Surprise!

My mother-in-law had a big birthday this year and to celebrate we had a surprise party for her. Only it wasn't totally a surprise since someone sent her a card saying that they were sorry they had to miss her celebration. That's not exactly what I had in mind for an RSVP to a surprise party, but no biggie. She actually seemed pretty shocked even with the warning...
Good thing it wasn't a complete surprise, or she might have had a coronary!

She is a wonderful person and an incredible mother-in-law. She loves to praise the Lord, not only that, she lives to praise the Lord. She generous and gracious. She has seen our family at its worst and not uttered a word of judgment. And she has seen my home in complete shambles and rather than giving me a disapproving glance, she just sits down and starts folding laundry.
She folds laundry perfectly, by the way. No matter how hard I try, I cannot get laundry that flat and perfect when I fold it.

She gave me the best gift ever. Her son, this man...
She raised him, as a single Mom I might add. She worked hard to provide for him. And she taught him about Jesus. A few years back, she also left everything she knew and moved across the country to live near us and I am so glad to have her close.

Two of my sisters were there to love on Mary...
And Lulu got a bit of loving too...
Note to self: if you let the kids have the camera, you will end up with pictures like this...
And just when we thought we were all partied out, we celebrated New Year's Eve with our besties, the Butte family...
We rang in the New year in style...
With games...
And kissing...
And some booty-shakin' too...

Happy Birthday, Grandma. Happy New Year. Happy Family...generally.