!”