Happy Birthday Karen!

Day 67

Today is my sister-in-law Karen’s birthday (!), so today’s post is dedicated to the first person to marry into my family, to become the first in-law. And she certainly set the bar high!!

Karen Joy Lockard joined the Case family when she married my brother Josh on May 2nd 1998. Prior to their wedding I had the opportunity of hanging out with Karen and Josh on several occasions.

I love this picture of Josh and Karen!

This was at my 27th birthday party - love the party hats, guys!

One of my first memories of Karen is when she and Josh would play a game with me called Sequence. We’d stay up late playing this game and have a great time visiting and hanging out. I was never treated like a third wheel, which I really appreciated. Josh just adored Karen and I saw a new side to my brother, a side of compassion, attentiveness, and dedication. He was absolutely in love with Karen!

Just two months before the big day, Karen was able to take part in our family photo. She fit right in! I think Jaimee was thrilled to finally have a sister (and it shows in this picture!) I can speak for the entire family when I say that we were all thrilled to have her join our family, to be such an amazing, perfect eternal companion for Josh.

Karen shares a lot of the same interests as the rest of the family. She loves games, including card games, and as I recall she is a fantastic “Hearts” player! [I am not any good, therefore I don’t play “Hearts” - call me a bad sport!]

Karen likes many of the same movies as me, including one of my personal favorites “Anne of Green Gables” and its sequel. She is a big “Twi-hard” like me, and even though she is on 'Team Jacob' I can still respect her!

Karen has such a "JOYful" smile!!

Karen is a fantastic mother to her SIX children and has the patience of Job! I don’t know how she does it, but she is clearly blessed with a gift! Speaking of patience, I know that she has an incredible amount of patience when it comes to pain (even as a guy I know that pregnancy is no picnic!) and physical discomfort. Yet I’ve never heard her whine or complain! I need to keep that in mind the next time I start blubbering because I have a hangnail!

Karen has often given me and my family nice 'thank you' notes, like this!

It's very sweet and touching!

Happy Birthday Karen! I love you and am grateful to have you in our family! You have truly brought out the best in Josh, and you have brought so much joy (no pun intended) to our family!