Bill the story teller!

When I found this picture I had to laugh! The stories that Bill would tell were delightful and captivating! The kids remember them to this day. He told the story of how our lab named Champ saved the kids from a bear attack and got clawed and that was how he got his scar! In actuality, he got Parvo and needed surgery.

A favorite prayer with the kids at night was a funny one!

"Now I lay me down to sleep,

with my Ford Bronco in the street.

If I should die before I wake,

please dear Lord put on the brake!"

He was funny and silly! I can't imagine the stories he would've told the grandkids!

It's Patrick's turn!

Have I ever told you how sweet Patrick was? (I HATE to say...... was!) These pictures are evidence of what a sweet spirit he had. I hardly ever had to discipline Patrick because he was pretty compliant. When he was young he was easy.....then he grew up and got a mind of his own! His sweet spirit never left though, God gave him that! Patrick was kind to his brothers and kind to others. One of the last things that I remember that he did was to deliver breakfast burritos to the firemen in Yorba Linda who were fighting the terrible fires we experienced last year!

Bill was such a character!

I've been going through photos looking for good ones for the upcoming wedding and OMG, I came across this hilarious picture of Bill and boy do the memories start to flood in! We were going on vacation with our family friends and Bill decided that he would play a joke on them and act like a nerdy tourist that they would be embarrassed to be with. Yep.....he was right they AND all of us couldn't stop laughing! I've held on to those shorts all of this time Why? To laugh!

Already missed so many sunsets!

As the sun rises and sets without Bill and Patrick here to share it I can't help but think of the things that they've missed as time marches on!

They missed my Birthday

They missed the Presidential Election

They missed Valentine's Day

They missed the birth of darling Reese

They missed St. Patrick's Day

They missed Colin give a testimony to the Pepperdine student body

They missed Sean reporting to A ball in Woodbridge, Virginia

They missed the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring

They missed Sean and Colin's Birthday

They missed Colin's amazing season at Pepperdine

They missed Reese smile for the first time

They missed the season of The Bachelor

For goodness sake they missed Easter!

Then they missed Mother's Day too!

They've missed this terrible economy

They missed the trip to see Sean play ball and Father's Day at the same time

They missed the College World Series

They missed the end of Spring and beginning of Summer

They missed Will hitting a baseball off a tee

They missed 4th of July fireworks

They missed Reese roll over

They missed Sean being called up to AA in Harrisburg

They missed the death of Michael Jackson!

They don't know that Will calls Colin, Uncle eeeeeeee

They missed a trip to Havasu in 120 degree weather

They missed the exciting season of The Bachelorette

They've missed all of the progress at the Ranch in Steamboat

They missed Erynn's Birthday

They missed my perfectly divine sleepover with Will

Unfortunately they'll miss alot more.........

Last Year

I love this picture and desperately want to go back to that moment when all was good with the world and my life! The agony in my soul just won't go away..........where is the sense of it all? If God loves me (and I know that He does) why would He let this happen? If God wants to heal my broken heart why would He let it be broken in the first place? The power of God and the compassion of God seem to be in direct conflict with each other. As I draw closer to Him looking for the answer, I realize that I might not ever really know. That is perplexing too!