tears today.

When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure. ~Author Unknown

Have you ever received one of those calls that make your stomach drop; your mind race; or your heart pound? This morning, I received one of those dreaded calls.

Mama called me at 8:51am crying. I was expecting her to say that she had been in a car accident or something, but instead she gave me some other really hard news. Her best friend (my second mom) lost her husband this morning to a heart attack. This family is so close to us-they’re my family. It’s been an emotional day. Right after I said good bye to Mama, my first thought was how when people started getting calls about our accident, they must have felt like I was feeling in that moment. It’s a phone call and then it’s over. My heart breaks for the family. It’s never an easy thing…please be praying for them.

Me with Dan and the family in December...


At one point after being at their house, Cale and I were in a room alone and I just held Cale so tight. I’m so very thankful that I have Cale with me. Things are different and forever will be, but at least I can touch him, talk with him, laugh with him, and see his face.

We have been blessed, yet again…

Yesterday we went to look at a new SUV. I’ve been internet hunting and thinking about this purchase for a while now. The move back to Seattle kind of made the need come a lot sooner, with needing to transfer Cale’s wheelchair more while he’s doing radiation. I had a certain amount of money set aside for this and I wasn’t willing to go above it. We have our Honda, but I really wanted to bless Mama with it rather than trade it in. Her car is, well, terrible and always causes her very expensive problems.

I was looking for something very specific to our needs and not too costly. We had looked at the Toyota place, but I also wanted to check out Hondas. Let me tell you something, if you are in the market for a car, Honda is the place to go! They were amazing. First, the guy that helped us check out all the cars just happens to have been in the Army and just happens to have TBI! He is high functioning, but its still there-he still understands! He has also helped and taken care of a lot of his soldiers that have been injured.

It was so awesome talking with him yesterday and getting to meet this guy! Joe and Beth came to join us at the car lot and after some talking, we put together that this guy’s daughter used to go to the preschool that Beth works at…so neat! Well, when we left the lot, there wasn’t anything available that was going to work for us, and that was ok. I was disappointed a little, but I knew that we would find the perfect fit car, and I was so excited to have met this guy! He has the same doctor as Cale and knows all about the VA system and clinic here.

Shortly after I was talking to Joe about everything and why I realized I had been feeling disappointed, I received a voicemail from the guy that helped us, Andy. He had something to offer-a blessing and wanted us to come back in today to check things out.

After the morning call and all that was going on, I wasn’t going to go, but Janis insisted that I go, so I did. Puffy red eyes and all!

Andy was awesome and so was the General Manager. They were such a blessing and went above and beyond getting us what we needed with what we had. They really cared and it wasn’t only about selling a car. While I did the paperwork, Andy even spent that whole time playing cards with Cale!

I left feeling so blessed and so thankful for all the ways the Lord continues to bless us. There have already been so many opportunities that we’ve been able to bless others because of how He’s blessed us, and I just think that’s pretty stinkin’ cool. I pray that it continues!

Our new CRV is a 2007 and so perfect for us! It doesn’t have any of those video things in it, or the beeper when we back up, or the built in GPS, or any of those other crazy fancy things, but we just both really love it and are so grateful!

Here we are with Andy our new friend! :)


While we were at the dealership, Mama got another call from my Aunt. My cousin had surgery and lost her baby today. I don’t know all the details, but I do know that’s an incredibly hard thing to go through…and I’ve never gone through it.

With all the crying, being away from home, eating lunch late, being at the car place, not getting to take a nap, and not getting a ton of attention; Cale did so great. When I had first gotten the phone call, I went straight to Cale and as I cried, I told him what had happened. He wrapped his sweet arms around me and just held me until I spurted out our plan of action-hop in the car and go. He was so tender with me today. By the time we had gotten to their house (10 minutes away), Cale had already forgotten what had happened. When I explained again, he was just as sweet about everything. I’m so very thankful I have him.