"The mere sense of living is joy enough." Emily Dickenson

This weekend all the kids were home.All of them,under the same roof.How great is that?Joy, simple and pure joy.Mark was originally suppose to go to a men's retreat with the church guys but opted out.He said he would rather be home with us instead.Thank you Mark.I know you could have so used a weekend away to renew and rejuvenate.That you chose to stay home with us,speaks volumes.Our times spent together,all 8 of us, are truly so few and far between.I realized today how very much I miss the older ones presence in my life each and everyday.The boyfriends were in attendance as well.A trio of 3 pretty incredible young men.Mark worked tirelessly on a favorite dinner.Chicken wings.Mark is a pro.Nothing beats his wings.I say that and have to follow it with ..... but I don't eat them.I use to when we first met. During our early days,during the long,cold winter nights spent in Upstate N.Y,Mark could be found making his signature dish bi-weekly, at least.Chicken wings,french fries with celery and blue cheese dressing and a couple of nice cold Budweiser's.Hit the spot.Twenty two years later finds me a non meat eater and a total lite weight.Now french fries,those I eat.My Gallbladder,which has reeked absolute havoc on me the last several weeks will not like me tonight.Worth it though.Totally worth it.Everyone fully enjoyed the wing ding,as Mark refers to it.Especially those strapping young boys.I was tempted to post a picture of the finished,eaten product but felt for certain I would be hearing from P.E.T.A tomorrow.We all enjoyed each others company to the fullest.A house filled with lots of action and activity.Just the way I like it.I must also add how very excited Caitlin and Danny were to see Zoey.It has been 6 weeks since they last spent time with her.They love her so much and she them.She was such a snuggler today.Well,everyday she is but today she gave extra hugs,kisses and was filled with so many snugly moments. On a different note, an interesting point of the day was that some of us commented,on various occasions, how very silent Zoey actually is.To give you an idea,we MAYBE heard her make 2 sounds ,of any kind,all day long.With each passing day it becomes so very apparent how little speech,or sound,she really has.It is going to be a major area for therapy in the future.A frustrating point about it is,that while I love to sign with her, it becomes all the more challenging because she does not have use or awareness of her left hand.We and mostly her,will have to become somewhat creative on how we use, what are ideally two handed signs, with primarily one hand.It will be interesting on how it will all come together.Time will tell.Speaking of time,time to wind this down.Little ones are sound asleep.Caitlin and Danny have called it a night.Brandon and Taylor are finishing watching the Dodger game.And Mark,Matt and Jessica?Playing a very competitive Mario Cart, on Wii.They are loving the steering wheels and I have to say, the old man is kicking their butts.Momentarily.I leave you with a few picture of a few of us.Random but beautiful,captured moments.