All Dude, All Day: Bouncing

Okay. So my friend Mary has a blog where she is completely forthright and honest about her good and bad days, about the realities of life. I completely love and respect that about her. It is inspiring and encouraging, especially as she deals with tremendous loss. We all love you so much Mary! With that said, I have had trouble doing the same on our blog. I can't say that I have her courage or her gift for words, but I can say that the last month (well..few months) have been hard. I am not well and there are days that I barely function. But I have this amazing husband, and the last few months have felt like a new-newlywed stage. He has surrounded me with compassion and love and his return from work is the light at the end of my day. I anticipate his cuddles almost more than anything. My Mom and friends and Caleb have all been fantastic and supportive. While I am not comfortable revealing the particulars about what is going on, I do appreciate prayers. The Lord is my strenth and prayers are so welcome.

There is no way to hide all of this from Caleb and we do not try. He understands about as much as his four year brain will let him. He has a way of giving me hugs and cuddles that make me relax and melt and love on him even more. He makes us so proud as he continues to grow and demonstrate more self-control, compassion for others and just plain genious-ness! We have triend to maintain as much normalcy as possible, Brian is a true champ!, and continue to find fun adventures to enjoy as a family. McKenna made it easy on us a few weeks ago with a trip to Carrollton for her birthday party. McKenna is Caleb's first friend. She visited him in the hospital when he was a day old, dubbed him little buddy, kissed his nose, and has been an integral part of raising Caleb ever since! Oh the pictures we have of McKenna feeding him a bottle, sharing her toys, cuddling and leading him off on new big kid adventures! I think so much of the nurturing he demonstrates to other babies has to come from the affection he received from McKenna. He adores her and follows her wherever she might go!

Her party was at Pump It Up. The PERFECT venue for a child with endless energy and his parents with very-limited energy! These moments allow us to focus on the immediate; on our surroundings, on our peeps. We had a lot of fun. McKenna's Mom has her own heavy load and it is inspiring to see how much she can put aside to give her little girl these amazing memories. I am surrounded by such strong and Godly women. Thank you Lord!