Happy Valentine's Day & Friends that Touch our Hearts

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

For us, it all began many years ago...

...and the love has only grown since then!

The four brothers grew up and have established homes of their own.

We thank God for the love that has grown through the years--through the ups and downs of life-- and also for our precious family that continues to grow. May God continue to bless us, to lead and guide us, and help us to grow stronger in our love relationship with Him.

We also treasure the many friendships that we have developed through the years. A couple of days ago, we received a call from John and Donna who were vacationing here in our area.

We met at this lovely little french restaurant in Laguna Beach.

It was great to catch up on each other's lives!

Fortunately, we had a clear and sunny day (we have had many cloudy, rainy days the past few weeks).

The day was cool, however, and even the pigeons hunkered down in a sunny spot!

The beach was beautiful...

and the rains have brought out the brilliant blossoms.

The view was spectacular!

Even though we had only a few hours together, we savored every moment.

We also took a short walk downtown and enjoyed checking out some of the unique shops.

The hours went by all too quickly! Thanks J&D for a wonderful day and for your friendship.

We ended our Valentine's Day with a Valentine's meal together with our friends Paul and Teresa. A lovely evening of delicious food and conversation was a perfect ending to this week.

And while the adults were out for dinner, the kids were busy back at the house assembling their models.

This happy smile says it all!

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

A Memorable Sunday Visit

Today we had our first visit from both of our grandchildren! (Of course, they had to bring their parents with them, except for Jayden- his daddy had to work this weekend.) It was such a joy for us to show off these precious little ones to the people in our church.

We got to introduce Kylie to our congregation today!

and later, she even got to walk in her first rain.

This little boy loves his food!

and toys...

...and books

He's even old enough now to play with the wooden toys that his great, great grandfather Helmer made thirty years ago.

Kylie is healthy and growing! She now weighs as much as her daddy did when he was born! She is just so beautiful and petite (of course, we are prejudiced!)

In the afternoon we dug out some old pictures of when our boys were growing up. J even got to see what his daddy looked like when he was little.

What a difference one year can make! Last year at this time, we were awaiting the birth of our first grandchild and now we have two...and the lives of these two couples has certainly changed in one year! Thanks for the visit kids, it was wonderful!

GK Fix

We have decided that no week is quite complete without a "grandkid fix!"

This sweet little girl had gained 12 oz since she was born!

And this super smile always melts our hearts!

Little boys in jammies are always so cute! We are so blessed to live close enough to these two families so that so we can enjoy seeing these little ones grow up.

Friends come to visit

This past week we had the privilege of having Paul and Teresa visit us. They shared with us in our church service and then shared their time and family with us for several days. We enjoyed every minute of our time together!

Unfortunately, we spent only a short time together with Patience (center) before she boarded a plane for a month helping out another missionary family.

It was nice to have extra help in the kitchen...and Mercy enjoyed making delicious cookies! Micah enjoyed being around his "Uncle Jim" again, too!

Because Monday was such a warm and sunny day, Jim took the family to the ocean.

In the evening, we drove up to the Griffith Observatory. The sun was setting as we arrived. Silly us, we didn't check to see whether the place was open on Monday evenings...it wasn't! We were allowed to walk around the grounds and also the perimeter of the building, just not inside!

We did have a beautiful view of the city, and the kids did make the whole adventure fun anyway!

We topped off the evening with Coldstone ice cream!

On Tuesday evening, Teresa and Mercy shared their experiences as missionaries with the women from our church.

Mercy found some new friends here!

Another highlight for the family was watching videos of "home" that a member of our church had recently filmed on a trip abroad. (P.S. They actually enjoyed this much more than the Super Bowl game!)

Good memories, good times together. We wish them God's blessings and God's protection in their travels during the next year.