Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Matt Just Left for Pittsburgh

Well, Matt just left to go to the airport to head home to Pittsburgh. He will be attending his 21-year old nephew's funeral. Zach was a great kid - but got wrapped in drugs and alcohol early on in life. Zach died of an overdose.
So, Matt is going by himself to this service in memory of Zach. I really wish I could be going with him - to say goodbye to Zachary one last time & to support Matt and hug the family, but I have so much going on at home right now with work. Plus, I would rather not leave the kids behind & certainly, this would not be something for them to be involved with.
I wish things didn't have to end this way for Zachary and our family. How sad that he'll never get to finish out his life -- to grow up, to get married, have kids of his own. It's just so frustrating to think that this all could have been so different. And, what could we have done as his Aunt and Uncle to help make it different. Could we have been more diligent to keep in touch with Zach. Should we have tried harder to convince him to stop taking the drugs. All of those what if's. But, of course, it is too late now to worry about those.
So anyway, it has been a pretty rough 2 weeks in our family - as Zach slipped away slowly in the hospital after the overdose. The emotional rollercoaster was really hard and intense. I pray for Matt -- that God would protect Him physically and emotionally as he makes this trip. I pray for our family, too -- that we would never again have to lose another young person to drugs.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

I've Realized....

I am not a writer. I always think about blogging about things that happen everyday, but by the time I get to the computer, I've either forgotten what I wanted to write (aka: mommy-brain) or I am too lazy.
I did want to add these pictures of Ella taken the other day, though. They are just too cute NOT to share. She was such a ham for the camera and really enjoyed having curly hair (thanks to foam curlers!).
So without further ado, Ella's photo shoot:

This is what it looked like after we took the curlers out first thing in the morning.
The back.


After a little styling:

Little Miss Bright Eyes:

Posin'

More:







Isn't she so sweet?!?!
Anyway, not much else new here...Jonah is doing well & happy to be done with school and be on summer vacation.
I did my 3rd triathlon of this season this past Sunday & did pretty good -- come in 80th place out of almost 2600 women. And came in 16th place out of over 400 women in my age group. It was a fun time!