I thought I would have to teach my daughter about the world; turns out I have to teach the world about her. They see a girl who doesn't speak,
I see a miracle who doesn't need words.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Happy 6th Birthday Zachary!

So hard to believe my baby boy is six years old today. He and Aaron flew to New York yesterday to visit Aaron's family and I am really, really missing him, especially today. I just watched the video I made for him last year and it's amazing how much he's changed in just a year. Zach's name means "God Remembered" and with all of the issues and realizations we were facing with Alex at the time, the fertility drugs I had to take to get pregnant with her, Aaron and I had decided our hands were full and we were likely done. But God certainly had other plans for us. Zachary is my joy, my heart. He is sweet and funny and loving and compassionate and I just can't imagine my life without him. I always tell him he makes my heart happy, and that's just the simplest way to put it. Happy Birthday sweet boy - I don't have the words to describe how much I love you!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

A Great Gift

Eons ago I had posted about being out shopping at the mall and overhearing a conversation between a mother and daughter shopping for a prom dress. Out of nowhere, their conversation sent me into a complete tailspin and I went in the dressing room and just cried, and I mean cried - the realization that I was never going to have that kind of conversation with Alex, shop for a prom dress, or see her walk down the aisle one day just became completely overwhelming.

While we were on vacation, we were sitting outside on the deck and Jennifer came and sat down next to me and said, "so, what's up?" I immediately thought, Uh-oh, Jennifer's about to give me some bad news and really thought she was going to tell me she had to quit or had some other nightmarish news for me! Instead she said to me: "You know Beans is like one of my best friends, right? I don't want to stress you out (this is when panic completely seized me!) but I really can't imagine walking down the aisle and not having Beans be a part of my wedding day and I would really love it if she can be a Junior Bridesmaid". I have to say, I completely lost it and cried - really cried again! I cannot tell you what a gift Jennifer gave me, possibly the very best gift I have ever received - I have no words to describe how that one question just completely touched me to my core. So thanks to Jennifer, I WILL get to go dress shopping WITH Alex and in a different way, I WILL get to see Alex walk (or wheel - but Aaron's determined to have her walk!) down the aisle of a church - and that is a gift that you couldn't possibly put a price tag on.

We went with Jennifer to pick up her dress (the wedding is next year) and got a sneak preview of her when she tried it on. We were playing around with veils and stuck one on Alex...

I have the BEST picture of Jennifer and Alex together, but since Jennifer's wearing her dress in the picture, I'll have to save it until after the wedding!

I think Alex enjoyed being involved in the "girly" events of the day!

Monday, July 12, 2010

OBX Vacation

Time to start blogging again...things have just been crazy...or crazier than usual!

We went to the Outer Banks with our great friends, the Woodrums. Dara and Jerry have two 'angels', Jenna and Jule, who you might remember from previous posts is Alex's best friend. They also have a daughter Jean who Zach is absolutely crazy about. What an amazing week we had!! We took Jennifer with us, and Dara and Jerry's respite worker, Sarah, who just so happens to be Jennifer's sister. I cannot tell you what a blessing these girls are and how incredibly special they are. The obvious love they have for our girls is absolutely amazing. Jennifer had Alex sleep in her room with her so that Aaron and I could actually sleep in which was a vacation in itself! They did everything all week with the girls - took them on early morning walks, fed them, took them in the pool and hot-tub, played with them, read them stories, got matching tattoos for themselves, Alex got a pedicure, they put them to bed every night, etc. etc. - I don't think I will ever vacation again without them! :)
Other than the one day we took Zach to Duck to visit his best friend from pre-school, Aidan, who was vacationing down there the same week, Zach and Jean were glued at the hip the entire week and they get along so well. They wrote songs and practiced singing every night and our final night there they put on a little concert for us. Zach went crabbing for the first time and the guys took them out crabbing and fishing every night - and Dara and I enjoyed the amazing sunsets - it was a wonderful, RESTFUL vacation!!

Of course I took over 200 pictures and couldn't decide which pictures to post so I made a video...

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Grandma D

Wow, I have so much blogging to catch up on, but for now, a quick post.

I just got back from New York from saying good-bye to my
grandmother. She passed away on Friday and her burial was today - it was a beautiful service and commemoration of her life. She was 95 years old and she is going to be missed.

We love you Grandma and we will miss you, I know how much you loved Alex - thank you for praying for her every day - I know you'll be watching over her.