It's beginning....

Josh and Cathy and Morgan/Emma/Tegan and their oh so loving pit bull, Lara, arrived from Baltimore before 4 today bearing gifts from Pepe's Pizza in New Haven.

I went to church in Northford, thinking it was at 7:30 but having left extra early to go over the Good Friday service (which, after all, only comes once a year!) got a call from the Sr. Warden as I was pulling into the parking lot and saw on the church sign that the service was at 7 and it was 6:59!

The service was great and well attended.

Then back home to 'the girls minus one' and Josh and Cathy and Bern and even more pizza--they brought a lot....

Tomorrow brings Mimi and Tim and Ellie (the 'fourth girl') from Brooklyn, so the house and our family will be complete, whole, wondrous.

Tomorrow night, Jack and Sherrie and John, our friends from New Haven, will join the 10 of us for my 70th birthday dinner at 6 at Vespucci's, my favorite Cheshire restaurant. (My birthday is Monday, but Josh/Cathy and the girls have to leave Easter night.

Then on Easter, after church at Emmanuel, Killingworth with Josh/Cathy/the three girls, that whole crew from the night before will be at our house for Easter dinner.

Mimi/Tim/Ellie stay another day so we get a dose of each of our kids separate and both together with their spouses and daughters. Perfect.

I do the deviled eggs and shrimp and other appetizers for Easter. Bern does the rest--ham and onion pies and salad--Jack and Sherrie bring a country ham (ever had one? drive  you crazy good and 'green salad--green jello with cottage cheese and nuts--and dandelion risotto)...they're southern, need I say?

A wondrous time, just beginning....

How blessed am I?

Truly blessed, I'd say....