We've had a delightful week with family over and a couple friends. First we had a darling little family from the ward come over for Christmas dinner on Christmas Day. It was their first year not being able to celebrate with family and I felt prompted to have them over. They have cute kids--5, 3, infant--and got along very well with our kids...to a point. After they left Quinn turned to me and said, "We need to have a conversation with our kids about friend etiquette. We don't tattle to the parents of our guests about what their children are doing." Apparently, the sweet little visiting five-year-old didn't play the game exactly the way that Spooner was used to playing it and Spooner dutifully told his father about the problem. Yikes! Unfortunately he does that to other cousins so it was a good conversation to have with our little anal Spooner.
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Avot joined us early the week before Christmas and we had a great time with her watching movies, playing with kiddos, making and eating yummy food and playing games. Her boyfriend, Ben, joined us on Christmas Day after a grueling 20 hour drive from Texas that had been made longer by the local storm. We felt for him, but it produced the perfect Christmas for Avot: a white Christmas and her boyfriend!
It got even better when he proposed that night!! It caught us off guard, too. Here's how it unfolded:
At the end of the day, he brought out two little gifts, saying he had "forgotten them" in the car. The first was a little music box that played "Can't help falling in love with you." Avot played it delightedly and then while she was enjoying that, Ben started unwrapping the other present which read, "To Ben, from Tova." It had been the re-using of the wrapping from a previous present Avot had given him and, while she was confused a bit by what it was, she didn't think much of it. He opened it kind of on the sly and then got down on one knee and opened the little black box that was inside of it!! "Will you marry me?" was sweetly asked and a squeal of delight and a breathless "yes!!" was his answer. We were all so shocked, even though Zsa-man or Spooner had kept asking, "Is it a ring? Is it a ring?" when Avot opened the first present.
Out of the mouth of babes :D.
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Family from South Dakota joined us Saturday evening, braving it up the ice slope that was our driveway. The kiddos had been sledding down the top part of our driveway, which is a pretty epic hill, and it had made it a solid sheet of ice. Still not sure how my bro made it up the hill but where there is a will, there is a way! We soaked them up and then turned around and welcomed some family from Maryland the next day...just in time for Spooner's baptism!
The baptism went beautifully. We had the bishop and his wife and then the missionaries there with our large family group. Avot gave a delightful talk on baptism and then it was time. As Spooner went down into the water, he kept saying, "It's so cold! It's so cold!" Yep. It was icy. Apparently the missionaries hadn't waited for it to warm up before filling it and the water system hadn't been used for some time with all the meetinghouse restrictions. Oops!
Spooner had insisted he didn't want to be baptized anywhere but the font because everywhere else would be too cold...and here it was super cold! As Quinn carried him into the font, he kept talking to Spooner, trying to calm him. He said a prayer with him, as did Zsa-man, Papaya and myself as we waited for the ordinance to happen. Gradually Spooner lowered his legs into the water and later reported, "It got warm!" No, it wasn't the early onset of hypothermia :D. It was our own little miracle! As I said a prayer of thanks, I was reminded of the scripture we had read earlier that month, "If miracles have ceased it is only because the faith of man has ceased and what a terrible day that would be!"...basically :D. Very loose rendition but you get the idea. We were so grateful for that little miracle that was such a big deal for our sweet little man. He listened intently to us when we spoke of what baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost meant and has been so good since then.
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Quinn and I officially have callings again! We are both second counselors: he in the YM and I in the Primary. I guess we have both found our familiar niches once again :D. This ward has been amazing with reaching out to make us welcome. We have been blessed with great and loving wards wherever we have gone, for which I am so grateful!
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We had some crazy awesome times with the family:
-huge dinners with lots of help to clean up
-wrestling matches that started with my two brothers wrestling---one trying to get the other away from the sink so the kiddos would wash the dishes instead :D. I think almost all the kids ended up pairing up with each other to do little mini-wrestling matches on the floor.
-circle games and "sleeping fairy" (our G-rated version of "Murder in the Dark). Avot was eliminated every first round but one...and that time she was eliminated on the second round, lol! She must be suspicious...
-late nights and lots of loud laughter, with occasional requests for a little more quiet...but for the most part just a bunch of noisy enjoyment of family.
-Couple video chat session with our family in Hungary as packages were received late and laughter was exchanged :D.
It has been a lot quieter since the Maryland crowd left but more because we were just all so excited to see them (they were only able to be here for a little less than two amazing days total). We are still enjoying having the South Dakota group here and having them here for almost a week helps us settle into enjoying each other better :D. Definitely more quiet and calm, but still rosy with the joy of having extra family around.
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Avot's already headed back to Texas with Ben and we are excited to hear where their trail will take them! They may elope, get sealed, have a family party...who knows! The dresses she is looking at are beautiful and I am happy for my little girl :D. It's been a week of love. What better way to celebrate the birth of our Savior with the promise of eternal families and get the New Year off to a good start!
