A gift from mom ...

Over two years ago an incredible individual entered our family. At the time life was pretty difficult for all of us. It had been just months since mom had passed away and the horrible aching emotions experienced with loss were surfacing in all of us. Making matters worse for me I was hospitalized for 7 weeks with preterm labor and life just felt as if it was falling apart. I remember spending hours crying in the hospital. I was scared for Makenna, missed Justin and Dwight, ached for my mom and felt overwhelmed with my dad’s physical and emotional ups and downs. Understandably my dad experienced every emotion possible after my mom died. It was the uncertainty of which emotion would surface when … that was hurting us all and driving a wedge between us. It was too stressful on me to try and talk dad through his emotions so I turned my focus to prayer. I prayed that God would lead him in a direction that he would find peace with the pieces that he was left with after mom’s death. Deep down we all knew mom was dying it was just easier to focus on mom’s comfort than to sort/talk/organize/arrange anything that didn’t seem important at the time. In return … I now can honestly say after mom died dad really did have a mess on his hands.

My dad was alone and struggling … it was a blessing that he found the strength to get involved with some local grief/widowed groups. Within weeks things began to change for him. He seemed much happier, healthier and was eagerly getting involved with some activities.

I remember so clearly this Sunday in September 2006…. dad had told me he would stop by the hospital to see me after church. I was a little shocked when dad walked into my hospital room with his “new friend Bobbye”. I didn’t know what to think. Here in front of me stood a beautiful woman… physically resembled my mom…dressed in an outfit that mom would have worn … and a disposition that was identical to my mom’s.

She was so warm and friendly. I couldn’t help but like her. As soon as they left I immediately called my sisters. It seemed weird … almost like we were betraying mom but all 3 of us had the same reaction. We were excited for dad.

Lori knew this from the beginning. It just took me a while to fully understand … Bobbye was a gift from mom. Mom loved us all so much she would have never wanted my dad to be alone or us girls to feel burdened and overwhelmed with dads emotional struggles.

It’s been 2 ½ years now since our prayers were answered. Bobbye really has been a blessing to our family. She is an amazing, caring and loving individual. Justin and Makenna adore her. She has been a wonderful “grandma” figure to them yet has never tried to replace the special feelings and memories Justin has of his “Grandma H.”

I have to sit back in awe and wonder how my dad got so lucky to share his life with 2 amazing women … my mother and Bobbye!

I miss my mom so much but I know heaven doesn’t have an exit and she won’t be coming back … since I can’t have mom here on earth to share our lives with … I can say with my heart I am so grateful that the answer to my prayers was Bobbye.

~ Bobbye, Justin, Makenna and Dad ... Easter 2009 ~

~ Bobbye and Dad ... November 2007 ~

Trick My Truck ...

Oh mercy she is DONE!! Our newest addition to our family finally started making money. Dwight spent the last 3 months making her shine. That is one thing about Dwight he likes his vehicles nice and goes over and above to make them “look good”. Lucky for us we have great guys that drive for us and keep the trucks washed and polished. Too bad the trucking business doesn’t follow the theory … the better you look the more money you make! It’s all about pride … and that Dwight should be full of!

EGGtravagant Madness …

Since Justin missed out on our playgroup Egg Hunt I decided to brave the madness and took the kids to the Egg Hunt at Library Park this morning. Since Dwight is still franticly working to get the black truck ready to start the season … I was on my own for this one.

They roped off several areas of the park and divide the “hunting” into age groups. UH … small issue for me … Makenna was in one area (ages 0-3) and Justin was in another area (ages 4-6). Lucky for us they staggered the start times.

Having had some practice Makenna was a girl on the run when they said “GO”. It didn’t take long for her to gather up all the eggs she could find.

With a basket full of eggs we quickly made our way over to the area designated for Justin’s age group. Moments later he was filling his basket with eggs.

It was a wild and crazy 15 minutes … that’s as long as it took for 2 excited kids to hunt, open and eat some candy.

Hunting 4 Eggs ...

This morning while Justin was at Kindergarten we had a playgroup Easter egg hunt at our house for Makenna and her friends. The weather was suppose to be crummy today but surprisingly it was nice enough to have our Egg Hunt outside. Dwight and Jackson (who joined us because he is in afternoon Kindergarten) hide the eggs outside. Then we let Makenna, Madalee, Jack and Carli outside to gather up all the eggs. Presley and Memphis watched closely … next year when they are 1 they will know exactly what to do!

~ The hunt is on ~

~ Makenna gathering Eggs ~

~ Madelee Stopping to see what is inside her egg ~

~ Jack counting his eggs ~

~ Carli hunting eggs ~

~ Makenna decided to ditch the basket and just collect the eggs ~

~ Showing off their Loot ~

Once the hunt was over and their baskets were full … Grandpa Stan brought some baby bunnies over for the kids to pet. It turned out to be a great fun filled morning!

~ Petting the bunnies ~

~ Presley petting the bunny ~

~ Makenna ~