the last night

This is the last night. We take the youngest of our six beautiful, wonderful blessings from God, to college in the morning. How is it possible that he is 18 already...... How can he be going off to college already..... How has he changed into a man in front of my eyes.....without me really seeing it? And yet....the memories come .....I did see him getting taller.....I did hear his voice getting deeper.....I did see his impish grin turn into a charming smile....I did see him running faster, jumping higher, swinging harder....I did buy him bigger shoes.... But it happened so fast. I could not take it in. And I could not hold on..... After tomorrow, it will never be the same. He enters a new world....a new world of challenges, of making decisions, of new friends, of new responsibilities.....and I cannot go with him. Oh, my heart will go with him........ but my eyes won't see him every morning. I won't be able to kiss him goodbye every morning. I won't be able to ask him every afternoon: "How was your day?" I won't be able to wish him good night every night, as I go to bed and he stays up later. No, the time to let go is suddenly....and finally....here. It is time to give him his wings. The nest is empty. It has been a long, wonderful, marvelous journey. It is time to turn the page. I knew it was coming. But I could never be ready....it came in a blink. Once there were two. Now we will be two again.

rascals.

finn and miette have become great partners in crime. they can often be heard giggling together. its cute.

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY KATIE-DID!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIDDO! Can't believe you're 5!!! We thank God for the blessing of you...and the joy (and laughter) you bring to our family on a daily basis. This picture reminds me of how quickly you're growing up...both because of the picture of you at 14mths in the background of this and because of you pretending to be grown up!!! We love you very much, blondie!!!

(this is an old photo....heard the girls giggling downstairs and came down to find this....Katie with a wad of nursing pads shoved under her shirt!)

IT'S JUSTIN'S TURN FOR A BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy Birthday tomorrow, Justin!!! I'm giving this tribute tonight....not knowing what tomorrow's schedule is going to be. (May not make it to the computer!) Just looking at some old pictures this morning.....remembering bringing you home from the hospital to Taylor Rd., but then seeing you learn to walk on Murphy Rd.!!! My, how the years have flown!!! Hope you have a GREAT day!
Love you forever,
Mom

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JASON!!!!

It's the eldest "geraldskids" birthday!! Happy Birthday, Jason! Hope you have a great day!

Shes' Twenty!!!

OK....looks like no one is reading this....however, I must pay tribute to my now-twenty-year-old! Where have the years gone?!!! Seems like just yesterday that she was running around jabbering with her pacifier in her mouth....or up on the coffee table entertaining us....or running track....or playing basketball....or playing shortstop.... or playing clarinet in marching band..... And now she's no longer even a teenager! :( I love you Caitlyn....miss you a ton.....and hope you have a fabulously happy birthday!!! love you forever!!

PICTURES, PLEASE

Okay....we'll see who's actually checking this blog any more....besides me!! I'm anxious to see some more pictures put up here! I LOVE to see pictures......so when you update your own blogs, try and dump some over here!! And Caitlyn....have you learned how to use your new camera yet?! Let's see some pictures from this school year!! I'll be waiting..........!!

SHE DID IT!!!

Here's to Caron....on fulfilling her goal of running a marathon by age 30!!! Congratulations!!!

IT'S BIRTHDAY TIME!!

I'm not good at posting.....but want to wish Corrie a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY today! It's been a wild day, but hope it's been sorta good for you! I just remembered that we didn't even sing "happy birthday to you"....seems like we were always trying to be quiet....or whatever! So I'm singing it to myself...to you!

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU............."

Can anyone say NEW POST?!

Well now that it's been a good month and a bit since anyone has posted, I thought that today would be a great day to finally post.

It was great to see everyone on break, even though I didn't get to see Justin and Corrie and lil' Finnster much and forgot to say goodbye to Chari =/ [Sorry about that again...]. But really, it was fun and relaxing. It was great to go to a family dinner again and see everyone and have lots of chaos and lil' feet running everywhere. =] And here are a few pics...







And I came back on Monday to find out that this week is initiation week for new Shatford staff =] Last night we had to be at our phones at midnight with a pink ribbon on our body and they called each room individually and we all ran to one spot. From there, we ran EVERYWHERE. We ran all over campus - I don't think they could've picked spots farther away from each other. And we had to answer questions about Shatford and such. And then we met up with them and they talked to us for a while and prayed and then the told us that they had paired us up with each other and we had to be the other person for a day - dress like them and act like them [at least Jen and I did] and get together with them for an hour and get to know each other better. And I had one of my wonderful friends, Jen. So I got to bed at 2 last night and woke up at 7 for Jen to do my makeup and hair and I was off. I've gotten used to it and earlier my hair was down, but I like it better up I think.








Jen squints her eyes when she smiles and she waves a lot so that's why I look like that. As much as I didn't like it in the beginning, I kind of got used to the look, except for maybe the eyeliner =]