Party of Five

I'm reminiscing a bit for this one - but it was one of those moments that when it happened, I knew the memory would stay with me forever. One Sunday morning at church, when "Big D" was all of 5 years old, he did what everyone does at some point in their sandle-wearing life. He caught his toe under a door and ripped the toenail off. It still makes me cringe, 4 years later. Needless to say, at the time there was blood and a lot of tears. That night as he was getting ready to go to sleep, and I was tucking him into bed, I could see his mind working as he asked: "Mom? Our bodies are filled with bones and blood right?" Yes... (I really had no idea where this was going, but apparently the sight of his blood had made some impact on him!) "And Jesus lives in our heart, right?" (Okay, you really have been listening!) "But mom, with all that stuff in our bodies ~ Won't Jesus get squished?" Oh...wow...okay, I wasn't expecting that from my 5 year...

I'm spending my time this week getting ready for next week's activities. My mom -who was just here a few weeks ago - will be making a return trip from Texas, and then her and I are taking off for Northern Michigan to visit this wonderful woman who just happens to be our oldest living family member! According to my genealogy program - Irene is my 1st cousin twice removed. Now, after being hit with the genealogy bug for the past 2 years, I still haven't quite figured out that "removed" thing when it comes to cousins. All I know is that my great-great grandfather, William Bryan Andrew Parrish, was her grandfather. My grandfather was his son from his first marriage, Irene's father was his son from his 2nd marriage. So maybe that's where the "removed" card comes into play? (Confused yet?) In the midst of my research, I discovered these 3 wonderful family histories that were written by Irene. Within the chapters of these books were references to a futu...