Missing you...

This is my dad holding our oldest daughter Sarah, just after she was born, June 18th 1999. One and a half months after this picture was taken, my daddy died. Today, July 31st marks exactly 8 years since he's been gone. As you can probably imagine it is really difficult sometimes for me to even look at his picture without being upset. It wasn't my dad's time to go but he went anyway. I always hate this day and the weeks before it as I always have nightmares about him reminding me this anniversary is coming. I miss him so much...he only met our first child and the last time he got to hold her she was just 4 days old. Now Sarah is 8 and we have Adam who is 6, Jack who is 4, Grace who is almost 2 and another baby boy coming in a few months. All of whom never had the pleasure of meeting my dad, their Grandpa Irwin. He was the best dad in the world and our lives have never been nor will they ever be the same. The only happiness I feel is knowing that one day I will see him again in Heaven. My children will one day meet the Grandpa they were robbed of meeting on earth. I know my dad is in Heaven so I should be happy for him. He is no longer hurting or suffering like he did the last days of his life. I can't imagine what he was going through before he died, but I know he now rests comfortably in the arms of our mighty Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. It is hard to be happy that he is up there because I want him here with me, and that is what is so hard to deal with.

So daddy, if you can hear me...please know that we all miss you so very much and will always love you and can't wait for the day that we can one day see you again in Heaven.

Love your daughter,
Melissa

To Mom and Tanya -I love you guys and am thinking of you today as we all suffer from this loss.

Revelation 21:4 (Whole Chapter) He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

Art Class

Sarah was at art class all last week. It was a birthday present from one of her grandmas. I believe it was day two of class when they learned about self portraits. Here is her self portrait. We think she did pretty well in art class. She loves to draw pictures and write stories so this really encouraged her to keep on drawing and writing.

More pictures...

Amie made these dresses for my girls. I picked up the material at a garage sale awhile ago, but I don't know how to sew much, especially clothes so she offered to teach me a few things while making these dresses. I love the way they turned out and so did everyone else when we showed up to church all dressed up. She made the hats too. You can check out all her other sewing adventures here.
Sarah wanted to practice her new found love of photography when she snapped this picture of me and Grace. You can't see but Adam and Jack are off to the side playing on the cool tree rope/swing that Dan made them.
Garden goodness: Here is our latest pickings from our garden this year. The carrots arn't quite ready yet but they still taste yummy and the radishes have already been harvested so they didn't make it in this picture. We have already eaten lots of green beans, lettuce and spinach in addition to the cucumbers and cherry tomatoes pictured here. We have picked quite a few jalapenos but I'm not a big fan and our big tomatoes and onions arn't ready for making salsa just yet. Our corn is just about ready. Man, I can't wait to eat some fresh corn on the cob. We are still waiting on the broccoli and watermelon although I'm not sure we will actually get watermelon this year. We'll see.

Sarah and Sadie

Here is my Sarah and Amie's Sadie. Both names mean "princess". Isn't that a great picture?

Belly Shots

Adam took this picture and cut my head off. LOL At least you can see my belly and that is what's important.
Sarah took these two, I am 21weeks 5 days today! LOL Jack in the background wrestling with Adam.
There was a shadow cast on my chin and it looks like facial hair or a bruise. LOL Yuck!

Accomplishments

Some "cheese" moments...
It has been over a month now since Adam learned to ride his bike without training wheels. He is doing a great job and is even trying to jump jumps with his bike. He had a couple accidents in the beginning including a major accident that involved having his eyes closed...he is a boy...need I say more. LOL He is much better now!
The kids have been trying to climb our little tree in our backyard which they finally accomplished. This picture was taken at Grandma Al's house in her backyard in the "Fairy Tree". Adam was very proud of himself for climbing this HUGE tree.
Sarah climbed the tree in the front yard at Grandma Al's house and was very proud of herself as well.
And of course Jack had to get involved in the tree climbing also. Here he is not too far from the ground in another tree in Grandma's front yard. We had a great time over the 4th of July weekend at Grandma's house. The weather was gorgeous!!
Another accomplishment.....Grace is sleeping in a big girl bed now (bunk bed) and has been for the past two weeks. We didn't have any trouble moving her from the crib to the bed. She loves sleeping in her big sissy's room. Now all four kids have bunkbeds and they love 'em.

And last but not least....I can finally put Gracie's hair in pig tails and a pony tail too! I was so excited to be able to pull her hair back. She looks so cute and so grown up. This picture looks kinda sloppy because she wore her hair up all day. It looks better right after it's done. She does however have to wear a clip in the front since her bangs aren't quite long enough to pull back yet.

Well...those were some accomplishments we've made this past month since summer break began. More soon to come I'm sure.