SHE'S BACK!!

Our beautiful girl and her beautiful babies are back!  My heart feels whole again.  Selfishly, I am relieved things didn’t work in Texas.  Even though I purely prayed her life would turn around and she would be happy in TX, I was so excited she came back.  Obviously, I was not happy she was so unhappy.  We talked every few weeks while she was down there.  I would have talked to her more, but in the beginning I was thoughtless, guarding my heart from any more pain.  Finally, I woke up and realized she still needed my support.  BUT, I also didn’t want to hinder her repairing her relationship with her adoptive parents by talking to her all the time and inserting myself in the ‘mom role’. 

Things went from okay to bad in the nine months they lived down there.  Finally they decided to come back to Ohio where they had a lot more support than 2 family members they barely spoke to.

While we waited for them to come back to OH, we offered Whitney & the kids our extra bedroom.  I was not ok with her b/f staying at the house, since Cai & Bry are still young.  We set up the spare room with a bed, crib, dresser & tv.  We also put a toddler bed in Bry’s room for Lenyx. 

The day they got here was one of the happiest since they left last April.

Now, we are learning how living with another adult and two little kids is different.  We are all used to our own way of living but we are adjusting.  Seeing their faces everyday makes me smile.  Hopefully we will figure it all out and get Whit on her own feet, in her own place within the next few months.  Until then, I am going to bask in the joy of having all my littles, Dennis & I together!

In Memory of Gene

A few years ago, my cousin Andrea shared that her husband was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.  He fought long and hard and this past week, passed away.

This is the first time I ever had to witness someone my age bury their spouse.  It was eye opening and heartbreaking. 

As we sat at the showing the night before the funeral, I could feel the love & support from all of the family and friends that were crowded (and I mean crowded - it was wall to wall people) into the building.  Andrea and their boys greeted each visitor with a hug and smile.  They laughed and cried as they shared stories.  I could see how exhausted they were, but they kept going, never not welcoming another person in with a hug. 

I wish there was a cure for cancer...I wish we would quit losing people to cancer.  I pray for a cure, in my lifetime, where I can see all those that are sick be healed. 

Please keep my cousin and their 3 sons in your thoughts and prayers as she learns to live her life without her best friend.

Cancer, Cancer, Cancer…

When I wrote the F*CK Cancer post two years ago, I thought that was it…  Enough of my family had been affected that we should be done!  No more!  Then my cousins husband was dx with stage 4 colon cancer.  They have 3 sons under 21.

A month ago my mom was dx with thyroid cancer.  

A few weeks ago, one of my oldest & best friends was told her 12 year old son has osteosarcoma 

Seriously.  FUCK CANCER.

 

 

Prayers for my family and friends are most welcome and appreciated.  Prayers for their strength during treatments, for their faith to never waiver, and for a cure. 

African Safari

I have always wanted to go to the African Safari in PC.  They happened to be running a special for their season opening day - $5 a car load!  I hurried and bought a ticket, excited to finally go.

Since it was the end of February, the only portion of the park open was the drive through.  We bought some snacks to give the animals and headed through the park. 

It was INSANE.  They come up to you and take the carrots out of your hand, you hold the cup of feed out the window for the animals to eat out of and they spill it everywhere.  One animal took off with the whole cup!  Dennis was pissed.  I was cracking up.

The girls thought it was neat, until a few animals stuck their heads in the window.  Then they started freaking out & huddled together in the middle of the backseat, I laughed at them…until we got to the buffalo.  Then I tried to climb in the backseat with them!  Haha. Like for real – those things were as big as Dennis’ car!! 

Anyway, by the time we actually got done, I realized I had been holding my breath.  It was a bit nerve wracking having these ginormous animals crowded around your car for treats. 

We are all looking forward to going again when the rest of the zoo opens back up.  Until then, we will be working on cleaning off buffalo drool from the car.  Ick!

Family Fun

4th of July was a busy day – we had so much fun.  During the day, we went to Aunt Vicki’s for our annual family 4th of July party.  We had lots of yummy food, swimming and conversation.

That evening we watched fireworks and set off some as well w/Shannon & Johnny. They had more delicious food, and were totally awesome company.

The following day, we were invited out to a house that Sarah, Aunt Sandy & Aaron had rented for the week. 
We stayed the night and had an absolute blast!!!  We swam…a lot..went on a boat ride, swam some more, sat around the fire and enjoyed our time together.
Cadence lucked out and was asked to stay the night, again, to play with Madison.

On the way home, we stopped at my Gramma’s for fireworks at her campground.  We got there in late afternoon, so we sat around talking and catching up.  We went out for dinner and headed back to the campground to wait for the fireworks.  Because of the rain, they cancelled them and have rescheduled them for next weekend. 

It was also a special weekend to me because Whitney joined us.  I love being able to spend time with her, though sometimes, it makes me mad about what we missed out on for the last 7 years.  But, we have a whole future to make up for lost time.
I hope your 4th was as fun as ours!

Walleye



There is a local disaester clean up company that offers a lot of continuing ed courses for insurance agents.  They pop into our office every few months to check in, answer questions, pass out their flyer for us to suggest to our clients.  Well, they also offer family nights a few times a year. 

This happened to be the Walleye Family Fun Night.  Free tickets to the Walleye game & a meet & greet w/all of the mascots, including the Mud Hens mascots.

Cadence had a cheer comp RIGHT before this and we had to RACE to the game to get our tickets.  Thankfully, we made it with enough time to get pictures w/the Toledo gang!

 

 

 

 

Dennis Visit

Dennis has worked at UPS for almost 10 yrs…he recently decided to get his CDL A.  After graduating from the driving school and becoming licensed, he was hired for an OTR truck driving company.  He is in Columbus for 3 wks for their orientation and training.
We decided to go down to visit for the weekend.  Luckily, we chose a weekend full of free activites!
I had a giftcard for Applebee’s, so after checking into the hotel, we headed over for lunch.

  On the way there, we saw a free Church event, so as soon as we were done eating, we headed over for play time.

I had read about a hot-air balloon festival about 25 mins from the hotel, so that was our next stop.
How awesome is this?  Also, a free event – it included bouncy houses and free art stuff. 

On the way back to the room, we grabbed some pizza and treats.  The girls were pretty worn out from all the activities and crashed shortly after they ate! 
It was great to see Dennis, we miss him so much.  Can’t wait til he’s able to come home!