Linda's Birthday 2015

The Birthday Girl was smiling as usual as the family gathered at Mom's house to celebrate Linda's 62nd birthday.

 Brianna's daughter Janae wanted to sit on Linda's lap and check out the balloon.

 Though Linda smiles all the time, she rarely laughs out loud. When I said something like, "Now you know that if you have a balloon in front of you, children will want to sit on your lap," she gave a little snort of laughter!

 I'm not sure if there were really 62 candles on that cake, but there were enough to inspire awe in the hearts of the children there!

 And she blew them all out!

 Jamie (Jean's youngest) was quite impressed! (That lovely scarf is her gift from me!)

Now on a side note, I must point out that our dear Beaver believer brother Doug struggled just a bit with the idea of eating a Duck-decorated cake….

Doug and Joel (Hope's son)

but chocolate cake won out! He's only human! (Jean brought the remaining cake from Chavon's birthday.)

 The kids had some checkers fun. That's my Eric on the right.

 (Don't worry, Brandon, I honored your request not to put your picture on Facebook!)

Baby Sister Jean, Big Sister Linda, me, the former Baby Sister Hope

After Linda's recent hospital stay, it was extra special to have her back on her feet and celebrating her birthday. We don't really know what caused the medical problems, but she has made an excellent recovery and seems to be pretty much back to where she was before. She is at work again this week and enjoying it very much.  My brother John and his wife Betsy were visiting from British Columbia, and we had a family dinner at my house the day before her birthday party. I thought it might be too much for her to be out two nights in a row, but when I talked to the staff member at her house, she assured me that Linda had already heard about the dinner at my house and was excited about coming!  And last night, Linda made sure to point out to me, "LeAnn, I guess I saw you yesterday and I saw you today. I saw you two days in a row." (No chance that she could say, "I haven't seen you for a long time." which is her standard opening line with nearly all of us!)

When the staff came to pick her up last night, I mentioned we hadn't had a chance to sing with her yet, other than Happy Birthday. Linda immediately started singing "Happy Birthday" so we joined in and sang it again!

Here's to sisters!