Happy Birthday, Aunt Rach!

Today is my Aunt Rachael's birthday, and I thought I'd celebrate it here on my blog with this adorable picture, circa Christmas 1969. Someone was very proud of her Red Cross nurse's uniform!

Happy belated birthday, Aunt K!

My Aunt Karen's birthday was earlier this month. I thought I would make up for the
belatedness of this wish with a very cute (and funny) picture of her.

It has been said my sister Libby resembles Karen a lot and Caroline
has also been likened to her. I can definitely see it in this picture. What a sweet face!

We love you berry much, Aunt Karen!

Happy Birthday, Ama!

Today is my mom's birthday. Isn't this a sweet picture?


And I love this not-as-sweet picture. I can't believe how much she looks like my sister Addy in this one. It's like the exact same face, except I doubt Addy would be giving anyone this look. :)













To everyone else who has had a birthday and not received a birthday post from us, well, I am just now thinking of it! Very much love to you all anyway! :)

Remembering Lindsey

Today marks one year since Caroline's special friend Lindsey Boehm went to Heaven to be with Jesus. She died unexpectedly last year on Tuesday, November 7, at the age of 5.

We had just met her family earlier that Spring when they began coming to our church. Caroline and the two girls (Lindsey's younger sister Cadence was three at the time) were instant friends. And Jeff, Jason, Laura, and I bonded at about the same rate. It was one of those situations where you become friends so quickly you can't believe you haven't known each other for years already.

When Lindsey died just six short months later, we were so thankful that we had met her when we did. I often wish that it had been even sooner and that I had a whole five-year's-worth of memories to draw from.

Lindsey was one of those people who was so full of life you can't quite grasp the concept of her losing it. But I have to remind myself that she really didn't--she just passed from this one to the next, and she is now enjoying eternal life with her Saviour.

Lindsey's mom has a blog and you can visit it at www.boehmgirls.blogspot.com. To read her testimony of God's goodness and love, and to see Lindsey's amazing funeral program, start at the November 2006 archives.

Here are some pictures from our "Lindsey Day" here in Texas today. We wrote some notes and took them to the local party store where we had them put inside helium balloons. We went to the park and let the balloons go up to Heaven where Lindsey can get our letters.

Caroline really wanted to send the movie 12 Dancing Princeses to Heaven, but we were afraid the balloon wouldn't float with that in it! :) She said she would pray to Lindsey and ask her if she wanted to see that movie. When I explained to her that we don't pray to Lindsey, but only to God, she said, "Then I will ask God to tell [ask] her, 'Lindsey, do you want to watch 12 Dancing Princesses?'"

Writing to Lindsey . . .
Getting ready to send the balloons . . .

Letting go . . .

On their way to Heaven . . .

Jason, Laura, and Cadence and all of your special family and friends-
we love you and are thinking of you!

To see some more pictures, try this link. It's from my Facebook account--I hope it works!

Thanks for the Emails!

They've been a big hit. You should see Caroline's fingers move over the keys--she likes to type like I do, she says. I'm sorry we haven't responded to everyone yet--we've been having internet difficulties. But hopefully we're all set now and Caroline and I can get busy with our reply "mechages."

When we check her email I let her click on as many things as I can, in proportion to the amount of patience I have at that moment. She loves to move the mouse around. I read her each message and show her any pictures or attachments, and then we type out our response together. I ask her what she wants to say and also make note of what she said or how she reacted as we were reading the message.

And then for a special treat, I let her loose on the keyboard. What ends up on the screen is totally unintellible, but she sure does it with flair. I'll have to videotape her typing sometime. You can tell she thinks she is really hot stuff.

So keep the emails coming and we'll get back to you in a more timely manner now. Starting today . . .