A tribute...

So as most of our friends and family know, we've lost two family members in the time since Adam was born. Yesterday was the estate auction for all the stuff from Max's dad's place, the cabin, and Grandma and Grandpa's house. Imagine tables and tables of all the things they collected in their lifetimes - things that meant a lot to them but then are just picked through by the auction crowd. In the end these things are sold for basically pennies on the dollar. Through all this I've come to two conclusions which are probably good reminders for all of us:
1) Things are just things. We strive all our lives for them but in the end they aren't truly what's important.
2) When we lose someone we love its the memories in our mind and heart that keep them alive. Yes, it can be hard to sell the house or their prized possessions but that's not where their spirit lies - it's always in us. Their things may be gone but the memories will always live on

Gone but never forgotten...

3/11/39-4/2/09

Max's Dad, Max, was a collector of all things. You know that saying "one man's junk is another man's treasure"? Ya, that was him - except when you needed something he always had one (or seven!). He was always tinkering with something outside. Before he retired in 2005, Max was a bus driver for Selah Schools and all the kids wanted to be on his bus. He loved his family more than anything and was very excited to meet his first grandson. Adam and his grandpa only spent 4 weeks on this Earth together before we lost him but we know Grandpa Max is looking down and watching over him.

2/7/24-5/26/09

Grandma Elizabeth saw a lot in her lifetime. She, her husband and young daughter came to our country from Germany many years ago. She was a resourceful lady who painted beautifully and made the best cakes. She loved her family dearly - especially her great grandchildren. She was only able to see Adam one time but we will always remember the grin she had on her face when she saw him. Never a day went by that Grandma didn't miss her husband after he passed and we take comfort knowing that she is with him today.

What a difference a year makes...

You know those times when you remember exactly what happened on a given day... so when that day comes around the next year you can say "wow, it has been a year since that happened"?

That is me today.

Go back one year: July 3, 2008. We are just a couple, a family of two, getting ready to go out of town for the July 4th weekend. Our typical holiday weekend of camping and fishing. Max is at work and I am at home putting together last minute things and waiting for him to get home so we can leave to go to Banks Lake. I go out to the mailbox to pick up our mail and in it is my Fitness magazine. I'm flipping through it and see an ad for fitpregnancy.com -- so for grins and giggles I decide to check it out as we may be thinking about starting a family maybe in the next few months. Somehow I got on the page of "signs you could be pregnant" and on this page is something that I have never seen on pages like it. It went something like "you may experience menstrual like cramps and many women think they are just waiting for their period to start".

Uh oh. You mean the fact that my period is 4 days late (and boy was I perturbed because who wants their period at a lake!) and I've been taking ibuprofen because I'm lightly cramping and expecting Aunt Flo to visit at any moment could actually mean I'm pregnant? Oh crap. But I'm still not fully convinced of anything so I dig way back in the closet to find a box of pregnancy tests I had stashed. I tell myself I'm only doing this test to rule out being pregnant so I can enjoy the weekend. haha. So I sit down, do my business, set the stick down on the sink and wait while it works its magic. After giving it the prescribed amount of time I look over to a positive sign - can't remember now if it was one line, two lines or a plus - but either way that stick said my life was about to change in a BIG way. When Max got home from work, I took him in to the bathroom to show him and all I said was "my period was late so I peed on this stick and it said yes". Max's only reaction was "sweet".

I remember telling Max that weekend while we were out fishing that if I'm really pregnant (shock and denial were my middle names) that next 4th of July we would have a 4 month old. Well I really was pregnant and we do now have a nearly 4 month old. What a difference a year makes...a couple becomes a family of 3.

Here are some pictures of our 4 month old on July 3, 2009: