Hello blog...

I have missed you!
My happy place....the one place I haven't been able to get to lately!

Kate is home!!! YEAH!!!
She is doing so well with the surgery, she is in less pain then she has been in
for a good 5 years. It is amazing how the smile is back on her face, the laughter
is back and I feel like Kate is back! Pain is an awful thing to live with day in and
day out. It really can make you a different person. So Glad to see this working!
She is walking with her walker still, but the range of motion is really improving
daily. She does her exercises every day. GO Kate GO!

We have lost a wonderful young man...and that is the sad news. Eric Stillings,
our 22 year old nephew took his own life last Thursday morning. We are so very
sad about this. He was a special guy, we had some great times with him. Christmas 07'
he spent many days with us playing guitar hero with Josh and hanging out.
Eric was a little loss in life, and needed to find his way. I hate the fact that he choose the
path he did and left this world. I hope that this loss will help those he left behind find better
paths. I hope families will heal and relationships will be restored. No one should die this young, but it is an awful feeling to feel this is the only way to be at peace.

We need to be more caring and sensitive to one another. This age of "me" generation, we tend to forget about the other people in our lives. We forget to take the time to be a friend. Everyone is so busy going in their own direction. Everyone has expectations of how you should be. Make sure you are doing what makes you happy!! Make sure you talk things out to someone, find someone that will listen....don't hold things in!!! So many emotions running thru me right now. It is so true that when someone passes you have so much to say to them. Say it to them NOW!! Don't wait. It will really be too late then.

It has opened some new doors that I was not quite ready to open with Josh. Not only dealing with death, but dealing with someone being so sad they take their own life. I am so glad that Josh has no idea how someone could be that sad. He only remembers laughing and having fun with Eric, that is a great memory. I did have a great opportunity to talk to Josh about no matter how sad or upset he is , he can always talk to me or Kate. We are taking Josh to the memorial service next week, he wants to go and be there with us. I asked him why he wanted to go...and he replied " I liked him" , it was that simple to him. We talked about how people will be sad, but it is also a celebration of Eric's life too. In which he responded.. "But there won't be clapping will there?" He has been to one memorial service before for a family friend, so he knows what to expect. He is an amazing boy.

Football season, being a coach for the first time, managing the concessions, running my online store and getting ready for our August retreat for S.A.V.E. are just a few of the other things keeping me from my happy spot. But I know it is here and I will visit it more and more as the days settle around here. Thanks to anyone still reading or checking in, Wednesday giveaways will be back in September!! If you have a minute in your day give a thought or a prayer to Eric's family and friends to have the strength and courage to get thru this tragedy.

Eric we will miss you.