Sunday was the last day my aunt and uncle were here before they had to catch their flight back home. Mama was putting roast, carrots and potatoes in the crock pot for lunch after church for us to eat before they had to leave.

When church was over I picked up the girls from the nursery, ran into Dave in the hallway, passed off Little Bug to him and headed to the car to get Sweet Pea to my parents’ so I could feed her and get her down for a nap.

I arrived at the house, got Sweet Pea out of the car and walked up to the house.

Nothing was out of the ordinary until I entered the house and then out of NOWHERE my cousin Cristina JUMPS out of the hallway COMPLETELY surprising me!!!!!!!!!

We are more like sisters than cousins and I had not seen her in two years.

I know I stood there with my mouth WIDE open, not believing that she was actually standing right there in front of me!!!!

Words can’t describe what an afternoon with her so unexpectedly did to my soul!

I come from a very close-knit family and any time a group of us gets together it is such a special time. I woke up Sunday morning having NO CLUE I was hours away from seeing Cristina and I’m still sitting here a few hours after she has left thinking, Did I really just spend 7 hours with Cristina??

She and her husband, Marcio, were vacationing with Marcio’s brother and wife just a few hours from where I live and she couldn’t be that close without coming for a visit! She really wanted to surprise me and boy did she ever!

Marcio plays the piano by ear and he played several songs with the family sang! LOVE those moments.

Little Bug, of course, just loved her Uncle Marcio and Aunt Cristina immediately. Cristina brought her a little kit where you plant the grass and when it grows it is the hair. They had fun planting the grass seeds.

I was so happy Cristina and Marcio could meet Sweet Pea!! She loved them, too.

It was such a WONDERFUL afternoon!!! I still can’t believe they ALL kept this a secret from me! Unbelievable with this crew.

Looking back I can see all the clues that lead to Cristina’s surprise visit, but none of the clues by themselves were really able to give the surprise away.

Like the fact my mom had TWO crockpots full of food this morning before we left for church…for what I thought was for 7 adults. Um, even I know that you don’t need two roasts to feed 7 adults. But…it was actually for 11 adults. I didn’t think it strange because my mom has a reputation for always fixing more food than necessary because she always wants to have enough food to feed everyone.

Then there was the fact that when I drove up from church there was a mysterious car parked in the driveway across the street at the house that has been vacant/for sale for a while now. There is apparently a buyer now and I just figured they were at the house, but, really, it was the rental car Cristina & Marcio had used to drive here!

And then, apparently my mom DID sort of give the surprise away during a phone conversation to my aunt about a week or so before the visit!! BUT – she lied to me to cover it up. Which is huge. My Mama doesn’t lie for ANYTHING – those who know her know she was probably up all night the day she lied to me. (She did tell me that after she told me the lie, she wrote an email to all the family confessing how she had almost let the secret slip, but had lied to cover it up.) From the phone conversation I could tell someone was coming for a visit so when she hung up I asked, “Who’s coming?”. And my mom told me, “Martha! She has a conference a few hours away and she may try to drive over one day to see us.”

Martha (my mom’s cousin!) is a doctor and a conference sounded very legit. I bought it hook, line and sinker and never once thought that it was actually Cristina coming for a visit!

I am so thankful for the family God has given me.

FUN TIMES!!!!

- Elaine