And now...the Rest of the Story!

So after a delicious dinner at the Cheesecake Factory on Wednesday night...the girls decided to leave a little earlier than the guys and get both Karter and Malachi home!  Both had passed SMOOTH out sitting at the table!  After all...it was 10:00pm California time, Midnight Texas time and neither had gotten any rest since leaving that morning, flying out and going to the beach!  So - Lolli carried Malachi on her back, Elizabeth led the pack and Amanda and I pushed Karter the 1.1 miles back to our hotel and got them into bed!! 

He hasn't fallen asleep on her like this in a LONG time so she savored the moment, I'm sure!

 

The next morning was Malachi's birthday!  We had brought a couple small presents for him to open so he ripped into this cute Disney Hedbanz game!!  Then, He and Karter got all dressed up in their Disney duds and we headed out for our visit to California Adventure!

 The whole crew (in the only picture I can find with ALL of us in it) at Breakfast!

 The full-sized replica of Radiator Springs was incredible!  I kept saying how fun it must be to work in the props/decorating department for Disney!  Seriously - we felt like we were in the movie!

 Malachi and Karter got to have their picture taken with Lightning McQueen!  Malachi is still young enough that he thought that Lightning had just gotten there (as in, when he's driving to California in the movie with Mac and gets stuck in Radiator Springs!)  Lightning McQueen even noticed that it was his birthday and told him Happy Birthday then revved his engine!  I do not even understand how the animatronics work...but his eyes moved and when he revved his engine, he moved too!  (Malachi about peed his pants when that happened...but it was funny!)

 Malachi driving the bumper cars in the "Bugs Land" section!

 Elizabeth, Lolli and I rode the Tower of Terror...I feel TERRIBLE that I didn't get my Mom when I took this picture of us!  But...she was there I promise!  This was a VERY intense ride but I'm so glad I rode it with those two!

My phone died shortly after this and I had left my camera at the hotel so any other pictures of Disney are stolen from others' facebook pages!  We went straight to the Aladdin show after this and it was HYsterical!!  So good! 

After grabbing a small (but plenty expensive, mind you) bite to eat...we all went on the Monster's Inc ride.  It was SO cute and VERY VERY life-like! 

We then headed over to Paradise Pier and rode the Little Mermaid.  Right as we were getting off the ride, I noticed a little boy crying and screaming at one of the cast members that he had lost his mommy.  The poor cast member (Cassidy C) was great...but, he's not a mom!  I sprinted over as the little boy was trying to run off and got him to stay with us.  He was 6 years old and his name was Clarkie (I think it was actually Clark...but he told us it was Clarkie!)  Thankfully, Clarkie was holding a glow stick ball and I had JUST seen a little girl that looked a LOT like him holding a glow stick flower.  So, we got Clarkie to stay with us (and the cast member) and searched for his parents.  Finally, about 20 minutes later, here comes his Dad strolling out of the Little Mermaid, completely unaware of the fact that his son wasn't with his wife.  We couldn't understand how neither of them noticed...but were sure thankful that sweet Clarkie was safe!

It was a terrifying experience for that sweet boy, but Cassidy C and the Security Officers that came over handled it perfectly!! It was about 4:30, and we knew we only had about 3 hours before we needed to BE in place for World of Color so we tried to figure out a plan of attack for the rest of the park. Some wanted to ride the ferris wheel, some the big roller coaster (can't remember what it's called) and EVERYONE wanted to ride the Toy Story ride! Just as we were walking off Cassidy came over and gave us a "golden ticket" which allowed us to get to the front of any line we walked to. He said that was Disney's way of thanking us for our help! We were super touched and thankful because it allowed us to ride what we wanted to without having to wait the 1.5-2 hours that it would've required otherwise! So - we chose the Toy Story ride and all 10 of us jumped literally 150-200 people who were waiting in line! 

 

 

We headed over to the Ferris Wheel and then to dinner before ending up at World of Color!  That was an AWESOME show!  The Bellagio has NOTHING on Disney!  I've never seen anything like it in my life!  The water and fire were amazing and the scenes projected were just amazing!  I will admit that I bawled like a baby when they showed Mrs. Jumbo singing to her baby and then cried even harder when 'Punzel came on.  It was just a wonderful way to end the day and to remember that seeing it all through our baby boy's eyes was the most important thing!  On the way home we stopped and got some ice cream and let the boys sugar up a bit more before they crashed!  After we dropped the stroller off, though, we were looking at Malachi's hair and it was greasy and soapy!  We couldn't figure out for the life of us what he had gotten into and then...it hit us!  Mom and Dad bought Malachi, Karter and Kadi Jo Bubble Guns.  The Bubble guns were in a plastic bag on top of the stroller...the bubble guns leaked when Malachi was sitting in the stroller. Ergo...Malachi had bubbles ALL in his hair!!  It was so funny!!  He needed a bath anyway!

 

The final day of our vacation was spent at Knott's Berry Farm!  The whole fam got to meet Charlie Brown and our very own Charlie Brown got to meet his namesake...okay, he's not really his namesake!  haha

 Karter, Snoopy and Malachi!

 Malachi and Karter rode a few kiddie rides and loved it!  (Although you can't tell by Karter's expression here!)  ha  I actually took this picture from a roller coaster that Mom, Elizabeth and I rode!  Aunt Amanda, Uncle Tanner and Pops joined us for one of their really big coasters later!! 

 Sweet boys!

 Having a blast!

 Snoopy's racers!

 Whoops - slid ride down that seat!!  Don't worry, he regained his footing quickly after this!! 

 Hot Air Balloons!

Oh, and remember that story about Clarkie?  Well...I have a lot more understanding now than I did when we were helping him!  Mom, Dad, Thomas and I were walking out of the park...Mom and I were in front of the boys and right after we'd gone through the turnstyles, Thomas and Dad noticed that Malachi wasn't with us.  We thought he was with them.  So, for the next 20 seconds (which felt like an eternity) I jumped over the turnstyles and starting running through the park.  Malachi was running and screaming my name.  When he saw me, I cried, he cried and for the next good while we had a talk about what to do if he ever gets lost!  I don't know that it would've EVER taken me/us 20-30 minutes to realize he was gone, but it was definitely a learning opportunity for us all!  We'd been so careful...only to lose him as we were walking OUT of the park! 

After we calmed down, we went to some of the little stores around the park and Malachi got his picture taken with Charlie!

That night we went to the Anaheim Angels game!  We were all so tired that we barely made it through the game!  Aunt Liz and Uncle Tanner were so sweet to Malachi the whole trip!!  They sure love him and the feeling is DEFINITELY mutual!

 And to end our vacation, we saw one of the best fireworks shows I've ever seen!  It was close to us, it was loud and the fireworks were HUGE!  We definitely ended California 2013 with a bang!       (hardy har)

 

We got up bright and early the next morning and headed back to Flagstaff before leaving again on Sunday morning finally arriving home around 7:30 Sunday night!  We are still recovering but so very thankful for the safe traveling mercies from the Lord, the opportunity to fellowship with one another, the opportunity to spend time with Logan's sweetheart and get to know her better and the opportunity to take a break from our struggles and just laugh!  I'm so thankful for my family (blood and otherwise) and wouldn't trade a single person on this trip for the world!

Refreshed and Relaxed!

This last week has been absolutely wonderful for our little family!  We were able to get away from the stress of the last few days months and just really relax!  Now that we are back...so is the stress.  We are still very much coping with the loss of Marie, but this vacation went a long way in healing us all!!  (Until Rapunzel was featured on World of Color...but I won't ever be able to watch that movie without thinking of our own little blonde princess!)  Malachi has been counting down since 65 days before our vacation!  I couldn't really find a Countdown I liked...so I made this one! 

We started our vacation last Monday night by getting our rental car and getting everyone's suitcases loaded up!!  (Everyone includes us, Malachi, Karter my "nephew", Lolli, Pop, "Uncle" Tanner and "Aunt" Liz and Logan's girlfriend, Amanda.  We met Logan there, obviously)We chose to get a rental car because our little car had taken that drive twice and we didn't want to put another 2500 miles on it!  And...can I just say now...it was TOTALLY worth the $255!  We had a beautiful Impala with a HUGE trunk!  Which came in handy so we could load all the luggage and everyone else wouldn't have to fly with it!  (Oh...and if you're wondering why we drove and everyone else flew...it's because they drove back in my brother's truck.  If we hadn't taken a car, we wouldn't have had room in my brother's truck!) 

 

Here's a little stow-away!  He actually spent the night with my parents Monday night because we got up around 1:30 Monday morning to go throw Thomas' paper route and then get the heck out of dodge!  We finished the paper route around 4:00 and were leaving Canyon by about 4:45.  The sun came up just as we were leaving Tucumcari, NM. 

Unfortunately, for my husband, we left on his birthday.  Fortunately for him I hadn't forgotten and got him a series of cards to open on our drive!  And...he got to spend that whole day with his awesome wife...how lucky is he? 

 I also let him sleep quite a bit!! 

We pulled into our hotel in Pasadena around 6:00 probably (so about a 14 hour drive) and we went straight to the Santa Monica Pier!  Thomas had been talking about wanting to do one of these genie things like on the movie "Big" so he was thrilled to see one when we got there!!  He told me if I woke up with a kid next to me in bed the next morning that I would know what happened!  Thankfully that didn't happen.  Although, if he'd woken up as rich as Tom Hanks...that would've been okay!  ;o)

I think it's safe to say that the sunset over the Santa Monica Pier was much prettier than the sunrise over Tucumcari, NM!  On a side note (and because this is our family's journal), it was FREEZING there.  I had to dig out one of my Mom's sweatshirts and Thomas had to BUY one for $36 because it was SO cold with the wind coming off that ocean! 

Oh...and see the boot?  Yeah, my sweetheart of a husband tore a tendon in the bottom of his foot the Thursday before we left!  Thankfully he did okay with all the walking we had to do and the actual damage wasn't that bad!

Here's the famous ferris wheel!  Unfortunately, at 8:00pm, the entire pier shut down.  Restaurants, stores and attractions ALL closed.  I do NOT understand that - there were TONS of people there.  Seems to me like they are missing out on a TON of income from tourists!  We were pretty disappointed, but we were exhausted too.  

We got one last picture together and then headed back towards our hotel and dinner.  We ended up having dinner at an Outback Steakhouse which happened to be about 4 miles from our hotel, but still on the same road!  We finally crawled into bed around 11:00 that night California time, 1:00am Texas time...meaning, we were up for 23 hours straight!  I didn't do that in college and don't foresee myself doing that again anytime soon!  (Well, maybe when we go to church camp with 50+ teens in a month...)

 

The next morning we were able to get up and head out and about Hollywood!  We went to the Griffith Observatory to view the Hollywood sign and walk around!  You can't see it well, but the Hollywood sign is actually between us in this first picture!  It was cool to see and we can say we've been there!  Definitely a been there, done that moment!

We left there and went to The Grove, which is a swanky shopping center.  It had Michael Kors, Janie and Jack and Coach stores alongside Anthropologie, Pottery Barn Kids and others!  However...we weren't there for shopping at all!  We just window shopped and people watched!  They were filming "Extra" while we were there and they asked us to be in the audience.  Maria Menounos (I totally had to google who she was) was there and she had some co-host chick.  The other chick walked out in a completely sheer shirt with nothing but a lacy black bra on underneath.  I couldn't see us teaching our young youth girls to be chaste and modest, but standing there endorsing this show with women that clearly were not modest!  It would've been cool to be on TV, but not as cool as actually living what we try to teach our young girls!  If A.C. Slater, A.K.A. Mario Lopez had been there, we MAY have stayed!  (I kid)  (Maybe)

There WAS a Dylan's Candy Bar there and it was SUPER cool!!  Every candy you could possibly imagine!  The architecture and decorating were awesome!  We had just spent about $20 bucks on chocolates at See's Candies so we didn't actually buy anything at Dylan's!  But...again...we can say we've been! 

There was a sweet little dancing fountain and two adorable old ladies saw us trying to take pictures and offered to take a couple for us! 

 LOVE this man of mine!

After a yummy light lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, we headed to Rodeo Drive!  (I also had to google that in my phone...google "famous shopping street in Los Angeles" if you can't remember!)  It'll come up! We didn't actually get out...we just drove around in our rented Impala amongst limos, Mercedes, BMWs and Range Rovers.  I totally felt like Ellie May Clampett!

Unbeknownst to us...we were headed straight by this famous sign!  So...I had to get a picture out of the sunroof!

 We also drove by Hollywood High School!  LOVE Judy Garland! 

 

Next up - we picked everyone up from the airport and headed to the beach! This beach was NOT warm...the water was FREEZING, but we remembered that from last year so we didn't really dive in like we did then! Pictured here are Aunt Liz, Uncle Tanner (Logan's best friend and his wife), Malachi, Karter (my "nephew"), Lolli and Pops!

 Our family's footprints!  (I promise we all have pinky toes...although it doesn't look like it here!)

 Malachi and Karter playing in the water!

And Malachi pottying!  We were WAY too far from a restroom so he just walked right out into the water!  I realize that's gross...I get it.  But things die and decompose in that ocean every day...I'm not thinking a little potty is hurting anything...and this picture was just too hysterical!

 He wrote his own name in the sand!

 And then he wrote mine! 

And finally - we ended the beach visit by watching the sunset over the pier!  So beautiful!!  We went to the Cheesecake Factory again that night and got in bed to prepare for Disney the next day!!!



Prep Mode!!!

7 days...we have 7 days.  Until what?  Until my sweet, precious miracle boy will be 5.  Wait, what?  5 years old?  How is that possible? How did that happen so fast?  I can't believe it!  So wrong...so so wrong. 

Nevertheless...it is going to happen (unless the Lord comes back before then, which would be totally okay with me!)  5 is a HUGE year and last year we had a super fun time at his "kiddy car wash" birthday! There is water coming out of these PVC pipes...you just can't see it!

How in the world will we top that?  Unfortunately he'll be stuck on an airplane wearing
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THIS adorable shirt...or a version like it! 

