Christmas 2011

Since our last post life has settled in pretty well.  At Christmas we took our to kids and went up to S'te's for a few days.  It was great!

 Our Decor at home

Taniyah's 7th Birthday Cake that S'te baked and decorated! How time flies!!! 

 Friends over for cake!

 And the arrival of TYREQUE!!!  A huge suprise for the kids!  They were SO happy to see him (as were we!)  He is looking so good!

 Ladaria's new look - she's all grown up!!

 The boys all ready for Christmas Eve Service!

 Mak and Kyaria

 Baby T all ready for Church!

 And the whole family after the service!

We headed back down to the big city of Coos Bay and were rewarded with a beautiful drive.  It rained (after all, this is the great northwest) for a portion of the drive - but in the most part - it was nice.  It was a wonderful visit, we had a great time - and I love seeing 'my' babies as often as possible!

Summer 2011

August was a very, very busy month for us.  Not only did Brayana and I have our mad dash across the country - but Keith visited April and arrived back in Coos Bay on the 7th.  His flight into North Bend was only 5 or 6 hours late - it is terrible trying to fly via San Francisco!  I long for the days that we just flew into Portland and then on down!  We very seldom ever had the problems that there seems to be on a daily basis!  But - oh well, I guess the powers that be (the Airport Council - or whatever they are called ) know much more than I do - so I'll leave that at that! :)

So, Naner and I got back, the rest of the family arrived on Friday - to turn around on Saturday and go over to the Dully family reunion.  The Dully's are S'te's Grandma Jean's family.  There were 11of the 12 children that grew to be adults - so you can just imagine how many showed for the reunion!  Here are some of the pictures she took (they are on her Facebook page).  Here are my favorites tho!

From the recounts of the day - I think that they all had a great time... and in case you can't tell by the photos - Gma Jean's color was lavender.  Each of them were assigned a color - and to most of the men's chagrin - it was lavender.  I think it looks good!  I love lavender!!

But on to the best part of getting home...  Our addition was finished.  Well, maybe not completely done!  But so close!  And it looks so great! Here is the before:

to this!

It took a lot of hard work and effort and I can't thank Brayana and Jaleel enough for coming down and helping so much!  Rod and S'te brought the rest of the family and worked really really hard on it too!  And I think it looks nice!

August 14th - 25 Years

S'te worked hard all summer putting the commemoration for the 25th Anniversary of the last time we talked or was with Jeremy.  After their breakneck trip down and her family reunion was over she went into high gear on  all the last minute modifications and plans and details for Jeremy's Memorial.  Balloons were released all over the United States ~ and according to posts ~ in several other countries in the world.

Jeremy's Balloon Release
(click for a slideshow of the hundreds of balloons released in Memory)

I spent a very, very emotional day trying to cope with the whole idea of really truly coming to terms with the idea and the FACT that I was actually telling Jeremy good-bye and Rest in Peace.   He was such a joy to me, so very active and smart, so protective and so very proud of his little sister!  Even now it is so hard to grasp that in all likelihood I will never see or touch him again.

About 50 of our friends and relatives came to the Myrtle Crest baseball field to Memorialize his life. I was amazed by some of the people that came - and just as amazed by those who didn't.  I was so glad to see old friends - Jeremy's friends, those who played ball with him, some who went to school with him, and many, many relatives came to show their love during this wonderful send off.  We all had blue t-shirts with his picture on them - an awesome sea of blue - if you will!

S'te prepared an amazing, awesome, wonderful, and heartwarming send off for Jeremy.  The balloons that she and those wonderful helpers spend the morning inflating and tying were released in turn. . .

14 blue balloons - released by S'te and I - for the 14 years he was with us

25 red balloons - released by his nieces and nephews - for the 25 years that he has been missing

100 white balloons - released by family - for all the love he was not here to enjoy

800+ green balloons - to memorialize, not only Jeremy's missing status, but for the over 800,000 children on the missing childrens lists at any one time.

and

finally, the pink balloon that I'd been seeing around the house for a week.  It showed up at the ballfield with HOPE marked on it.  S'te released it with the HOPE that an answer would someday be found as to why my baby boy, her brother, had to be taken from us - and what evil was done.  

I honestly have to admit that most of the day was in a fog.  I cannot remember all the kind words that were said or all the wonderful people that did come - I just know there was an awesome amount of love in that field.

I know that Jeremy, my Mom, Uncle GL, and the other loved ones that have gone before us were all smiling down on us as we paid this final tribute.

Thank you S'te for such a lovely tribute. I love you.

Happy Days!

After flying across the US - we (Brayana and I) got everything ready for her parents and siblings to arrive.  I'll tell you what~ She was one happy camper knowing that her time alone with 'grumpy old people' was finally going to come to an end :)  It was quite an experience for her being an only child for so long!  After getting back - she successfully passed her Driver's Permit test and and the wonderful gentleman (mmmm) gave ME a book to read!  I was cleaning out the van the other day -and came across the book ~ I guess I forgot to pass that on! LOL

Rod, S'te, and family made the mad dash from Bremerton on Friday - from what I heard - it was after several 'false starts' and this time they made sure to gas up before leaving Lane County!  When there isn't a gas station open for a 100 mile stretch - it makes forward planning a necessity! Brayana jumped up at the sound of the van arriving - for a joyous round of hellos!  Even after the long drive and late arrival - they all were up and excitedly getting their custom tie-dyed (by S'te) shirts (and of course a dress for Tetee!) on for their excursion to the Dulley family reunion!  This is S'te's grandmother's family on her father's side! LOL 

Don't they look wonderful!  I am so proud of them all!

On the Road AGAIN!

On Sunday we attended met up with most of the family again to attend Church with Mom.  The Pastor had us all stand as he honored her many years as a wonderful mother, friend,  and a lifelong Christian woman.  I felt very proud to be able to stand with the rest of the family as he gave her this honor! 

What a pretty girl!

Melody, me, and Mom - after church and as Bray and I prepared to leave!

 Bray started out with the idea of taking a picture of a McDee's in each state that we crossed.  Here is the first of many she took - and then they just got away from her!  There were almost as many McDee's as there was corn! :[)

A really neat farnhouse surrounded by corn, corn, and more corn!

We spent our 1st night in Peoria, Illinois, our second night in Ogalalla, Nebraska, tried for our 3rd night in Salt Lake City... When we got there - a storm was brewing and it smelled so nasty that we decided to try to go a bit further - our bit further ended up being Elko, Nevada.  We saw lots and lots and lots of corn.  and HOT, it was 107 at 5:30 or so in Omaha,  100 or so in Salt Lake City!  It was just to hot to take our time and sightsee - so we just kept on going!  The Great Salt Flats had us both wondering what we were driving thru  - we saw lightening out on the lake when it was just hot and smelly in Salt Lake City - so we had to do some looking around!

And we made it back to Oregon!   All in one piece!

We went a lot of miles in a very short period of time!

90th Birthday Party!~

The "Birthday Girl" and her children!  Keith, Melody, Heather, Mom, Joy, and Dolores. So glad I managed to steal this photo - my camera died right after the party started!

Fabulous photos of Mom's life.  I tried to get photos of the pictures but just couldn't make it work.  Maybe, if I'm lucky, I can eventually get them scanned. 

 

A beautiful (and good tasting) cake!

Mom cuts her cake!

April brought this chair up and used it for a very original guest book.  It was full of names before the party was over!

Elizabeth and Bray - They enjoyed hanging out!

Rick and the girls

Me, Keith, and Bray

A few of the ladies that came to wish Mom a great day.

April and Brennan

Mom and Melody

 There was a lot of good food and great company for all to enjoy while being with Mom on her special day.  We are blessed to have been able to be with her.  And it was so great to work with the family for the little amount that I was able to contribute!  It was to bad that the roses that April sent didn't last long enough to grace Mom's table ~ they were so beautiful! 

After getting everything all cleaned up and back into the proper order - Dolores brought her grandkids over to the Motel and joined us at the pool - time to cool off and relax!  I plugged in my camera - but - no battery yet!