Planes, Kiddos & Automobiles

We leave in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday for our big trip back east to visit my family and do some sightseeing. I'm taking a much-needed breather after running (driving) back and forth ALL day long today doing errands and chauffering kids. Starting at around 1pm it was Fred Meyer and back, immediately followed by Molly's violin lesson and back, immediately followed by a bunch of errands and back, immediately followed by Daniel and Nicholas' Youth Mediation meeting downtown and back. Then I got about an hour at home to make dinner before I went back downtown and picked them up. Poor little Samantha screamed in her carseat over and over to the point where she was hoarse and emitting the high-pitched cry that makes everyone in the car collectively say, "Ooooohhhh, poor Sam!" She is now sleeping peacefully in her crib, no doubt still involuntarily sniffling from her sad day of neglect.
Back to the trip...I've spent all week making lists, running errands and getting the house in order since we have a housesitter coming to stay with Abby. Tomorrow our big group of friends comes over for lunch (no, I'm not cooking) so that we can all get together before we leave. I wanted them to come here so I would be forced to clean the house and not wait until the last minute when I needed to be packing. So, tomorrow we'll visit and relax a little bit after doing the frenzied cleaning that we always do before anyone comes over. Then tomorrow night we'll hopefully mow the lawn and weed whack and that leaves all day Friday for packing and those last-minute details. Assuming we all survive the plane rides and the 12 hour car ride,
I'll try to blog while we're gone and post some pics of our vacation fun as it happens. Pray for us!!

Magic Piscoya October 6, 1995- May 19, 2009

Our beloved dog, Magic, has to be put to sleep today. It's a sad day for all of us. The 4 older kids have all grown up with her and Ethan and Samantha will not even remember her. Abby, her puppy who never left the nest, will miss her terribly, I'm sure. We console ourselves by thinking how happy she will be in the afterlife since we believe that God would never leave our pets out of heaven. We imagine her romping joyfully with other dogs and hunting to her heart's content, eating popcorn and apples, cheese and peanut butter and whatever else she can find! If there are garbage bags in heaven, I'm sure she'll find them and get into them too. There are no gates, no closed doors, no leashes, no baths, no pain.

Rest in peace, Magic. We'll miss you.

My One and Only on our 15th Wedding Anniversary (Bridget)

Please indulge me as I wax mushy on the subject of my sweet husband today. This is our 15th anniversary and I love him more now than I did on the day we married. I still remember that day (duh, who doesn't remember their wedding day?) :) I didn't sleep much the night before. I went down to breakfast and could only get a few sips of coffee and a bite of a muffin down. I was SO nervous. It felt so right to stand there next to Lonny in front of the altar in the church I attended as a child. I received all the sacraments in that very church - baptism, confession, first communion, confirmation and finally, matrimony. The wedding was beautiful and I still think it was so nice that we had friends from all the stages of our lives there to witness our marriage. The weather was sunny with a cool breeze - much warmer than it had been the day before. Anyway, that was the day we became "one" and though it hasn't always been easy, we have remained "one" all these years.
Marriage is tough - there are no two ways about it. But we grow every time we make it through a rough patch. We have to try not to let life get in the way of caring for each other because if we stop showing each other how much we care in little ways throughout the day, we end up drifting apart and no longer acting as one.
I hardly ever say it but I notice the little things Lonny does for me and they make a HUGE difference in my day and in my life. I notice that when I heave an exhausted sigh in the wee hours of the morning when I've fed Samantha but she just won't go back to sleep, my husband's feet find mine as if to say, "I'm here with you." I notice when he sees that my cell phone needs charging and puts it on the charger for me. I notice when he offers to go to the store for me when I've run out of some ingredient that I need for dinner. I notice when he leaves work early to chauffeur the kids to their activities. I notice that he gets up in the morning on the weekends with Ethan and lets me sleep in. I notice when he brings me coffee on those days. I notice all the things he does around the house. He truly is "my handyman." I notice the ways that he shows the kids how much he loves them and that makes me feel loved too.
I hope that my one and only notices the little things I do for him and that he feels loved. Because I love him with all my heart.