On Opinions

A few weeks ago I was fixing Ella Grace's hair:

EG:  Don't fix it they way you fixed it yesterday; it looked ridiculous!

ME:  (jokingly) I'm so tired of you having an opinion!

EG:  I'm so tired of you having a different one!

Day One

 First day of 2nd Grade!

 First day of Kindergarten!

They were both so excited this morning and walked confidently into their classrooms!  We are excited to be at Mountain View Elementary this year!  The girls are both in multi-age classrooms and we're really excited about this unique way to teach and learn!

Mom?  Well, I did fine ~ no tears!  However, I'm not sure Katie has gotten a word in edgewise in the past three years, so she's trying to catch up today!  I also don't know what to do with just one and a half kids.  I guess I have no more excuses for a messy house!  =)

Dad?  Started his first day as the new principal of Riverside Middle School.  I'm so proud of all his hard work over the past few weeks (and over the past few years to get to this point!)! 

Here's hoping that today is the beginning of a great year!

Annabelle's Turn

Annabelle & Nana heading to afternoon tea!

Raw

Besides the fact that I feel an obligation to this post since so many have supported our family on our journey this week, writing helps me process. This is bound to be laced with raw emotion, so read on only if you can handle complete, utter brokenness.

Moments ago I kissed my Sweet Cheek's cheeks for the last time. I can't explain the pain, fear, hurt and loss that we feel. There is no word in the world to describe . . .

It happened with my girls. I remember with each of them looking back at some point during the first year of their lives and not being able to recall what life before them was like. The truth is, that our family doesn't remember life without this child. It will take us a while to remember how to do this without her here.

How are we doing? So many of you have asked. Truth? We are struggling to remember why it is that we do this. Watched this several times this week to remind myself . . .

We've repeated truth to ourselves over. And over. We've leaned on love and support from so many who loved our girl. We've chosen to believe that God is greater.

Our prayer for Sweet Cheeks is the same as our prayer for our girls: That God would pursue their hearts relentlessly until they fall deeply and passionately in love with Him. In our minds, the best place for that prayer to be answered for Sweet Cheeks is here, with us. It doesn't make sense that God would hear our prayer and choose to answer it a different way than we picture. But He does and he has and we choose to believe that this is for her best even when we don't understand, even when we are hurt, even when our greatest fears could become a reality . . .

There is not one moment of one day this week that part of the song The Greatness of Our God hasn't gone through my heart.

". . . Give me grace to see beyond this moment here

To believe that there is nothing left to fear

And that you alone are high above it all

That you, My God, are greater still . . . "

God has shown us this week that He is here in this moment and He's used many of you to show us that. Thank you. Your lives are a testament to our family of who He is. We are blessed beyond blessed to walk with you as we live out our part in His story.

Hold our girl, Sweet Jesus, in the moments of her life that we'll never see. Show her that You, My God, are greater!

Conquering the Diving Board

Annabelle:

Ella Grace:

4th Fun

*Sparklers!*

*Our 5 firecrackers!*

We also celebrated Sweet Cheek's first birthday!  She dug into her cake like she digs into life ~ with no hesitation and without abandon!  (Love that about her!)  

We feel incredibly blessed to have spent the past 10 months with her and, since several times during the past 10 months we thought we'd never see her first birthday, yesterday was especially sweet for us! 

Love you, sweet girl! 

Lake Michigan 2011

Because he has so many great memories, one of Eric's favorite things to do with the girls while we are in Michigan is take them to Lake Michigan for a beach day! Obviously, they love it too!

Sweet Cheeks was all over the beach, and, in turn, the beach was all over her! She's going to love Hilton Head in a few weeks!

Before I snapped this shot: "Okay, 1-2-3, take my picture!"

The bigger girls enjoyed some pretty good waves ~ they, also, are looking forward to HHI so they can catch some more waves!