and a happy birthday it was! with nine daughters!

Nine of my daughters and sweet daughter-in-law Ashley, plus friends Hege and Patty, my sister Cheryl, my nieces Katie and Becky, all made last night amazing!
pictured: Ashley, Evelyn Joy, Mariel Joy, Abigail, Emily, Kathryn Grace, me, Sonja Kathleen, Charlotte Claire, Camille Anaya, Margaret Cheryl.
And like the parable of the lost sheep, where the sheperd left the other 99 to find the one lost one...while I rejoiced that so many of my daughters were there last night, I felt bad that Molly Rose had to work and that Miss Suzanne Eleanor is in California.

Tonight, Samuel and Grace and little Grant from Virginia are coming!

Tomorrow we are having family pictures done, and again, my heart: Aaron and Suzanne are in California, and won't be in the pics. It happens, I guess, at some point when you have 16 kids, but ouch. I love them so dearly, more than they will ever know.