About my first family

Jeremy, Lindy, Zach and Nate

As though of you who regularly follow my blog know, twice each year I return to Omaha to celebrate the birthdays of my two grandsons.  These dates just so happen to coincide with when I need to leave Guatemala to renew my visa.  Isn't it great how God plans things years in advance to bless us?

This September I returned home to celebrate Nate, who turned 6.  This is a milestone year for him, since he started kindergarten in August.  He seems to love school, and often would play teacher, wanting me to be the student in activities such as "write the room." (For those non-teachers, this is where problems/words are posted on the walls of the classroom and the children take clip boards and walk around the room and solve the problems or write the words.  For this very active little guy, this is a perfect activity.)

Zach, who is now in fourth grade, has taken on his father's love of singing, and dislike for reading.  He is such a little philosopher at time, too.  I am so proud of the young man he is becoming.  Good job, Mom and Dad.

Mikayla is now Mrs. Bryan VanSlyke.  On October 10, she and Bryan were married at St. Mary's Church in Bellevue, Nebraska.

I think she has found her perfect match and soul-mate in Bryan.

I pray they will always be as in love as they are today.

One of the sweetest moments at the wedding, though, involved not Bryan and Mikayla, but Jeremy an Lindy.  I watched them dance together, and I could see them looking at each other with the same love and affection that I saw when they danced at their own wedding more than ten years ago.

Mikayla has been teased in our family that she is a walking accident waiting to happen.  Well, her wedding proved no different.  When she and Bryan were moving into their new home, she dropped the couch on her foot and broke it.  She was still in the "boot" at the wedding.  Typical of the unique ability Mikayla has to make lemonade out of lemons, she dressed up with purple floral leggings along with her wedding dress.

Jonathan, who is now out of the Marine Corps and working in California came in for the wedding.  He was only in Omaha for two days, but it was so wonderful to see him.  It's been four years since we've both been home at the same time, and it was an added blessing at the wedding to have all four of my kids together. Jon has made the next step into adulthood, and while not committing to a woman, yet, has committed to a house.  He officially became a home owner earlier this month.

Since neither Mikayla or Bryan like cake, they had a rice crispy treat "cake" at their reception.  Bryan's mother, however, found this cake irresistible for a groom's cake, and had it for the reception.  Nate seemed to agree with her, and could not wait for them to finally cut into it.  I think he showed tremendous restraint!

I always knew Zach liked littler kids, but the rehearsal dinner and receptions showed me just how much!  Every time I turned around it seemed that he was playing with one of the toddlers in attendance.

And, while he balked at the idea of dancing with Aunt Mikayla, he was only too happy to dance with Aaliyah, the daughter of Joel's girlfriend Christina.

Speaking of Christina, Joel is in a very committed relationship with her and her four children.  He thinks of them as his own, and I am so proud of the love an commitment he shows them.  The three boys all have varying degrees of autism, and I can't imagine how Christina would handle all this on her own.  She's done a tremendous job of it up to his point, however, Joel is a great support and joint caregiver for them.

I can't believe how well behaved they are.  The boys made it through the whole wedding ceremony without a hitch, except for Treyton and Aaliyah struggling to both sit on my lap at the same time!  They're great kids and I really enjoy them.  

This wasn't how I expected to get a granddaughter (I didn't think I'd ever have one) but I am happy to serve as her "adopted grandma."

I am so very fortunate in the partners my children have chosen to share their lives with.  They really feel like my children, and accept me into their hearts and families.  That's not easy when I am so far away, but they manage it well.

Jeremy and Lindy

Mikayla and Bryan
(So many times it seems they share the same facial expression,
even when they're not looking at each other!)

Joel and Christina

The last bit of family news is about Jeremy and Lin and their family.  Jeremy has been working the last five (?) or more years for Blue Buffalo Pet food, and has ended up traveling two or three weeks out of every month.  While Lin has handled this very well, I could tell it was taking a toll on their family.  Jeremy was a great dad when he was home, but that was not often enough for his liking.

Here Jeremy was answering work questions, even at Mikayla's wedding.

Skinner Baking in Omaha recruited him to join their ranks and he has changed jobs.  It's a much smaller company with less "prestige" but is located in Omaha and will enable him to be home almost all the time.  I can tell you how proud I am of my son who would choose his family over his position.  I couldn't resist bragging on him just a little!

So that's about it for the Forster-Duff family.  Would love to hear how your family is doing!