Sarris's Ice Cream Parlor, Pittsburgh, PA

While recently in Pittsburgh, Ron found this great local haunt to take us too...

 

 

While on this trip, I have been reading The Parish Papers, which is a trilogy of Christian novels, written by George MacDonald.  He says, "A woman ought to love her child because it is her husband's more than because it is her own, and because it is God's more than either's."  

Where We First Met

A little over fifteen years ago, Ron and I met on a blind date in Union Station in Washington, D.C.  The picture below of our girls is the place we met - right infront of the Godiva Chocolate store.  Over Spring Break we were able to see many sites and sounds in D.C. I will post each "stop" along the way separately.

As I mark time with this blog, I can't help but stop to honor my dear husband on our 15th Anniversary with this particular post.  He is the truest friend I've ever had.  I was commenting to one of my dear friends down in D.C. about the wisdom of God in giving me Ron.  His love is faithful and consistent and his wisdom, insight and understanding have been a great source of comfort to me as we face lifes blessings and sorrows together.  Ron has taught our family to look to Christ and to give him thanks for all His many blessings.  He is my beloved and my freind and I honor him for that and praise God for Him!

Kim's Beautiful Christmas Decorations

My dear sister-in-law, Kim, loves decorating at Christmas!  

It's a sheer pleasure to see what she comes up with each year.  She makes a special table for the children and it is always full of fun treats, decorations and the colors are of course beautiful! I love that God has given Kim the ability to create beautiful settings and has an wonderful imagination for creating in her own home.  It's a real tallent and one which all the DiGiacomos thoroughly enjoy!

Christmas 2012 with DiGiacomos

The DiGiacomo family has tried several different ways of giving gifts over the year.  This year, each member of the family was assigned another member of the family from great-grandchild on up.  So, starting with Asher (Ginny's youngest great-grandchild) gifts were given.  Some gave speeches to explain their gifts, others sang songs (well a rap to be specific) or wrote a wrap/poem to accompany the giving.  All told, it was a great time and creative, thoughtful and meaningful gifts were given.  The only criteria was the gift was to reflect the love of the whole family to the person it was being given to.  I believe everyone "felt the love."

After Ron received his gift from Ginny, I received my gift from Kim which was a beautiful throw blanket she had made for me to match Ron's gift from Ginny.  Regrettably, at that point, I set down my camera and didn't get a picture of the blanket.  So, hoping to get one from Bob who I think took a shot or two!  Will update if I can lay hold of a picture of her beautiful gift!

For Christmas our girls gave Grandma Ginny the performance of a couple of songs that are dear to her that she asked them to learn: La Vi En Rose and Back to Sorrento.   La Vi En Rose Armand played for her at their wedding by borrowing a violin from the orchestra.  Francesca played that one for her and then they both did back to Sorrento which was one of Ginny's mother's favorites -- they are from Sorrento area in Italy.