But on with the surprise.
Since the beginning of the year, my brothers and I have been planning a surprise for Mom and for Dad, but mostly Mom. In April, my brother, his wife and 2 children (who live in one of the southern states) booked their flight to visit here for a week. Dad was planning a surprise for Mom at one of the camps where he works often, and so we were going with the plan, but making changes without him knowing - going over his head and around his plans. KCKK (my bro and fam from the US) were going to fly in and get to the camp, but an unfortunate turn of events in my life (dh lost his job) through a very large wrench into Dad's planning and ours! We couldn't go! So Dad canceled his plans, told Mom that no one could come to the surprise he was planning and so they made arrangements to just come visit me and my family. Dad made arrangements without Mom knowing for some of the boys and their families to be here too, but he knew nothing about KCKK. Well, then, we had to change our plans too and find a way to get everyone to my house, without telling anyone!
We left so many people out of the loop. We just had to, or we wouldn't have pulled it off.
Jason and I were so busy in the month or so before the party. We borrowed a camper. We put in a bathroom floor and a door. We wrote a menu and bought groceries. We tidied up the yard. We steam cleaned floors and walls. We were so happy to host this event. One SIL has an allergy to cats and I have three indoor cats! We weren't sure how everything was going to work out, but in the end the whole 4 days went very very well.
When Mom and Dad pulled into the yard, they of course noticed the extra vehicles (Dad knew about JBNM and JR). So that alone was a surprise; she didn't expect the "more" that was inside. We had all the grandkids that were awake (some were having an afternoon nap) greet them as they walked in with video and still cameras pointed ready to shoot. Well, she was surprised to say the least. She started hugging (big group hug) all the grandkids without even realizing who was there. Then she looked up to give me that "you stinker" look and happened to see the two adults from the states. Well, then the tears really flowed! And Dad, when he really realized who was there, almost fell down! And he was crying too! And then she realized who she had been hugging! lol. Priceless!!!!
We were so very glad to have pulled it off. We kept saying about the text and phone messages Mom was sending - nope, she doesn't know; if she knew she couldn't keep quiet; she has to tell when she's figured out the secret!
I tell you, it was sooooo hard! I couldn't blog about it! I couldn't Twitter about it! I couldn't Facebook about it! I had to keep quiet. I had to keep the kids off ooVoo so they couldn't tell about the party we were preparing for, that they only knew was a party, not what it really was. I moved from video chat to text chat with Mom, just so she couldn't see my face when I was answering questions. One of the other SIL's said the same about phone conversations she had with Mom.
This was the first time I'd been together with all my brothers at the same time since I got married in 2000. In 2000, I was the first of the four of us to get married. So since 2000, we've added 2 spouses and a girlfriend, and 10 grandbabies. Some of those in attendance I had never met! We'd never all been together before. I think the last time I'd visited IRL with the oldest of the boys was in 2002. I hope it's not another 8 years until we are all together again!
Thank you to my family for all the effort and expense you put out to make this happen. Thank you to all of those who were in on the secret and didn't spill the beans!!! Thank you to Tammy-Lee for your help on this end - organizing, lending, giving, cooking, taking photos! We have some great shots. The memories will last our lifetime and longer, maybe. Thanks, Dad, for your part too; you made it difficult to plan around you, but it was well worth it to see the look on your face!!!
Oh and the gift. Besides having her whole family together. We bought a white apron. Using fabric paint we had each of the older ones place a handprint and the two babies did a footprint. We put names and ages by each print. All the adults signed it. At the top we put "Count Your Blessings" and "50". The children had so much fun making it. I'm sure she'll write about the time we had together on her blog too. (I linked it at the beginning.)
Striving to learn and live God's purposes,
No comments:
Post a Comment