This month has been quite eye-opening to the many phases of life. As I posted before, our dear friend Ed Novak died the Saturday before Easter week. The Funeral was on Thursday, I hear that it is Good Thursday, and it was such an interesting and movng experience to be a funeral so close to Easter. To think about death and rebirth and the gift of the Atonement was really humbling. We got to finally meet our darling new niece who, at the funeral, was only one month old. Seeing a newborn reminds one of the miracle and majesty of life. SHe is truly a little angel and we are glad to have her in our family. She was a great comfort to Ed's wife Arlene after the burial too.
The funeral itself was beautiful. They attended Catholic Services regualrly and their home church is the airy, open, beautiful building with lots of stained glass and stone. one thing I particularly loved was that hanging behind the front altar, was a gorgeous bronze statute of the risen Christ, not the Crucifix of the dying CHrist that I am used to at Catholic Churches. It really helped me to focus on Ed being alive and vibrant and with his family again. His family loved him so much. he was a charming, funny, content man and although we didn't have that much time together (11 years), he will be sorely missed when he is supposed to be there!!!
Another goodbye was one that should have been so jarring but was. My sweet "aunt" Lucy died the day before Easter. she would have turned 96 in April, so death is expected when you get to that age, but her loss saddend me so much. She was this beautiful tine woman who had a heart of gold. She is such a hero to me! she was a "rosie" during WWII and the picture of this sweet tiny woman in a jumpsuit lugging sheets of metal around just blows me away! She always had her makeup on in the morning before she came out to cook breakfast- she was always a lady. She was devoted to the ones she loved and she had seen so much in her life! She went to nursing school with my grandmother and was related to us as a double first cousin- sisters of one family married brothers of another. She was buried next to her sweet Joe, a man who I still miss to this day, in a military cemetary in San Antonio Texas. My mother sent me a picture of the casket and even it was dainty, feminine and beautiful just like she was.
Our lives are better from knowing these wonderful people and their loss is a loss to the world at large. I am so thankful for the ressurrection and the knowledge that we will be with those we love again and that I can continue to learn and grow from both Lucy and Ed's examples that they set in this lifetime. I love you both.
I love that GIbson has started to play with his creative toys a little more- this morning he woke me up and told me he had built a Manta Ray. He was very proud so i had to take a picture! Of course he KNEW what to make in order to make me smile! I miss my mantas from Hawaii!!
The final segment we taped will air on Mnday- the segments are the dancing with the stars woman and the kitchen makeover. Who'da thunk it would take this long to air it??!!
I know that you all deserve pictures of all of the amazing things that have been going on: Gibson's first Sleepover, Easter Egg Hunts, The Franklin Insititute and much more, but I PROMISE I will update all of that by Sunday! But I wanted to make you all aware of a new feature I am trying out- an email subsription that lets you know if I update so you don't have to keep checking in (although you are perfectly welcome to do that as well!) Just trying to make this easier on YOU! (the icon should have popped up on the right hand side of the screen here!)
Love you all!
I have had a friend, Carlie, helping me out a little this week. One thing we did was buy furniture for Delaney! she is officially a big girl and now has a dresser and bed to prove it. Carlie and another friend Jane came over Friday and helped me arrange, clean and design Laney's room before the furniture came. Here are the kids trying them out!
She also had blueberries and Peaches for dessert which are two fo teh few fruits mentioned in VeggieTales.
( the guy at the store said he is a certified diver and this game got him through the winter!!) I can't wait to see Gibson when we have it hooked up!!!
think agian. I had been stalking this and two other stores for over three weeks, had a cell phone alert system, and had talked to many a "slightly-post-pubescent-scruffy-bearded-and-earring-ed-video-geek" before I ran into this store with my five year old (running because the UPS man was outside and I thought I might have missed the delievery) only to be the SECOND person in line and one of 6 to get the Wii, when there were 8 people in line, and four phone calls that came in the 15 minutes I was there!!! BTW, this "find" was an answer to prayer becasue I found out that Walmart has them in stock, but was stock piling them in the back to only sell on Sunday after they come out in the sales flyers. SEVERALstores told me that this is common practice, becasue if you don't have what is advertised in the flyer you get in trouble. I had two sales people tell me that if you don't shop on Sunday, you won't get one. I pretty much said (in a very respectful prayer) that I had promised not to shop on SUnday, so Please help me find a Wii before then!! Needless to say, everyone ws making fun of me for this (Iparticulary liked the comment of- Yah, missie, getting you a wii is right up there on GOd's priority list- you know, world peace, ending world hunger, getting Malissa a wii....) and many thought I was stupid for not jsut going on Sudnay mornign anyway, but I got one and didn't have to break the Sabbath! (in that way anyway- in other ways, my attitude on Sundays STINKS!!!!!)
A close family Friend passed away last night- Ed Novak, next door neighboor to Derick for most of his life, died from lung cancer. We spent many Thanksgivings with their family, and attended the weddings of two of their three children. The youngest is scheduled to get married next month. We are so saddend by this- he was in his early to mid 60's and other wise in perfect health. He hadn't smoked in about 35 years and only smoked a while in college. He was diagnosed in Late October. Please pray for his family had this sad time.
Also, earlier on Friday, we found out that Derick's 94 year old Grandmother was rushed to the hospital. the details are sporadic (translated through a husband...) but aparently it has something to do with her heart. please keep her in your prayers as well.
