Surprise Vacation

Nick took me out of town last week

it was as much a surprise as possible

while still allowing me to pack

Is this a good hint?

Is this better?

We went on a cruise, 

the ship on the left is ours, the Fascination.

We are not smiling about the wait to 

get on the ship, but there were about 

2000 people to process through.

 My favorite thing to do on board, 

sit on the deck in the sun. 

Though we usually sat on the top deck

in the lounge chairs, reading or napping!

 This was our first day out, and I 

wanted to catch the sunset pictures.

I'm sure I took more sunset pics

than anything else. 

The sun going down, shimmering across

the ocean, with nothing else in sight; 

it was awesome indeed.

This is looking down from almost the top floor

but not all the way down to the bottom.

I knew the children would think this was

pretty neat, and it was.

There were two of these, life size elephants,

half in and half out of this wall.

Each evening while we were at dinner,

the stateroom steward turned down the bed,

and made a cute animal from towels.

The first night we had a walrus.

The second night a dog. 

We couldn't have asked for better service at all. 

 Everywhere on the ship it was the same.

We had a great time, 

and I will post the next few days later.

It's too much for one post. 

Caleb's Birthday

Caleb's birthday was April 30th.

Caleb had his friend, Ryan, over. 

He is the one with his mouth opened.

They all drew on t-shirts for starters.

Caleb is all the way to the right.

Levi provided everyone with a sword.

And we thought they'd forget there 

were other gifts, but............

then he opened these books.........

 and set the swords aside for a minute....

and they looked like this!!!!

for a while....................

 Happy Birthday Caleb

one year ago

One year ago I was at the hospital,

not knowing my life would be changed forever.

My heart knew something............

 He was such a good boy.

here we were still in town

wouldn't I love to hold him again

just a few days before

laughing and playing at our beach

he was such a blessing

what I wouldn't give to hear that laugh again

his shirt says "too cool for school"

one fish is swimming the opposite way

one of Paige's favorite's =)

there were signs................

but who'd have known

Silas Boaz, "my love"

"My Little Man"

Ohio visitors

Our friends from Ohio came to visit us

we had a great time, and the children..............

We took them to a park, where they played..............

Paige, Colandra, Josiah, Jewel, Lilly (team 1?)

Hunter and Larky in the slide, Angel is in front.

Larky and Stonewall stick together, adorable.

 

 Mostly they played hide-n-seek,

(half of team 2?)

but they finally started tiring out..............

They are a lot easier to get pictures of when they're tired! : ) 

~ Timothy ~

Caleb and Lilly found a place to rest.

Paige and Summer wouldn't quit taking pics of each other????

*********************************

And every day they played outside in the yard!

Riding bikes was a favorite.

It wasn't quite bike weather in Ohio yet.

 

sword fighting

Angel learned to ride a bike "with 2 wheels" as Stonewall says.

 

 Stonewall learned to ride all his brother's bikes, 

he was being sweet and letting Angel ride his bike.

He couldn't let go of his sword though.

And I thought they might swing on the swing set????????

Little Levi, as we called him, so as not to mix him up with ours, 

was running away to the pond.

 

 These are my two most "monkey" boys,

when I was their age, that was me.

Mom says my friends would come in 

begging her to make me get down, 

but I just remember being up there.

In a tree......reading a book....doing homework.....

The bike with the little bitty tires everyone loves to ride, 

but I don't see how they do it. 

*Paige*

 

 One of my favorite pics of the day, 

Hunter James topping the swing set.

~ Larky ~

My other fav. 

We had a great time with them, and we already miss 'em.

Boaz

This morning something we'd been waiting for was delivered.

We wanted it to be simple, yet we wanted it to be very "Boaz".

I always called Boaz, "my little man".

That is what he will always be.

 This was his favorite shirt and hat. 

He had other hats, (and shirts, really) but he wouldn't wear them.

 Until he saw this hat at the store one day.
I picked it up and tried it on him,
but since it was too big, I put it back. 
He began to pout immediately, but I didn't realize why.
I picked him up and held him, but that wasn't what he wanted.
He took his old hat off, and threw it into the back of the cart.
By now I knew he was mad, but didn't know why.
Finally, I had a bright idea and sent Paige back for the hat.
Boaz immediately put it on and began smiling.
And I bought the hat!  : )

After that he would trade between the two hats. 
He would pick out all of the cars to play with also. 
It must've been the eyes on them that he liked.

Then there was his turtle. 
We went to the Georgia Aquarium when Boaz was nine months old.
Nick got him this turtle and he slept with it ever after.
He turned the turtle upside down and played with the tag.

I love pictures of them sleeping.
They are so sweet.

Boaz was my constant companion for two and a half years.

He was just getting to be independent when he got sick.

After that I lived, to keep him alive.

Having a child so sick puts the rest of your life on hold.

My fight to keep him alive and happy

consumed everything I had.

If you've never been in that situation, 

you can not understand.

I never say I'm tired now. 

Having a large family, schooling them all, 

working in a ministry..............
Now I know that wasn't tired.

Tired has a new definition.
I do not complain of anything I've been through with Boaz.
Many people never have time with their child.
The Lord gave me six glorious months.
Many of those days were wonderful and happy.
I can not thank God enough for being merciful
to me in allowing me the good times I had with my little man.