Family time

It seems to come all at once, in spurts.....time with immediate and extended family.

Kirstin and Jordan have posted wonderful pictures of our time in Buena Vista...just clink on their blog links to the right to view them (theremkes and The glorious Middle). I can't even begin to take great pictures like they do!

Mark and I are in Minnesota visiting my family. We are enjoying this time so much. We are coming and going like crazy and the schedule is full. But we know that there will be extended periods of time that we won' see each other and we can rest later.

I have been thinking and praying a lot about our family lately. How important we are to each other, how we love each other, how we feel so comfortable with each other that we see the "best" and "worst" of each person. How God has placed others in all of our lives that has made us better people and how to be flexible and to make accommodations as our family grows. I am so grateful for the time, effort, energy and commitment that everyone takes to maintain and enrich our relationships.

I found some quotes about families..some are funny, some are profound but all are worth sharing. Enjoy!!!

*Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts. ~Author Unknown
*If you don't believe in ghosts, you've never been to a family reunion. ~Ashleigh Brilliant
*When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses. ~Joyce Brothers
*In some families, please is described as the magic word. In our house, however, it was sorry. ~Margaret Laurence
*You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu
*When our relatives are at home, we have to think of all their good points or it would be impossible to endure them. ~George Bernard Shaw
*Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted. ~Paul Pearshall
*The great advantage of living in a large family is that early lesson of life's essential unfairness. ~Nancy Mitford
*Family life is a bit like a runny peach pie - not perfect but who's complaining? ~Robert Brault
*The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you.~Kendall Hailey
*The informality of family life is a blessed condition that allows us to become our best while looking our worst. ~Marge Kennedy
*Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family. ~Anthony Brandt
*Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future. ~Gail Lumet Buckley
*I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich. ~Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford