"Sisters, Sisters...."

"....there were never such devoted sisters."  Are you singing the song?  Don't worry if you aren't, I know my sisters are!!  I'm so grateful for my sisters!
This pregnancy was a hard one for me mentally.  I just felt huge most of the pregnancy and felt such stress to keep my weight at an acceptable limit.  My bigger concern though was how I would find someone to care for my four older children while I was in the hospital.  I know a lot of people think a first time mom needs a lot of help when she has her first, and the help IS nice, but I have decided that you really need help the more kids you have.  Yes, you know how to care for a newborn, but you need help caring for all of your other children.
We no longer have close friends that go to the same elementary school as Kimball and Rebecah so I wasn't sure how I would get my kids to school.  I hate imposing on people so I also didn't know how I would find someone to watch Lincoln and Annika while I was in the hospital.  Since I don't like asking favors from people, even friends, I just knew that I would just end up with Joseph at home with the kids and maybe have him visit an hour a day and that would mean a VERY long and lonely hospital stay, in addition to a c-section recovery.
One day I was expressing y concerns on the Johnson sister chat that my mom, sisters and I use to communicate and later in the day my wonderful sister, Chandra, volunteered to come help while I was in the hospital.  I was SO grateful that she would make the sacrifice to come help since she was bringing her 1 year old AND taking care of my big kids and toddlers.  It was such a relief to know that my sister had my back and was able to relieve some of my burden.
Two years ago when I had Lincoln and Annika my sister, Sharon, came to help after they were born.  It was wonderful to have her help for a few days.  It was a big sacrifice for her to leave her family of 6 kids to help me.  I felt the same appreciation having Chandra visit too.  These are pictures from Sharon's visit 2 years ago.

    

I am a big believer when The Family: A Proclamation to the World" teaches:  "Extended families should lend support when needed".  I'm grateful for my sisters who made the effort to support my family.  My mom would have come in a heartbeat if her situation were different.  I know it is as hard on my mom not being here for me as it is on me not having her here.  Who knows, maybe it's harder on her.

My kids LOVED having "Channie" visit and Christian, too.  If Chandra and Chrisitan were in their room busy for too long my kids would start asking where they were.  Annika even started saying:  "Channie, OUT!" after her naps when Joseph or I didn't respond fast enough.  I love how my sister was able to develop such a warm relationship with my kids, especially Lincoln and Annika.  They really miss Christian and Chandra now that they are gone.

Chandra with Eden

Sisters!!

Annika and Christian.
Annika was really like a little mother to him and it was adorable to watch.

Christian was napping so Annika and Lincoln had Chandra all to themselves.

Lincoln loved feeding Christian bites of food.

I'm still trying to convince Sharon to move here and it's been 2 years, and now I have another sister to work on convincing.  If only we could get my mom and Heather out here with all of my sisters it would be perfect!