A dream come true

One of my favorite things to do is visit with my family. However, my four older sisters all live in different states (Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas and Utah) so I don't get to see them (or my 15 nieces and nephews) near as often as I would like. Different family members come to visit my mom and me from time to time, but we both wish our family lived closer together.

That being said, we love it when we receive visits from our family. I'm so excited because I'm going to get to see all four of my older sisters and their families this summer. The summer visits begin this Friday when my sister Sharon and her family come, and they will be staying for a week. Then my sister Kristin and her family are coming into town on June 3 and are staying until June 12. My sister Annette and her family are coming because Annette's sister-in-law is getting married. They will be here from June 10 through June 14.

That means we'll have company for 17 days straight -- and I can't wait! I'm glad that the visits are overlapping a little bit so that some of my sisters can see their other sisters. We'll have a little break from company for about a week and a half, and then my sister Miriam and her family will spend five days with us the last week in June.

I'm especially excited to see my sister Kristin because I haven't seen her in four years! She's been living in Utah while her husband has been working and going to school. They've thought about visiting, but that's a really far distance to drive with young children. Paying for their entire family to fly would be really expensive, and we don't have a big enough car to accommodate six extra people, since at least two of them are still in car seats. Anyway, I'm so excited to see Kristin and to get to know her four boys better. I've only met her oldest boy twice, the second oldest boy once and I've still yet to meet the two youngest boys.

Hooray for summer vacation and visits from family!