Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Angelic Angela

My sister-in-law Angela has a birthday this week.  The longer I know her the more I am impressed with her.  The very first time I met her I wrote in my journal that I liked her, and that hasn't changed.  I chose the title Angelic Angela because I really do think that in a lot of ways Angela is angelic.  Now, she is not quiet, but I don't think that all angels are.  She is good at taking charge, and I suspect some angels are very good at that too.  She's even opinionated (gasp!) but that provides for more entertaining family conversations.  But what is it exactly that makes me think of Angela as angelic?

I think it comes down to the fact that she is an excellent family member.  What does that mean?  Well, I have noticed that she does a lot of work to give our parents in law thoughtful gifts.  She made them a picnic quilt once and typed up about a zillion favorite family recipes and compiled them in a book another time.  I have paid attention and I have discovered that she, and my brother-in-law Jordan are almost always the last ones at any family gathering making sure that everything is cleaned up properly.  I love my parents-in-law.  They are great.  I love Angela because I have noticed that she goes out of her way to take care of them.  I expect she does the same for her parents when she can.
Angela is great at making sure we keep up with our first Sunday family dinners and our cousin days for those of us who live locally.  If one of us can't take charge on our particular month she is quick to trade or volunteer to help.  She has my boys over to play with her kids and she even brought Connor a shake after he crashed his scooter.  Because I am a member of the family, her value of family makes me feel --- valued.

Angela puts a lot of effort into being a good Mom.  I like to hear about the things she does because it gives me ideas of things I can do better.
Angela has helped me out by talking to me about allergies, kids, the gospel, and just life in general, and by watching my kids sometimes when I need some help.  I find it fun to be with Angela.  She occasionally shares a book with me too.  Bonus!  I am thankful that, in our family, we get to have an angelic Angela.  We are truly blessed.

6 comments:

Saimi said...

I love people like her!! I'm so amazed at how naturally thoughtfulness and kindness comes to them...My MIL is one of those people and what an example she is to me...

I can only hope to be a fraction of what she is, I really have to work at that because my bluntness always seems to get in the way!

Happy Birthday to your wonderful SIL Angelic Angela!!

TisforTonya said...

all true!

and can I say how much I LoVe that last picture! (they're all good, but that last one just made me smile!)

stephanie said...

I have always like Angela as well.

I think it is so nice of you to write such wonderful posts about your sisters-in law.

Michelle said...

We all are truly blessed for knowing her. She isn't showy about all of her goodness, either, much to her credit. Happy birthday Ang!

LC said...

We had a good visit with Ang and Jord last weekend. BD and I couldn't help talking, on the drive home, about how awesome they are.

Megz said...

How'd you get so many pictures of Angela? I didn't know we could submit our own!
I find Angela very service oriented as well. It's nice she's so close!