Dianne and Darla

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Sunday we went to church of course. It is a huge priority in our family for the kids to always be in church on Sunday and they rarely miss... even if I do.

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The teens have their own building behind the church.  When we dropped the kids off at their hangout in the back we ran into my niece Lacey. My older sister and her husband go to a different church, but their five youngest girls go to our's. LOL My sister is good with it.

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Then ran into Arden walking across the parking lot. She drives herself now.  As you can see from the "14" on our sleeve, Arden is a senior.  I can't believe she is graduating high school this May.  But then again, I can't believe I will turn 39 this March either.  ;)



Arden and Bret sing in the teen choir. I video taped it and I'm sure you'll notice what Boone is doing.



So the next morning I had Shepard talk to Boone about how to properly wipe his nose. Shepard's Chinese language came back to him after we got Pryor and Boone. Shepard gets stuck sometimes and Pryor helps him out. Pryor seems to understand a lot of English and the two of them get along really good. That's not to say they don't do a lot of competing.

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While the kids were at Sunday school I had my usual coffee with Mike, Boone and our friend, Dianne. We've been friends over 30 years. Our other long time friend, Darla died of cancer a couple of years ago. Every time I brought a child home from China, no matter how long it had been since I saw Darla she would show up right before Christmas with a Christmas stocking with the new child's name on it. When we got Stafan I kept wondering when Darla would show up with Stafan's stocking, but Christmas came and went and no sign of Darla. I just figured Darla was busy and maybe couldn't handle all the kids I was getting. : - ) Just about a month later I got a call from Dianne crying. They were as close as any sisters and had been since I even knew them. Dianee said Darla went to the hospital and found out she had cancer. Darla died within 2 days. Darla's funeral was packed with people. She was the kind of lady that made everyone feel special and just naturally lit up a room. She was also the kind of lady that if she liked you she LOVED you, but if she didn't you probably knew it. The very first time I met Darla she decided she liked me. We were friends from day one. To this day I feel like Darla is with me.

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Then after church we ate out, but this is the only picture I took. I asked Mike if he thought it was weird how people stare at me taking pictures all the time. He said, "No it is weird you take pictures all the time." Whatever!

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