Sometimes I miss my family a lot.
I especially miss my nieces and nephews. Being far from home is hard, because when you don’t see adults for six months, their hairstyle might be different, and they might have lost/gained a few pounds, but kids can change drastically. I’ve missed diaper changes (okay, maybe that’s not sad), kindergarten graduations, loose teeth, basketball games, and knowing who their friends are. But I do get to periodically step in and catch up on what is going on. My oldest niece, Christan, is a senior this year, and I think it’s given me a bit of her senioritis, and the need to reminisce.
I remember when each one of them was born (I was closer to home in those years –partly because I was still in high school for two of them!).
When they showed us Christan in the window, she had a floppy ear. Later, she would say, it’s waving “hi.” Her ear still waves just a teeny bit. It’s really cute. And she knows it. And tells us in case we forget.
Katie, now 15, had a little bitty bow put in her hair with toothpaste in the hospital nursery. Until about age 6, she showed everyone that picture a million times and had to point out the toothpaste in her hair.
David, 13, made me laugh even as a baby. He looks pretty much the same as he did from the first glance I had at him in the nursery window. He just makes you laugh.
Jonathan, 12, was so cute and became very sick a week he was born, so we prayed fiercely for him and cried when we saw him so lifeless. We recounted the fateful tale to him last week on his 12th birthday.
Marissa, soon to be 11, was two months premature and the tiniest baby I had ever seen. Her socks didn’t even touch her ankles, but hung like cuffs. And her hair was red even at 3lb 9oz.
Emily, 6, was another miracle baby. My dad had died three months before she was born, and my sister had been on bed rest all through that time determined to see the pregnancy through. My first memory of Emily was seeing her wailing as she went through the “welcome to the world” nursery assembly line. She still does a great job of making herself known when she enters the room.
It’s been so neat to see their personalities develop and know that some things, such as brains and cuteness (and being a smart alec--which they are all very good at just like me) are family traits that are passed down. They are chess champions, dog trainers, dancers, comedians, actors and actresses, and love God. And they are my precious, so precious, nieces and nephews.
(Christan, sorry the pic of you has one of your eyes squinting. I’ll do a special Christan page soon.)
I especially miss my nieces and nephews. Being far from home is hard, because when you don’t see adults for six months, their hairstyle might be different, and they might have lost/gained a few pounds, but kids can change drastically. I’ve missed diaper changes (okay, maybe that’s not sad), kindergarten graduations, loose teeth, basketball games, and knowing who their friends are. But I do get to periodically step in and catch up on what is going on. My oldest niece, Christan, is a senior this year, and I think it’s given me a bit of her senioritis, and the need to reminisce.
I remember when each one of them was born (I was closer to home in those years –partly because I was still in high school for two of them!).
When they showed us Christan in the window, she had a floppy ear. Later, she would say, it’s waving “hi.” Her ear still waves just a teeny bit. It’s really cute. And she knows it. And tells us in case we forget.
Katie, now 15, had a little bitty bow put in her hair with toothpaste in the hospital nursery. Until about age 6, she showed everyone that picture a million times and had to point out the toothpaste in her hair.
David, 13, made me laugh even as a baby. He looks pretty much the same as he did from the first glance I had at him in the nursery window. He just makes you laugh.
Jonathan, 12, was so cute and became very sick a week he was born, so we prayed fiercely for him and cried when we saw him so lifeless. We recounted the fateful tale to him last week on his 12th birthday.
Marissa, soon to be 11, was two months premature and the tiniest baby I had ever seen. Her socks didn’t even touch her ankles, but hung like cuffs. And her hair was red even at 3lb 9oz.
Emily, 6, was another miracle baby. My dad had died three months before she was born, and my sister had been on bed rest all through that time determined to see the pregnancy through. My first memory of Emily was seeing her wailing as she went through the “welcome to the world” nursery assembly line. She still does a great job of making herself known when she enters the room.
It’s been so neat to see their personalities develop and know that some things, such as brains and cuteness (and being a smart alec--which they are all very good at just like me) are family traits that are passed down. They are chess champions, dog trainers, dancers, comedians, actors and actresses, and love God. And they are my precious, so precious, nieces and nephews.
(Christan, sorry the pic of you has one of your eyes squinting. I’ll do a special Christan page soon.)
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