The Day We Celebrated Honey

I want to tell you about March 1, the day of my mom's Memorial Service.

I woke up that morning around 7:30 am and though "What do people do on days like this?"  I mean, "what's appropriate?"  Honey's funeral wasn't going to start until 2 pm, so I had a lot of time to kill.  

I went to a morning yoga class.  I can't remember if I cried during that class, but I remember taking a pile of tissue in with me and placing my mat at the far end of the room--just in case.

After the class, I went home, and it was oddly empty.  My husband and brother were running errands.  It was a beautiful morning - sunny and just the right temperature to sit outside - so I did.  I threw the ball with my dogs while listening to Praise & Worship music on Pandora.  At one point, some neighbors walked by and started talking with me, and even asked what I had planned for the day.  How do you tell someone that "in a couple of hours, we are celebrating my mom's life"?

All too quickly, the house was busy again with people, and I needed to get ready to go.  I walked out of my bedroom, ready to head to the church, and saw my brother standing in the kitchen looking out into the backyard - reflectively.  I don't think I'll ever forget how he looked.  "I must not cry, I must keep it together" became my mantra.

Flash-forward to 2 pm.  Pastor Joe left my siblings and our spouses in his office as he headed down to the sanctuary to being my mom's Memorial Service.  We didn't want to be in the sanctuary prior to the service beginning- you know, to avoid people, really.  We were going to have Praise & Worship first, so we decided to sneak in during the first song.  It was Phil Wickham's "This is Amazing Grace".  Then we sang "Shout Unto God" and ended with "I am all He says I am".  During this time, I let myself cry as I sang with all my heart.  

During the Eulogies, I was able to stand up and speak about my mom.  I didn't cry, so I was very proud of myself.

Oh - did I mention that my mom planned her own memorial service - down to every detail (including the songs we sang)?  Yes, she did.  She even recorded a video a week before she passed away that she wanted played during the service.  I'm pretty sure the whole church cried as it played.  After the video was show, there was an alter call, and 13 people were saved.

I want to share the video with you, so you can see how faithful my mom was, even in her final days.

      

My mom wanted to be "famous for God" and she wanted to share God's love with as many people as she could, so I find it fitting that even after her passing, she was leading people to Christ.  What an incredible legacy she left for me and my siblings.    

After the service and after going to dinner with my in-laws, I went to bed earlier than usual.  I turned on the fan I keep next to my bed, turned out the lights, and finally allowed myself to cry my eyes out as I drifted to sleep.   

Surprise

Paul and I are so excited to share with you that we are expecting a baby boy this August!

As of today, I am 21 weeks pregnant, and I feel great...minus the sore lower back and stuffy nose.  I actually can't believe I'm so far along.  Where has the time gone?

Yes, my mom did know I was pregnant.  She went to my very first doctor's appointment with me and got to hear the heartbeat.  A few days before she died, she said something about having grandsons....so I figured then that she was speaking prophetically and that I was having a boy.  I wasn't shocked in the least bit when we popped the balloon and the blue confetti revealed what my mom had already told me!

We are over the moon excited and can't wait to start this new chapter in our lives!

Happy New Year

It's been a while, hasn't it?

I stopped blogging consistently last year because I felt like all I talked about were sad things happening in my life.  Or if I wasn't talking about those things, I felt guilty that I was thinking about other things.

As a quick update, my mom has moved in with us permanently.  Over the holidays, we moved her out of the house she's lived in for 15+ years, and now she is with us full time becasue she could no longer live alone.  This is sad, because she's only 52, but it's also wonderful because we get to see her every day and I know she's being taken care of.

The Mr. and I are continuing on with all the random projects we've got going on.  In 2013, we completed our Master Bath Remodel (pictures to come) and bought the cutest little house that we were able to rent out only 15 days after closing.  (We like to call it "Starting our Empire".) The tenant even signed a 2 year contract!

And today, in fact, we are having the large cottonwood tree in our front yard cut down.  Branches have been dropping from it for the past year, and an Arborist told us it was dying, so the Mr. wanted to make sure the tree didn't fall on our house.  Perhaps I'll post pictures of that too.....maybe!

So, while we struggle with the sad things in life, I am reminded of all that we have to be happy about.  I can't wait to share more happy news to come!

Tippi, of Africa

I recently came across this story of a little girl, Tippi, who grew up in the African desert.  Her parents are French photographers who captured images of her growing up surrounded by some pretty amazing animals. 

In the book her parents published, Tippi of Africa, with images from her childhood, Tippi said that because she rarely saw other children, the animals became her friends. 

Read more about her story here!

Wouldn't it be so amazing to have grown up like Tippi?  It's hard to fathom what her imagination is like!  I'd be so interested to meet her today to hear about her childhood firsthand!