Seasons of Life

So many things going on here in my little part of the world.


God is good all the time and we do continue to be uplifted and supported by His love and mercy.


My husband and I have been doing well, although we did have a surprise awakening a few weeks ago. I woke to use the bathroom on July 7th to the sickening smell of heating oil permeating our entire house. I quickly woke my husband and we went running down into the basement to wade into a huge puddle of oil everywhere. Our full tank of heating oil had sprung a leak and was squirting oil. My husband, who is quite talented at many things, sprung into action, cut a piece of a bike tire tube and retrieved a huge magnet and put the tire tube on the leak and then stuck the magnet over it. Voila...leak solved, but what to do with the gallons of oil on our basement floor?



I called the fire department and a couple from our church. We had help within a short amount of time and finally, almost three weeks after the incident, the oil smell is surprisingly gone, in part due to the great cleanup that everyone helped my husband with and the repainting of the basement floor. We were thankful that more oil didn't leak so that there was no danger of environmental pollution.

We will bring our daughter to college on August 20th...the same day that Caleb died two years ago. You realize how much you really love these children when you "lose" them (so to speak)...sometimes only to camp or college for a time, but sometimes to Heaven. Psalm 10:17 “You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry.”

Our oldest son has been a junior counselor at a Christian camp for a month. He is able to come home on Saturday nights, but then goes back for a week at a time. He has recently started to have pain from his wisdom teeth and will have them removed earlier than expected. He was originally scheduled to have them out on August 6th, but the date was moved up because of his pain. He will have them extracted on Thursday morning. I heard that the pain following surgery is pretty severe, so if God puts it on your heart, please pray.

My next to the oldest son will go away to Teen Week during the first week of August at the same camp that my other son was a junior counselor at during July. He has been doing some dog walking for a neighbor and is really helpful around the house.

My third oldest son turned 12 years old today...Happy Birthday sweet boy! He brings lots of joy and passion into our family. He is a live wire! Thank you God for the gift of his life!

My fourth son is doing well and is growing by leaps and bounds. He still loves to snuggle and is constantly wanting me to hug him (which I love to do!).

My baby is now 9 months old and is pulling up and standing next to things. She is such a cutie and commands a lot of attention...must be those eyes :) When my oldest daughter moves out, the baby will go into her room. I will miss having the crib in my room and wonder how anxious I will be when she isn't as close to me. Caleb died when he was in his crib in a room adjacent to ours. The fear has never gone away, and I doubt it never will.

The days leading up to the anniversary of Caleb's death are difficult. I will never look at the season of summer again the same way. It was the last season that Caleb was alive.

We are going to be going on vacation for a week in August and we will be going to the beach. Oh how I wish that Caleb was with us to enjoy the first actual week away as a family that we have ever had. It is frustrating for me to focus so much on the loss of Caleb when I have other beloved children here that God has allowed me to mother. I try not to let my emotions take over too often, especially when the children are around.

I am starting a new season in life...the guiding the children out the door season. I will miss my dear daughter...the hugs, the texting lol, the long showers, the love of shared scrapbooking, shopping times, sneaking candy at night, the smell of your perfume and hair products, the jewelry all over the house, the late morning wake ups, the flip flops everywhere, the hair that you leave in the drain every day, the singing that you do monthly in front of our church, the concerts that you play your flute and sing solos at school, seeing you drive the 1992 Volvo station wagon around town, stopping by with your brothers and seeing you behind the library desk, birthday parties on the deck, I could go on forever...you will be sorely missed. I love you and please know that you are always in my heart and prayers.

Love to you all out there in blogland. ((hugs))
With Hope,
Cheryl