Monday, February 22, 2016

Farm Family Reunion 2016

Next to E. Beach, this is my most fav spot on earth.


It holds lots of memories for my family and me.


It is a place to relax...


to play...





to reconnect...




to unplug...




and to make more memories!





It is a place of firsts...


and seconds...


and thirds...


*aw shucks - hehe*

We don't get there as often as we would like to but Saturday was one of those very special days when it just all seemed to come together and even though it is February...


the weather was PERFECT...


the farm was beautiful, thanks to my amazing brother and his awesome family...


and the time spent was reminiscent of many other times past...


just minus a few beloved ones.



Thank you Lord for such a beautiful day...


for such a beautiful time of remembering and of new memory making.

Friday, February 19, 2016

Short but Sweet

We only had her for a short period of time...


but sweet Pepper left her "mark"...


puppy teeth are sharp!

*grin*

This cute little pup was only 5 pounds when we took her on as a foster...


but she quickly grew in size as well as in our hearts.


Pepper's time with us was brief...


shorter than any of our other fosters...


but she snuggled her way in each of our hearts...


and as hard as her departure was, it seemed to serve a purpose, another step toward healing, only not for Pepper but for our sweet Maggie.


I don't share much here about our Maggie's past as it is her story to tell...

but it is a heartbreaking story and one that she has protected herself from, for a very long time...

and as much as sweet Pepper seemed to reach Maggie, it was her departure to her furever home that really seemed to help crumble some of Maggie's walls...


and while that was incredibly hard on both of us...

the Lord gave me the clarity to see the progress, see the raw emotion and see the healing.

As I told my precious Maggie...

"Having to say good-bye is hard and I am very sad because of all of the hard good-bye's you have had in your life."

She cried and I cried and the Lord continues to heal.

Sweet Pepper, on the other hand, is headed to an incredible furever home with no kids and no other dogs...

Ahhhhhhhhh......

Oops, sorry, got lost in the "no kids and no dogs" moment.

*wink*

I see absolutely no spoiling in her future!


Ha!

Dear sweet Pepper, you are loved and you are missed but you are going to have a wonderful life with your new family and as for us...

sadly, there are so, so many other "Peppers" out there who are dying (literally - sigh) to have their chance at a furever home too...

Lord the world is broken but You take the broken and make it beautiful. 


Thank you for providing us those glimpses of "beautiful".

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

He Made It!!!

Charlie actually made it to 16!!!


I know...


There were times that we wondered...

as there have been a few bumps and bruises along the way...


sigh...


There were times that we secretly wished for a full body helmet...


seriously...


*grin*

but, thankfully, now our wonderful, sweet, fun little boy...


has turned into a wonderful, sweet and fun big boy...


who drives...  GULP!


and dates...  EEK!


Thank goodness she is so awesome and doesn't like sky diving either...

cause...

for his birthday, Charlie wanted to go sky diving!

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Um, we painted his room for him instead...


as we have not yet purchased that full body helmet!

*wink*

Oh my precious Charlie, how I love the way you make others happy without even trying...

the way your enthusiasm is contagious but you never take yourself too seriously...

 the way your impish little 3 year old grin has never left you...

the way you want to be a veterinarian - family/volume discount - riiiiiight...


how I love the way you complain about the noise and the craziness - when you are the cause of most of it!

Bwhahaha

and oh how I love the way you love... faithfully, playfully and loyally.


We get two more years with you at home before unleashing you on the rest of the world...

doesn't seem like nearly enough time...

for me...

or for the rest of the world...

*wink*

Precious Charlie, you are a wonderful combination of coolness, goofiness, sweetness and just the right amount of "chill"!

I love watching as the Lord awakens your awareness of the way in which He can work within you and His perfect plans for you...

which do not include sky diving...

I hope!

We are so proud of you wonderful Charlie


Happy 16th!