His gift

Max has a gift.

A God-given talent if you will. 

Music...

It's just in his blood.  When he hears a song, he just can't help himself.  Music moves him. 

When we were in Iowa a few weekends back, our friends have a drum set.  Max was in heaven.  He picked up the sticks and with just a few instructions from his dad, he was off. 

(Did you notice the foot-pedal action..impressive!)

Look out world, I think he has a bright future ahead of him. 

My Gram! **reposted**

My sweet, sweet grandmother finally went "home" early Sunday morning.  She is now with her heavenly Father, and reunited with the love of her life.  I'm sure there was a BIG celebration yesterday, and for that I am truly happy.   Those of us left here, we are relieved that she is no longer suffering and happy that she went peacefully, but it doesn't make things easier.  For our own selfish reasons, we want her here with us, the way it used to be.  But life doesn't work that way and we must move on.  Thankfully, we have been blessed with so many great memories.  Memories that we will cherish for always! 

(Look at that sweet face, how adorable is she!)

 

Here is a blog post that I wrote just a few shorts weeks ago (June 14, 2012)

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Both my grandparents were a huge part of my childhood and I'm so grateful for that.  

Here are just a handful of those memories:

Gram ALWAYS had dill pickles on the dinner table (in a cute little dish with a glass lid)

Speaking of dinner....we ate dinner at their house at least once or twice a week....fried chicken and milk gravy was my favorite.  Roast was my least favorite...but I grew to like it!  (Kinda!)

Before they remodeled their kitchen, they had a booth....I loved that booth as a kid.  Thought it was so cool to have one in a house! 

On the wall, next to that booth was a little chalkboard with beads on it.  We always wrote notes to Gram on that chalkboard.  

I spent a lot of weekend nights there.  We always had ice cream AND popcorn.  We also always watched Dallas, Falcon Crest, Love Boat and Dynasty.  I don't remember if they were in that order...but we were faithful viewers.  

I remember Gram ALWAYS singing.  She lead the singing at church for a LOT of years...and even outside of church she was singing.  She would sing while she cooked, she would sing as she cleaned.  

Speaking of cleaning, she was constantly on her hands and knees with a little waste can picking up lent from the floor.  Of course, she'd be singing at the same time...I remember asking once, what she was doing, she said it was easier than getting out the vacuum. 

Gram always made silver-dollar pancakes on Saturday mornings!  (remember I spent a lot of Friday nights there!)  These weren't just any pancakes either, they were the perfect size for a kid, and thin and crispy on the edges.  I can almost taste them now!  So yummy!

She always taught us about Jesus.  Making sure we went to Sunday School, VBS, and she even taught us a Sunday School lessons while we were on vacation.  Her love for the Lord continues to this day as she is anxiously waiting for her time to be with Him. 

The Lord is the only one who knows the plan, I'm just so thankful for the many many years of memories I've gotten to share with this sweet lady!  

And for that, I feel truly blessed!

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 The Lord knew the plan, even when the timing didn't work out the way we wanted it to. All that matters now is that she is home!

First Day of School!

 

4th Grade!

 

2nd Grade!

It's going to be a GREAT year!

One Month....

from today....we will walk for the 4th year, trying to raise money for more research to find a cure for MS.  

Yesterday, the Greater Illinois Chapter for the MS Walk published this story on Facebook.  It included this sweet picture of a few of my great supporters!

For those of you NOT on Facebook, you can read the article here:

Check out Traci's Troops of Peoria to learn how they celebrate Walk MS!!
Traci's Troops of Peoria, led by team captain Traci Sullivan, likes to joke that they take a bite out of MS…literally! Her son-in-law’s orange MS sugar cookies, along with orange pom-poms, balloons, and kazoos are some of the many traditions the team carries on from year to year. Traci’s Troops inaugural walk was September 2009 after Traci was diagnosed with MS in February of 2009. The teams’ continued success is a result of hard work mixed in with a lot of fun. There are 27 members of Traci’s Troops, and every year Traci looks forward to Walk MS because of the support she is shown from friends and family; it really helps her to know that she is not alone. Last year Traci’s Troops raised $4400, so let’s help them top this amount by visiting their Walk MS team page and making a donation!

Even though the story wasn't entirely accurate, as in I don't have a son-in-law.  The cookie maker is actually my sister-in-law, Jodi.  One thing stood out to me and that was that she said that my team only has 27 members.  That is the number of people who are currently registered.  But we need more.  For the past two years, Traci's Troops! has been the largest team at the walk, and I totally want to continue that!


So, PLEASE, register by clicking here!



 You can register, even if your not for sure you can be there.  Register as an virtual walker!  Join to support me and so many others fighting this fight!

Thanks!

City Museum!

Last Friday, we took a day trip to City Museum in St. Louis.  It's NOT your standard museum in my book.  It's more of a giant playground.  It's a total blast and if you haven't been there, it's definitely worth the trip!

 

This huge rock was actually being cut while we watched!  Amazing!      

       (Can you tell that Maggie was a little weird-ed out standing next to the breast!  hehe!) 

It was a super fun day and it was so good to be with my little family of four!

Cousins!

We've spent the last couple of days with our most favorite Sullivans!  We don't get to see each other as much as we'd like to, so we make the most of the time we do get!  

See how big we are all getting!  Geesh!

 Maggie (9), Max (7 3/4), Quinton (he'll be 7 in a month), and Sloan (4)  

We always have so much fun together!