What is this!

I can;t believe how time has flown by. I started this idea to blog as a way to follow my father's very wise advice. Every time I see him he asks if I have written any of this down. He is a big journal person and thank god he aklways has been. WE look back at all the years of memories from Ocean City, MD trips we have taklen as a family and realized just how special those memories are....when they are written down!

I am writing this blog to remember. Remember everything. And I am writing it to you three. Kaylee, Aidan, and Colin. You guys are so much more than I could ever imagine. You know how I feel abotu god in our lives working constantly to bring us closer to his way of living (which COULD NOT be further from where this world is asking you to go with your lives) and I was challenged the other day as to why I would have such childish thoughts abotu something "that just doesn't exist." I am still steaming from that comment and it's thoughtlessness, but I look at you and a thousand other things and feel pinned down by the wieght of just how evident god is all around us and in you. I see him all over our marraige and ever since the day I was born but more specifically now, in you guys. I wonder how it is at all possible for someone to dismiss so MUCH wonder in the world and grand design, and to call it just a clouded hope for something better that doesn't even exist. But life is full of that and you will always be challenged to make our own decisions based on real, serious, and honest dissection of this world. When your heart speaks and you listen, you will for sure know the involvement god wants in your life.

This was not the purpose of writing anything tonite. My mind wandered, and it does alot. I saw this movie where a man thought he might pass away and decided to make a video to his children. He talked about all kinds of things, and it was a good thing he did because he passed the next day in a freak plane crash. They showed that in church (Big Church). Which, by the way, just became your new childrens building becasue the adults built a new one and by the time you read this there may be another one there too. I thought of that man because I truyly do try to live my life in a way that would be acceptable if I dies tomorrow. I am so far from perfect, but I am trying and that is truly the biggest difference you will see in people around the world. Those that are trying and those that aren't. I wanted to update you on everything that hasbeen happening. Wow, since this is the second blog and you are all 6, 4 and 2, I have a long way to go. Lets start recently and work our way back.

Kaylee you just turned 6 and we had a Camp Kaylee party. You had a huge camping theme where we used our pop up camper, and mom-mom did most of the planning for it becasue she loves to do that stuff. I like to be told what the plan is and then build it accordingly. Colin is our most challenging child. He has night terrors and has a really hard time sleeping without us. Mom works 3- 12 hour shifts every week and enjoys snuggling with him at night when he needs us. I don;t liek to have him in our bed becasue it makes him get used to it and habits get VERY hard to break when children are allowed to do what they want, when they want. There is no sleep around this house. There hasn't been good sleep since you were born, but that is what comes with children, and you bless us with so many more wonderful things that it becomes normal and really not a big deal. One thing I loook at all the time is a quote that says, "what your upset about...will it matter in five or twenty five years?-if that answer is no, stop worrying." Sleep wont matter, especially when we are here alone worried about where you all are that night when you are gone and older. Aidan is a showman. hwe loves to entertain by telling jokes. Music and dance usually accompany the lineup. We just got a piano and I hope to take lessons with Kaylee. Summer 2009 is very busy. I do Fire Dept. training as an asst. engineer mondays, kate works three mixed days, we have bible study thursdays, where we also go out and serve the community in a number of ways, then we go away alot for trips to spend time with each other or friends and family. We feel like we are never home together as a family. Aidan had his first year of preschool two days a week, Colin and I had one on one time and I loved it! Kaylee had her first year of 1/2 day kindergarten with mrs. Mckenna and loved it! Kaylee just lost a tooth (1st one) about a month and a half ago. Kaylee loved her first year of cirl scouts (Daisy). Kaylee has just learned to read a couple of months before school ended and it is AWESOME! Julia turned one and Jill had a year without her mom. I think about her all the time. That is so hard, but she is dealing with it well. And of coursem we celebrated Mike and Mo having Mae. More to come!