A lonely table...

It started out with my little sister Naomi visiting friends in MO. and spending the weekend with them. She comes home tomorrow.

That puts us down to 8 people at our kitchen table

Than this morning my sisters Emily and Anna traveled to Jamaica for a two week mission trip.

Do you realize that puts us down to only 6 little people at our big happy table?!

(Go ahead and laugh...I know I'm pathetic!)

Our family, all 9 of us, have such a wonderful time together. Especially at meals when we talk and smile and laugh...and eat...:) Some of our best discussions have been around the table. We've share so much there! And I'm thankful. :)

So! Here's a little about my day, with half of my siblings gone. (For those who are counting and don't know, I have an older brother who is married and lives in China.) Dad was at work during the day; he's good like that. :) That leaves Mom, Nathan, Miles, Silas and myself all here at the house....the boys worked outside a lot and Mom and I cleaned house. We had such a lovely time, Mom and I, working together, talking together...sneezing together!

And then lunch time came, in trooped the boys all three of them. Just for the record, I love my brothers. They mean the absolute world to me. :) And since I tend to be a bit of a sucker, I made them deer stewy stuff and rice. And green beans to be healthy. :) They helped me do the lunch dishes- that was a blast too! Nathan's meticulous drying, Silas scraping for me and watching Miles wrestle the plastic wrap were all priceless!

(Miles being a goof!)

Then I'll have you know, all three of those boys came in and stood on the other side of the counter as I was dishing up supper looking at me like I hadn't fed them in 5 days, not 5 hours!! Hehe...based on the way the ate the lasagna, they must have been hungry! Afterwards we went down and played baseball/cricket! Oh yeah, me and my super athleticism! ;) It was fun, we laughed and had a big time! I think that ball could just jump up and hit me randomly!

It's been a good day! I miss my three sisters. I love my brothers. And I'm incredibly blessed by my whole family. And even though 6 is a pretty big number, when you're used to 9 it seems small.