So tell me. Does this look like the face of a little boy who is glad it is his 8th birthday? Joe was in heaven, as if you couldn’t tell. All three sets of his grandparents and his two great grandmothers came to our house for dinner and to wish him a happy birthday. We had a big lasagna dinner with assorted salads, garlic bread and black forest cake for dessert.
As most parties go, all of the men hung out outside and the women were in the kitchen. To the casual observer, it may have seemed like the women were sitting around talking and laughing and eating crackers piled high with my world-famous pineapple dip, but in reality, we were ready to spring into action at any moment just in case one of the Stouffer’s lasagnas needed tending to. Here, sitting at the ready is my Mom, Grandma W, Linda, who was in town visiting my folks from Georgia, and my sister Jonda.
The party really started when Grandma Judy & Grandpa Bill from Alaska came in. As I said, all of the men were outside. So Grandpa Bill opened the back door and walked outside shouting, “Is it someone’s birthday around here?” Both Michael and Joe had a look of complete shock on their faces. They could not believe what they were seeing. Joe ran into Grandpa’s arms and Michael turned to me and demanded, “how long have you known about this? How could you keep this a secret from us?” It was a great surprise for them. I regret that I didn’t get a picture of this amazing moment, but I was kind of swept up in the excitement as well.
This is Grandpa Bill (on the left) his mother Joyce and his brother Terry. Also in the cast of characters is the boy’s Dad, Mike. Look at how Michael is almost as tall as his Dad!
Here is the birthday boy with his two great-grandmothers, Carolyn and Joyce. They did not want to sit in the kitchen with the rest of us women. It was probably for the best, the workload was pretty demanding in there and it was better left to us younger women.
Below is Joe making a wish with Grandma W., Dad, Aunt Jonda, Wayne visiting from Georgia and my Dad cheering him on. We were all laughing because Michael surprised us by running into the house, opening his bedroom window so we could hear him, and playing Happy Birthday on his electric keyboard to accompany our singing!
Here are all of the Rice men. Do they look alike or what? They all have the same expression on their faces!
Above: Here are the boys with all of their grandparents and great grandmothers.
Here is the whole gang of us. I know I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. Someday I hope the boys will look back on their lives and realize how lucky they are. Even though their lives were very rough for the first 4-5 years, through the adoption process they gained my family and they got to keep their own loving and supportive birth family. I guess God knew what he was doing when he brought us all together because I feel as lucky as the boys!
That is so great!!!