My Daddy

Just one short year ago, almost to the day, I was hopping on a plane to Illinois, leaving my 8 month old son behind, to be with my dad in the hospital with blood clots. Little did I, or anyone else, know that would be the beginning to one of the hardest years to date fighting an evil disease.

Over the last year, I have shed more tears, been more confused, prayed and relied on God more, spent more time in my car,hospitals,doctor's appointments, and nursing homes, become a pretty good hygiene nurse (not so much medicine wise), and most of all, become closer to my dad. My life/relatonship with my dad has never been easy or understandable, but God allowed us to come full circle. Through this horrendous battle with cancer, I have done those small things with him that I had never done before like show him the clothes/shoes I bought at the store, just sit by his side and talk, really talk, pray with him, read him the Bible, learn about his childhood, and interact on a new level. I will never be able to understand why he had to go through all of this, but I can confidently say God works for the good, and this past year was horrible but amazing at the same time. I grew so close to my dad knowing that the end was always one day closer.

I didn't make it in time to be with him when he passed, but my dad knew I was okay with him leaving simply because I knew I'd see him again. I made that clear when I was with him the weekend before. This was not always the case, though. Many tears were shed while telling this stubborn man about the grace of God. It definitely becomes more urgent for your loved ones when death is at their doorstep. One of the best days of my life was when I got the phone call on Good Friday letting me know that he accepted Christ!

Daddy, your little girl misses you and might tear up everytime Jack asks to call his Papa, but I know you're up there smiling down. You are walking without pain, playing tennis again, eating food and gaining weight, watching movies, playing dominos, and cheering on your sports' teams.

Thank you Dad for the memories over the last year. Some of them aren't pretty, but I am so thankful for each and every day that we had.

I love you.

 This was the last kiss I got from my dad. If I knew it was the last, I would have asked for ten thousand more.

 

Papa

John's grandfather, Papa, passed away a couple of weeks ago so we headed over to the ranch to spend time with the family and celebrate Papa's life. He was a great man who lived life with joy all the way until the end. It made me tear up when Jack looked for Papa around Grammie's house. He pointed to the chair, "Papa's chair" then ran into the room and looked around for Papa again. I know Jack will be raised with the many great stories about Papa, and I can only hope he can live life with as much zeal for life as Papa had.

His funeral was a true celebration of his life.

 

 After the funeral, we all went over to Aunt Sharon's to hang out as a family just like Papa would've wanted.

 The rest of the weekend was spent being outside on the ranch. Again, just like Papa would've wanted.

 No trip is complete without watermelon.

 Driving the "MU"

 Feeding the cows "Coobs"

 Searching for rocks

Papa, you will be missed. You were a great man.



Slow Down!

Jack,

Time is going too quickly, and you just keep growing too fast. In the last 6 weeks-ish, I have watched you:
*Eat your own yogurt, PB&J, pizza, etc.
*Jump consistently off the ground. You have a pretty good vertical jump!
*Create a special bond with turtle and puppy
*Make small choices of what you would like
*Go down the swirly big slides at the park all by yourself
*Climb effortlessly up stairs
*Talk, talk, and talk some more. You love having conversations in the car - "Mor Momma"
*Do the hand motions to songs:
      Itsy, Bitsy Spider
      Pat-A-Cake
      Row, Row, Row your Boat
      Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
*Put two words together
*Color
*Want to call people on the phone and "talk" with them
*Go down to one nap...and only sleep about 1-1.5 hours :(

Seeing you grow makes me excited about the future but sad that every day, you are less and less of a baby. You no longer really want to be rocked before bed and naps, you don't want to rub my fingers, and you want to do almost everything without my help. I want you to know, though, you will always be this momma's baby...no matter how big you get.

I pray the your daddy and I will know how to raise you up to be a strong Child of God who has a deep relationship with your Heavenly Father. You are so loved.

Fire Truck Day

My church was doing Pre-School story time last week with the firemen and fire truck. We hadn't really ever talked about a fire truck before but there happened to be one right outside of the gym on the day that we were going so that got us excited! We looked for them the entire way home from the gym and all the way to the church that day. Although he was too scared to get inside the fire engine, he did enjoy sitting on the front.

 With Elijah and Claire

 He LOVED his hat and wore it proudly.

My little helper

Jack is at the age where he really enjoys helping. I know I better enjoy it now because it won't last :)

My Little Cowboy

Last weekend, when we were at my sister's house, we played dress up in cousin Luke's cowboy gear. Jack LOVED everything about those boots...even if they were a few sizes too big :) 

Jack's First Day

Jack started "school" last week at a local church. It works perfect as he only goes one day a week for 3 hours. I had grand plans on making a cute little sign saying first day...but time got away from me so simple pictures will have to do.

 As soon as we got to class, he remember the chalk board from Meet the Teacher. He ran from toy to toy and seemed to be excited. There were a few tears shed when he thought we were leaving so we told him to show us some more, and as he got carried away into coloring, we quietly backed out of the room!

He had a great report when I picked him up. I think it is going to be a great year when God is going to grow my little boy leaps and bounds.