The month started with the 100th Anniversary celebration for my home church, Mt. Zion, in Cozad, Neb. The church was started by my great, great grandfather – Elder S.I. Gardner, and My Uncle Donnie served as the pastor there for nearly 30 years.
The Centennial celebration brought together several friends and family that I hadn’t seen in years. Unfortunately, we ended up missing a bunch of them since Addie caught strep throat the day before we were to head to Cozad.
My brother Chris and his family were still around by the time we made it, and Addie had a bunch of fun playing with her cousins Tori and Katherine. It’s so much fun to have the girls so close in age.
I also had a really fun time with my brother’s and sister. It’s been awhile since we’d all gotten to spend a good deal of time together.
It’s always fun to be together, but it’s also always tinged with sadness, because Ellen is missing. That glaring fact is always with me, but it becomes really obvious when I’m with the rest of my brothers and sister. We all shared a moment talking about how much we miss her and what makes us think of her. It was a precious moment that I’ll always treasure between us all.
Even though my siblings are technically “steps”, I never refer to them like that. I will always miss Ellen, but what a blessing that I’ve been given these amazing siblings to help fill the void and share the grief. My older brother even married my first cousin, Melissa (now IS an important time to remember the “step” quotient here, people). With Melissa, she is truly my blood kin that I’ve known my whole life. So we can share memories that Ellen and I shared. So, I even have a serrogate sister in my sister-in-law! God is so good to me! I can’t imagine how daddy and I would be right now if he and Cynthia hadn’t wed and made our family complete.
Dad and Cynthia celebrated their 19th wedding anniversary on June 19th by heading to Lincoln, so we got to celebrate a little with them. While they were here they were able to come to a family picnic at Addie’s pre-school. They were very happy to get to see where she goes to school, but I do kind of wonder what they really thought of the place.
To say the place is liberal is an understatement. It’s VERY crunchy. There are several parents with various piercings and tattoos. And almost every car in the parking lot has a bumper sticker that says something like, “Meat is Murder”, “Nebraskan’s for Peace” or “Dennis Kucinich in ‘08”. Not really my parent’s crowd. Still they really seemed to enjoy touring Prairie Hill and getting to meet some of Addie’s teachers and classmates.
June also saw visits from Julie who came and spent the weekend with us. Addie still has such a special relationship with her even though Julie hasn’t babysat Addie for over a year now. It’s really sweet to see them together.
During Julie’s visit my friend Anita and her kids passed through on their way to Cozad. The kids all had a blast playing together and with Dennis while Julie, Anita and I got to visit on the front porch.
Julie and I have both decided that the very best place to be this summer is on our front porch swing. Y’all come on and check it out!
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