Like the eagle, we are meant to fly to the arms of God

I wish I could say I had written that, but I did not. Tonight though, I

was privileged to be able to write the most difficult piece I've ever done. I wrote an obituary. Privileged you ask? Sounds odd doesn't it? Why would anyone ever want to write one? I did not ask to write it, I did not even offer to write one. I simply commented that a relative of mine did it for a living and was asked if I would please do this. I did. I made it clear that I had never done it before,but I would do my best. And knowing it would relieve them of the burden, I did it willingly. There was a window of time before hand when I was alone and I silently prayed to God, asking him to help me to find the right words to express just how much this young man meant to all who loved him. I am grateful that He did. It has been a blessing in my life, a gift, that I am able to write well. And yet I feared that I would not do this justice. And yet after only a few words, not even sentences, I put my pen to paper and it was as if it wasn't even me doing the writing. The words flowed, and they flowed quickly. I know it was God working through me. And when I put the pen down, someone read aloud what I'd written. When these wonderful, dear, precious friends of mine cried, I knew that I had been blessed. I had been able to give them a way to express what they could not. The paper was passed around to be read by all who were there and rather than feeling pride or attitude because I had done such a good job, I felt humbled and thankful that God had made me his messenger to help these parents.

And the loved one? A very sweet, funny, generous, kind and loving 15yr old boy. Son of dear friends who are younger than me. A very unexpected and unspeakable loss.

On Tuesday afternoon, we heard the news. On Wednesday morning, as on every morning, I open my kitchen drapes and look out the glass sliders to the mountains. Usually, they are easy to see and if they are not it's because there are storm clouds, but not this time. On this bright and sunny, Wednesday morning, the mountains were obscured by big, bright white, billowy clouds. They looked as if they'd been drawn with crayons by a small child. Among the clouds, there was a small clearing. For two years now I've heard about eagles in this area and had yet to see any. Little did I know what was coming. From out of the clearing in the clouds came TWO eagles. One was larger than the other and flew ahead as if leading the smaller one. I watched as they soared so gracefully across the sky and without any warning, simply vanished. They didn't fly behind or above anything that I could see, they just simply disappeared from my view. I knew that was a sign, that he had made it to Heaven and he wanted his folks to know.

Tonight, someone asked his mom if I'd told her the story. I had not had the chance as yet. She turned to me, her eyes filled with tears and such a beautiful smile came over her face as she told me that the guest book for the services, has eagles on the cover. Believe me when I say, that I never could have known that.

God moves in mysterious ways and I am humbled. I was privileged to know this young man for two years, I only wish it had been longer.

Rest in peace Erik, we know you soar with the angels now, you will be dearly missed.

Seems like just yesterday we were saying this:




And only two days ago, Princess G was doing this:

And looking forward to this:

Yes folks, we let her go home. Not forever, but alone. :::::::sniff:::::::

She's spending the summer with her Nana and big sister. Oh, she spent weeks pleading with us to let her go and it was so hard for us to say yes,but in the end we decided that it will probably be good for her. A trade from the hectic pace with four younger siblings and no friends her age nearby to living with Nana, sister and having lots of cousins and old friends to play with and spend time with in her old neighborhood. The two hour drive to the airport felt like two hours. The goodbyes at the security area felt like a thousand. And I kept my word and cried LOL. Watching her walk away was so hard. This is the girl I laugh with, fight with, cry with and love. My baby. I think David and I prayed non-stop until she called to say that she'd landed safely. She was greeted by a group of family as a surprise which she loved and called me to say she was with them. I of course was on her bed an bawled like a baby! LOL She kept giggling and telling me it was ok, not to worry and that the family was laughing (all in good fun),but I didn't care and frankly I don't think she did either. She even called me when they got home. And she's called me at least a half dozen times since. She's having fun, she's happy to be "home" again and says she's not coming back (teasing I think), but that she misses us all very much. She sounds calmer, relaxed and happy that she went out there and that makes us happy. It's just the first two days out of ten weeks so we'll see if this feeling lasts,but if it does we may really be singing "Massachusetts here we come, right back where we started from" And I don't think you'll hear me complaining. :::wink::

A Red White and Blue Salute from ME to YOU!

The more things change....the more they stay the same

This morning, the boys and I were flipping through a photo album. In the front of it were pix from Quinn's 4th bday party. Eli is 4 now so it was fun hearing their comments and guesses as to who was in those pix. Nikolas thought it was Eli and wouln't believe anything else. LOL There were other pix of Quinn when he was a baby and he looked SO much like Nikolas! I had forgotten that once he had his surgery he went from being this frail skinny baby to being a little chubba-dubba baby! In those pix at about age 2, Nikolas thought it was himself. In the end of the album, I came across photos of Quinn as a newborn. It just so happened that I was holding Kingsley and laid her on the bed. That's when we noticed just how much she looks like Quinn did. In the photos below, both babies are 9wks old. And coincidentally both are wearing Winnie the Pooh. When she was born we said that she was the spitting image of Nikolas, I guess in reality all the kids look alike! Look at Quinn's pix and at Kingsley, what do you think?

HAPPY *10th* Birthday Bear!!!

Yep, my baby boy (well the oldest one anyway) turned 10 yesterday. My June Bug. He was due May 30th,but I have always said that he hung on until June 1st because somehow he knew I loved pearls. It's so hard to believe when I see him now that he was once a very frail and sickly baby who we almost lost before his first birthday. Now he's just shy of 5' tall, could eat me under the table (so long as his food doesn't touch! LOL), smart as a whip and so sweet. I just love him to bits. Don't get me wrong, he can be mouthy and irritable,but this guy is Mama's boy regardless of how "uncool" that may seem to some boys and he's not ashamed to say it. Happy Birthday Bear, I love you!