An Early Birthday for Opa…

…Opa (Dave DeVries) turns 85 this Friday, and we anticipated his birthday a little bit. Aunt Sandi (Jo’s sister), Deb and Dee came out to help us celebrate. The weekend was bit of whirl. They arrived from Maryland on Thursday and we had dinner together; Friday we took Opa out to Moussalli’s in Edwardsville with just us “old people”; Saturday we hosted an open house for him and had lots of folk drop in to wish him a happy birthday; Sunday after church, Lauren’s family and David’s family and Kloe (spending the weekend with Lydia) came over and we had a big brunch, after which the kids went swimming. On Sunday afternoon, the girls went shopping and after dinner they took some flowers up to Jo’s grave with Opa. We finished off our visit with a game of 5 crowns. It was sad to see them leave this morning, but thank you, Lord, for the time together and for the man in whose honor we gathered: