Thursday, January 26, 2012

Happy January 25th!


Dear Sarah, Hannah, Julia & Joshua,
On January 25th, 18 years ago, your daddy asked me a special question. I was a freshman at Harding University and he was a Junior. He told me he wanted to talk to me after my Biology study session. I was so nervous and feared he might not want to go on dates with me anymore. The opposite happened! We sat on a Harding Swing and he told me everything he liked about me. Then he sweetly asked me if I would be his girlfriend. Of course, I said yes! We dated a couple years and then went on a summer mission trip to Papua New Guinea in July 1995. On our way back home, we stayed and toured Australia for a few days. We went on a date to the top of the Sydney Tower and your daddy asked me a very important question. First, we walked around the top of the tower in a circle once and the second time we walked around he stopped and asked me what that walk reminded me of. He gave me 3 guesses and I didn't know how to answer so I said, is walking around the top of the tower like going around the world from the USA to PNG and back? He said, No. I couldn't guess anything else so then he explained. At the college we went to, when someone is engaged the club has a special ceremony called a Ring Ceremony. The ladies in the club will circle around the fountain and according to tradition, the candle has the ring on it and is passed around the club while members sing the club song. It goes around the circle once so everyone can see the pretty ring. The second time it goes around the circle the girl whose ring it is blows the candle out. Everyone rushes towards her and then she shares her story of how she got engaged. Well, Brian said just like walking around the top of the tower once is like a ring on the candle going around the circle once. The second time we walked we stopped and then he got down on one knee and told me he wants me to be the one to blow the candle out at the next ring ceremony. He told me how much he loves me and wants to spend the rest of his life with me. Then he asked me to marry him. Of course I said YES! We were married a year later on July 13, 1996. I hope and pray that someday God will lead you to a mate as special as your daddy! One of our favorite books to read to you is: The Princess and The Kiss by Jennie Bishop, a sotry of God's gift of Purity. I am praying for you and the person you will marry someday if that is God's will for you! I love you very much.
Love,
Mommy

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Grandma Sonia



Dear Sarah, Hannah, Julia & Joshua,
It has been a rough year and I'm sorry I have not updated letters to you on this blog. A year ago today, your sweet Grandma Sonia was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. It was very sad especially because a week previous your Grandpa Bill passed away. Daddy started a new job in Red Bluff so our house in Sacramento was mostly packed in boxes. However, we put our move on hold when we found out my mom, your grandma had cancer. I wanted to be close enough to drive to the bay area to help out during the week and on weekends not be 2 hours farther away in Red Bluff. Plus, all our friends and support group were in Sacramento. We were blessed with Mimi & Ashley who came over every week to babysit you so I could tend to my mom's needs. In February, Grandma Sonia had a dream that Jesus was standing at the end of her bed with black stuff coming out the right side of his mouth. She didn't like that dream. At that point, she was going to fight the cancer. But God had another plan. The next few months was a blur with many doctor's appointments, surgery that was unsuccessful, watching the one we love so much get so weak. On April 15, 2011 she went to heaven. Hours before she passed away, black stuff started pouring out of the right side of her mouth. It was really scary until I realized that Jesus already bore her pain when he revealed the dream to her. At that moment I had a sense of peace. I know you will always love & miss your grandma. When the doctors said there was nothing left but to have hospice care, I remember that she said my children were too young to remember her. I know being only 2 1/2 and 6 is a young age but I promised her you would remember. One day we will see her again in heaven.
I wish she could visit our new house in Red Bluff. She would be surprised to see me, a city girl turning country! Our new homeschool friend, Mary, gives us cow's milk each week. We have been having so much fun making homemade butter, whipped cream and yogurt with the raw milk. We are even getting chickens! I like our new home and especially our backyard. You are starting to adjust and are making friends at our new church and the homeschool programs we are in. All of you are growing so fast. The tooth fairy visited Sarah & Hannah so much this past year that she is probably broke! Joshua loves choo choo's and cars. He is fast at riding his bike. Julia is very sweet and careful. She says she wants to be a princess and a doctor when she grows up. (Julia sweetly sat by Grandma Sonia's bed and held her hand for hours that the hospice nurse told Julia she would make a great nurse or doctor someday). Hannah wants to be a singer & an actress. Sarah wants to be a baker and a singer. Joshua wants to be a firetruck man. I love you all very much.
Love,
Mommy