Yep, that's right, we are going back to Disneyland!!  My sweet little brother has been attending West Coast Baptist College for the last two years pursuing God's plan of becoming an Evangelist! And, he is finishing up this semester before transferring to Heartland Baptist Bible College in Oklahoma City. 

Here he is preaching his first sermon for a final!!  (There are people in there...just seated in the back of the chapel!)

So, a few months ago we all figured this would probably be the last time we'll have for a WHILE to all go to California together.  Thus, Disneyland 2013 was born!  We've been counting down since 65 days and letting Malachi mark off the numbers each night!  He is ecstatic and Mommy is super excited that maybe she'll actually develop his love for roller coasters this year!  Daddy and I leave next Tuesday BRIGHT and EARLY to drive from Canyon to Burbank and then everyone else will fly in on Wednesday.  So, that means we get 36 hours of just US.  Can I tell you a secret?  I'm almost more excited about those 36 hours than I am the other 4 days!  16+ hours uninterrupted in a car with just my sweetheart?  Then, the Santa Monica Pier, a full night's sleep in a hotel (where he doesn't have to get up at 3am to throw papers) and then trying not to look awkward shopping at a super swanky shopping center called "The Grove."  Plus, lunch at the Cheesecake Factory!  Seriously...so needed right now!  Then, we'll meet Logan at the Burbank Airport to pick up Lolli, Pop, Malachi, Karter, Aunt Liz, Uncle Tanner and Logan's sweetheart, Amanda!!  After that it's the beach, Malachi's birthday dinner, Thursday Disney - California Adventure, Friday Knott's Berry Farm, and then...sadly, start the long drive home Saturday!!  However, we are super excited to spend this time AWAY from here and get really rejuvenated from the challenges we have faced this year!  After we get back, we have exactly a month and then we'll be at church camp in Louisiana to hear a week's worth of amazing preaching and spending time with our favorite youth group!!

Now...to make it through the rest of this week!

Resurrection Day

So, this Resurrection Day wasn't exactly how I envisioned it would be 6 weeks ago.  At that time, I had picked out an adorable little sailor dress, a sweet little navy/white argyle sweater vest and had even figured out what Thomas and I would have worn.  I couldn't wait to get pictures as a family of 4 made at church.  I couldn't wait to make a PINK Easter Bucket.  Alas, it just wasn't in God's plan for that to happen.  However, the Lord was faithful to us throughout the holiday, as He always is, and allowed us not just to make it through, but actually enjoy celebrating His resurrection.  We still colored eggs, we still ate chocolate bunnies and searched for a pocket-change filled prize egg.  We still sang His praises and worshipped with our wonderful church family, thankful for the meaning of the day.  Only a few times did the pang of anger and resentment and pain crop up.  And, when it did, the Lord would inevitably send our dirty little boy running up to us with an ear-to-ear smile (that we've been missing) showing us an egg he found, or bringing me a "flower" from the back yard!  He surrounded us with family and friends who have been instrumental in supporting and encouraging us and gave us the re-birth we've been needing!  We've even been given another ministry opportunity that we are SO excited about...because we can see God's hand at work!  No, we are not opening our home to another child, but we are still hoping to help change a family tree for God's glory in the coming weeks and months! 

As we begin to move on with our lives, I catch myself wondering often about Marie.  Where is she?  What is she doing?  Is she happy?  Does her new family remember that she's allergic to red dye?  Are they careful about that?  Does she cry for me at night?  Does she still hear about Jesus?  Will she ever know how I love her?  I beg Jesus to protect her and keep her in His hands.  I beg him to bring her back to us someday.  And, we continue to clear our lives of reminders that there was once a perfect little girl living with us.  We've sold pretty much everything in her room.  The only thing still hanging is the first thing I hung after we painted.  It's a beautiful turquoise cross that says "It is Well With my Soul."  I wanted to teach HER what that meant - instead, God is teaching me what it really means. 

When Peace Like a River Attendeth My Way
When Sorrows Like Sea Billows Roll
Whatever My Lot, Thou Hast Taught me to Say
It is Well, It is Well with my Soul. 

It's true - we're in pain, we struggle, we get angry; but, God is there and it is well with my soul.  And, the peace does come in waves...just when it's needed...and washes over just like a river, cleansing and giving me breath just when I think I've run out!  And, God continues to help Malachi.  This holiday weekend was so good for our little family of 3.  Good time together, participating in long-standing traditions we've made with him...normalcy.  That's what we needed - and we've seen a huge improvement in his heart and emotions!  We celebrated a "re-birth" of sorts of our own hearts and family right along with celebrating the Reason we have life to begin with!  Now, we keep moving forward marking the firsts we won't have with her...thankful for the fifths and tenths we have with him and praying that one day we might get to celebrate a first again!