Celebrating Life

I went to two funerals this past week and celebrated the lives of two very special people.  

The first one was for my sweet 95-year-old great-aunt Sister Petrine, my Grandma's sister.  She was a kind, soft spoken, funny, thoughtful person who was always praying for everyone and any need she knew of.  She will be missed.  It still feels strange knowing I'll never see her again on this earth.  I'm most sad for my Grandma as they were very close.  This is a picture of the two of them at my wedding in 2006.

The second funeral was for my long-time friends' beautiful, precious little 3-year-old son Isaac.  There are really no words adequate for this.  My heart is broken for my friends Ryan and Barbara.  I'm so thankful I got to meet Isaac.  Here we are on a play date at the park just two and a half weeks before he passed away.  Isaac is in the blue wheelchair and his twin brother Caleb is in the green.  His funeral was beautiful, hard, powerful, heart breaking, inspiring...  I truly felt the Holy Spirit's presence there.  It is amazing how God used and continues to use this little child with an undiagnosed neuromuscular disorder to draw others to know Him and to go deeper in their faith.  I'm so thankful for the hope we have in Jesus and to know his parents and family will get to hold him again one day, whole and free from any pain or tears.  In the mean time, please join me in praying that God would give Isaac's family comfort and peace that could only come from Him and that He would carry them through.  Thank you.

We never take the time or money to ride the horsey at the grocery store but we did this day. Worth it.

my little fishies at the pool

Last Thursday I had to wake sleeping beauty (and her brother) so my dear friend Mary could watch the kids while my brother Jordan and I drove to Rochester, MN for Sister Petrine's funeral.

Even though we were sad to be going to our great-aunt's funeral, it was so nice to spend the day (and a good 7 hours in the car) with my brother Jordan.  Love him.

Here we are after the funeral with my Grandma's other sister and her husband, Roberta and Jim.

Last Friday night we had a great time grilling and hanging out at the David's with Keira and Parker.

~Clara, Parker, Brecken, Davey & Riggs~

Last Saturday we went fishing at the Outdoor Campus and caught lots of fish. :)  This was Clara and David's first time catching fish.  We took them fishing last summer while camping but didn't get any bites.

This is a great story.  Clara and Michael caught a fish (see the tiny fish next to the pole by Michael's forearm), and as they were reeling him in it got a lot harder to reel.  A staffer grabbed a net and as Michael pulled the fish out of the water this big bass fell off into the net and that tiny fish was on the hook.  The bass tried eating the tiny fish after he was already caught!  Crazy!

I couldn't love being this boy's mama any more if I tried.

He wanted to throw the fish back all by himself. :)

my sweet little girl and her beloved Ducky

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Clara and Davey went to play camp while I attended the Parent Practicum for Classical Conversations.  I'm so glad I went and I learned so much, but my favorite part was peeking in on my kids during my breaks and seeing how much fun they were having.  On Wednesday morning I told Clara we were going again and she said, "I'm so excited!"

This cracked me up.  Clara fast asleep while her class went on with the day.

She looks so big.

Of course my adventurous one was being adventurous.  The play camp staff were phenomenal.  So impressive.

Wednesday night we met the Davids and the Murrays at the Teapot Days kick-off one of the local churches was hosting.  The kids got to checkout a firetruck and a police car while we waited in line for food.

I could see these two becoming firemen one day.  But no thanks, that would be too much for this mama's heart.

Besties Amelia and Clara were of course twinning in their pink Target tops. :)