Happy little moments

Happy Moments & Christmas Cheer
God Bless Everyone During this Amazing Time of Year!

Where do we go from here?

My silence went to anger, which is now followed by many questions, almost all of which begin with Why. I believe this is a fair step in the journey we are on. I am not a fan of having people tell me it will be okay, but need to experience it for myself… again. We are blessed as a family to have the love and support of family and friends helping us to heal, but the process may never be over, the healing may never fully take place. We know we can survive and have a positive outcome as we have our beautiful daughter to remind us of the survival and miracles that can happen if you hand yourself over to God. If you are willing to place yourself, your hurting, your anger, and your longing in his hands you can see there will be healing. This in no way diminishes how we feel, but by his grace will help us be stronger as a couple, as a family, and as believers. The loss of a child at any stage in life is painful, heartbreaking and leaves a hole in your family where they could have been. Our wish like many would have been to hold them, to know them and to teach them, but because we loved them we did get something that will always be with us. Through our loss we hope to have gains, gains that last our lifetime. The physical healing will come first with a wonderful Dr.'s help... and well... the rest will come in time.

The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.
-Isaiah 49:1

Not Me! Monday

With a lifetime of a weekend behind me, it is not me who let my 2 year old roll in shredded paper in just a diaper all over the basement. It is certainly not me who let our Bel crawl into bed with me and allowed her to watch Disney for an hour and a half. I did not have to run after my child while she screamed she needed to be naked as our friends were coming for lunch, no not me. It is important to us to use manners and have our child use them at all times, so it is certainly not me who allowed her to walk around the kitchen to eat lunch and dinner on Sunday. My daughter certainly did not put herself in the dog kennel and proceed to say she was going to sleep. It is not me who has completely lost her mind and can only imagine her students doing FUN projects on a Monday as she blogs, no most certainly not me.

Fall Fun

I have not been very good about updating at all this fall. So I went through photos over the past two and a half months and put together a slide show. We have been as busy as ever and have traveled to weddings out of state twice in the last month for DM's cousins, one in IL and one in IA. We have been enjoying our little girl who is getting to be even more independent by the day (we didn't think this was possible). I also have continued to be busy with school and teaching and DM is working hard as always. We are a very blessed family! One thing that we are extremely proud of with Bel is that she is learning to sign herself before meals, and is very cute about her Amen's! I hope to remember to update more often as I am looking forward to having more time with at home as I enjoy my first winter away from swimming in a very...very long time. Enjoy!

Lost Summer Fun

I had forgotten about these pictures since they were taken with my phone, but had to share them when I found them. Bel visiting the beautiful campus of the University of St. Thomas. Do we have a future Tommie on our hands... God willing she will remain somewhat close to home and venture to that wonderful place.

The end of summer fun

Though the weather is actually better than it has been for a majority of the summer our little vacation has come to an end with my heading back to work. Before doing so we were able to spend a long weekend at the cabin with everyone up and the girls had a blast. It was nice to have one weekend where work wasn't on the brain.

After the weekend had come to an end we headed home so that we could visit the fair on its last day. Since this was Bel's first trip to the fair we focused on what she would enjoy. We were joined by our wonderful friends the Kelly's and spent the earlier part of the day taking it all in... literally! Bel enjoyed the rides and being a little farmer while we were there and watching her is always the best part... close second was the deep fried snickers bar! All in all it was a nice ending to our summer at home.

Summer Fun with Cousins

Family Vacation

As keeping with tradition we took our family vacation up at the cabin. We get to relax, swim, read, nap, boat rides, enjoy dinners out and in, and most of all just enjoy the peacefulness of where we are. It is amazing to get to spend time together all day and night, I feel blessed to be able to spend my entire summer with Bel, but having that one week as a family is wonderful. DM has been working very hard as always and it was nice to have him around to enjoy the little daily activities that Bel and I delight in every day. Enjoy the pictures... as there are a lot of them!

2 Years Old... Already!

Where does the time go? I'm sure this is a question that most parents find themselves asking often whether their child is 1 or 20. DM and I are constantly asking when she got so big, when did she start talking like a "big" kid. Its amazing the things she learns on a daily basis from turning on lights to helping me with putting away clothes. She has one "chore" that she is in charge of which is feeding the dog and she has begun to do this with out being prompted most mornings. She is an amazing little person who is strong willed, smart and beautiful, and for anyone who may not believe in God, children are certainly a prime example of who he is and the gifts he has given.

A Hard Good Bye

This past Monday was a hard day for our family as it was time to say good bye to Libby. We brought Libby home for the first time 16 years ago, the summer after I finish 6th grade. She was full of spunk with a big black patch over her eye (which is mostly faded in the digital pictures I have). She was a good girl even through the end when her body had failed her. I know many people who read this may not understand counting a dog as a part of your family, but for us they are and because of that it is with heavy hearts that we all had to let her go to a better place.

As Isabel says, BooBoo's at Jesus house.

Summer with our "Big Girl"

Her beloved Swing Set

At her 1st Rodeo Running with her BF Griffin

Bowling with Mommy & Daddy

(She has gone with her MeMe and her kids before too and loves it!)

Jet Skiing with Daddy, Uncle and Ella, helping Grandma win at ring toss and driving the boat with Grandpa.

4th of July Cakes and visiting her friend Kendall at her Grandparents who also go to Cross Lake

Being Daddy's helper and a cute picture too!