I always wanted to be one of the Waltons...

Thanksgiving 2010

Oh my gosh! I can hardly believe that 2010 is almost over! A lot has happened this year in our little family. We have 2 new grand babies on the way and I can't tell you how excited I am about that. If I had my way, I would have been like the little Old Lady that lived in a shoe. All I ever wanted to be was a mom. Jose asked me to marry him on Christmas Eve when I was 16 and he was 18. (yeah...you can imagine how "thrilled" my parents were when I proudly showed off my new diamond solitaire!) We waited until I was 19 and he was 21 to actually get married. He was smart enough to know that he needed a stable job before we could start our lives together as husband and wife. I would have married him at 16 without hesitation. I played with dolls until I was 13. Not because I was immature, just because I wanted to be a wife and a mother.


February 1980

Our plan was to wait 3 years and work hard, save money and buy a house before we started a family. But God had another plan :) I got pregnant with our son on our honeymoon. I was over the moon happy :) 2 years later we welcomed our daughter into the mix. The week after I turned 22 we had our boy and our girl. Growing up in the United States for me meant that all my family (other than my parents and my brother) lived in Europe. I'd watch the Waltons on TV and dream of a large family. For me, it didn't turn out that way, but through my children now, I am enjoying the amazing gift of being a "Nana" to 4 amazing little guys and 2 more little ones in the new year. Our children are married to the most wonderful spouses and with those marriages, I now have another daughter and another son! Every Sunday after church we have 11 people around the table for lunch and I love every minute of it! Christmas Eve will be shared in our home again this year with our children and their families and my mom and my brother and his family. It's starting to look like the Waltons after all :)

September 2008