An Unexpected Visitor...

This afternoon, my mother and I were interrupted from our lunch break with a phone call from **drum roll, please** my Aunt Karen!! She, my Uncle Scot, and their four daughters (my adorable cousins) live in Peoria, so even though we are close, we don't get to see each other very often. Anyway, she informed us that she would be passing through the area on her way to see her parents in Marion and would we be available if she stopped to see us on her way through Lafayette.

*burst of happiness*

(My mom informed her we would be home and happy to see her!!!)

Its amazing how motivated you can be to clean house when you know you've got a visitor that could arrive any minute!! We quickly managed to make the house presentable AND put a scrumptious dinner together before our unexpected visitor made her entrance. For those of you who don't know my aunt, know that she's one of those incredibly sweet, understanding people who doesn't mind one little bit if they walk in on a messy kitchen...but...my mom feels (and I heartily agree) that it's still nice to be able to present a clean, well ordered home to whoever walks through your door - even if it is a dear family member. :)

Anyway, I digress...

Aunt Karen arrived, and the exchanging of stories began!! I always love hearing about their crazy life in Peoria - church planting and home schooling, among other things! Hearing about the girls is always entertaining. Plus, it's just nice to hear some "sister stories" from time to time when you've grown up with only two brothers, no sisters...not that I'm bitter or anything, Mom...*cough*cough* ;)

Aunt Karen told me all about:

1. Stephanie's hard work in her classes (She's taking LATIN, on top of everything else, that smart girl!)

2. Sarah's admirable loyalty to her pets (She wouldn't sacrifice her pet frog

the furtherance of Stephanie's scientific education ~shocking~ so Nicodemus survived the dissecting chapter of biology after all!)

3. Emily's consistenly high level of energy (She always seems to be bouncing off the walls...no, literally, she's a gymnast now...I wouldn't be surprised if she DOES bounce off the walls!)

4. Lauren's first year of school (Yay for completing kindergarten, woot! woot!! She was quite shocked that "this was it?!" for kindergarten ALREADY...Such a sweetheart of a girl!)

We also discussed things like whether we agreed with John Piper's Desiring God book, what we liked and disliked about the Passion conference speakers, whether Beth Moore's Daniel study was any good, and which speaker we preferred: John MacArthur, John Piper, or Francis Chan...(And for all those who are wondering, I chose Francis Chan!)

Then, OF COURSE, the evening ended with a lovely chili dinner (complete with the presence of Dad and Benjamin, yippee!!) and the traditional exchanging of only the best recipes between my aunt and my mother.

(This week's best recipes: White Chicken Chili and Stephanie Soup, yummmmm...)

All in all, it was a wonderful surprise and a wonderful evening of fun, fellowship, and plenty of food...So thanks for stopping by, Aunt Karen! I love you so much, and it was great getting to spend time with you tonight!

♥XOXO♥ to the girls and Uncle Scot for me!

(I love this whole family sooooooo much!)