April 20, 2011

Today was one of those days when you wake up (after not sleeping well) and remember that you have to be in a mode of work (because you have a big meeting), even though you know that in a few short hours you will be spending time saying your last goodbyes to a friend who passed on to be with his Lord at the early age of 34.....

Today I attended a funeral like no other I had ever been to. Every funeral, since my dad's I cry no matter who the person is, if I've known them or not, I shed tears because I remember the day that I had to say goodbye to my dad... and that will be a memory that is embedded in my head for the rest of my life.

Today's funeral was for a high school friend, he actually graduated with Paul, but he was a dear friend to me in high school. He coaxed me over and over to attend Young Life, and come to find out he was still coaxing anyone and everyone he could to follow God up until the day he died. I hadn't talked to him in many years, probably since high school, or shortly after that at least, but I will never forget his bold and powerful, crazy and funny, honest and fair, friendly and loving personality. He put a smile on everyone's face and he knew how to be that person that everyone loved. Today, I yet again learned a lesson from him, and though his body is in the earth and I will not be reunited with him until I pass on, his passion for God and the way he lived his life will be a reminder for me to serve the Lord and do right with Him.

Derek with be forever missed by many, but his legacy and his love for life, his love for his family and friends, and his love for his Lord will forever live on through so many people. What an inspiration he was and today's funeral was nothing less than inspirational!

April 4, 2011

Spring has sprung...or at least we're being teased a little here and there. It's got to be here soon enough, so I thought I why not think spring and then maybe it will turn into spring.

Spring brings many things...

1. a "pond" in our backyard

2. rain = mud

3. dog poop in the grass from all winter long

4. wind like you've never heard (because we don't have trees at our house or anywhere near by)

5. sand/dirt in the house

I can't wait to get outside to do the yard work and oh, did I forget to mention buy new shutters (that the wind blew off) and paint them? Yay, I can't wait (can you hear the sarcasm?) Yes, spring is great! Don't you think so?

On a side note. Saturday we had the girls birthday party. After contemplating IF we were going to have one or not, I finally got my act together and decided they deserved one, since we've never really had a big party for them before and Ally gets one every year. They wanted a "princess party" but I have a hard time doing all girly girl parties when half the guests are boys. So instead of a "princess party" we did more a "royalty party." There was dancing at the royal ball, castle cake and ice cream eating on "fine china," castle building with sugar cubes, and a hunt for dragon eggs. It was fun and the girls had a great time! Of course their favorite part was the

presents! Thank you to everyone who came to help celebrate the lives of our four year olds!