January has held a couple of wonderful highlights for our little family, the biggest of which are times Caleb has been able to spend with his cousins!
Jolie, Josh, and Linda came to visit us! We loved sharing our California life with our dear family. Caleb adores these three, especially DeeDee (Jolie). I was delighted when looking at pictures with him today that he also got excited to see her parents, and yelled out “Bubba!” and “YuYu!”
Maddie has been Caleb’s only younger cousin for some time now, and he really looks forward to any time spent with “Mammie.” In fact, Buddy has had a really hard time in the church nursery, but now that Mammie is there he is always a happy camper through the whole service. Phew!
But Maddie is no longer Caleb’s littlest cousin. I don’t have any pictures to prove it yet, but Caleb is super intrigued by his brand new, itty bitty baby cousin, Charlotte. I’m thankful to see how cautiously curious he is about the tiny girl who has already won our hearts!
And since the theme for this post is “little loved ones,” it’s an appropriate time to acknowledge a dearly loved little member of our family: our cat, Artemis. We need to part ways with Artie and are so thankful to have found a wonderful home for her. We thought we’d have this sweet tabby well into our forties, but it isn’t meant to be, and tomorrow we’ll hand her over to a new owner. Thanks, Artie, for being such a dear cat in our little family. Your antics and cuddles will always warm our hearts – I’m so glad we plucked your tiny, clumsy, soft little body from the cage at the shelter! We love you!
I started crying the other night while saying goodbye to Artemis, and Chris made me laugh by singing “Friends.” Aw, Artie… you’ve been a good friend.
But we’ll keep you close as always / It won’t even seem you’ve gone / ‘Cause our hearts in big and small ways / Will keep the love that keeps us strong…
our "three kids" as of April 2010... now we're trading in a furry one for another little boy!
