Hard News to Handle

I have dealt with the deaths of all of my grandparents, but my kids haven't dealt with the death of anyone they love and care about. I miss my grandparents very much, but understand death and life after death, so even though I selfishly miss my loved ones, I realize that we all live on borrowed time. I know eternal life cannot compare with our secular lives. Even though my head knows that, my heart longs for more time with Grandpa Hains.

God has been so good to our family by blessing us with an amazing man that we call dad, grandpa and great-grandpa. Grandpa Hains just last week was playing hide-n-go-seek with Brooks and Sadie, playing soccer with Brooks, putting together a puzzle with Sadie and showing them his endless love for them. He is one to never tire, give them tons of candy, give them a playmate that they adore, and teach them about his love for Jesus Christ. This man lives his life as we all should, by loving Jesus through his actions as well as his words. So many lives have been touched by Grandpa- as a pastor, as a friend, as a father, as a grandpa and as a great-grandpa. He has baptized each one of my children, and he married Ryan and me, and that is something we will always cherish. He is a man of great compassion and endless patience. He has been blessed with a beautiful singing voice and an inspirational speaking voice. Lost sheep flock to hear the word of God from this man. You can't help but love him after meeting him.

Grandpa has cancer. His cancer has spread throughout his body. He is in the hospital and the family is meeting with Hospice today. He doesn't have much time left in his earthly body. We selfishly want him here on earth with us. How great it will be when the angels dance for him when the Lord calls one of his faithful servants home! Even knowing that, I sit and cry. I cry and I weep for what we will lose. I weep for what my children will lose. They do not know death. I want to protect their innocence, and I am unable. They do not know life without their beloved Grandpa Hains. Please pray that Grandpa will not suffer. Please pray for Grandma Hains who is about to lose the man she has been married to for 62 years. Please pray for his 2 daughters and their spouses who are about to lose their dad. Please pray for his 4 grandchildren and their spouses, and please pray for his 10 great-grandchildren. We all love this man dearly, and are so fortunate to have had him in our lives. We covet your prayers at this time.

The Weekend Ahead

Here is one more picture of Sadie from her 1st day of school. My computer is letting me post one and one more only. Nice! I think I"m giving up- you'll just have to trust me that she was cute and excited on her first day! haha She'll graduate from high school before my internet cooperates enough for me to post another.

The weekend ahead brings some fun activities! Tomorrow night the boys have a birthday party to attend, so they are geeked about that. We may try to hit the football game with Sadie while they are at the party for a little while, but that part of the plan may get scrapped b/c it is supposed to rain. Saturday morning is Cobe's football game. He plays his first real game. (Last week the games were scrimmages.) Brooks has bagged soccer for this season, so at least we won't have to be 2 places at once.

Saturday night is our annual PBR bull ride outing. The event snuck up on us this year b/c it is always Ryan's birthday weekend, but this year, it is the weekend before. Ryan happened to see a commercial on tv for it, so we quick called my bro and got the ball rolling for our tickets. The boys are super excited to go to that Saturday night to support our favorite rider, Sean Willingham. We'll probably make a night of it and go out to dinner before the bull ride.

Sunday is a big day at church- a lunch after the service, then some carnival type activities for the kids to kick off the fall programming.

Each weekend that rolls around I always think... finally, a calm weekend with no activities, and somehow by the time Friday appears, that usually changes. I'm not complaining. I am not the type who enjoys sitting home, but it doesn't leave room for much spontaneity. :-) Off to fold clothes and wash a few dishes before turning in for the night. Ta-ta!

My Big Girl!

Well, we have many pictures of Sadie's first day of 3-school, but you guessed it--- my internet is NOT cooperating for me to upload them. Ugh! But anyway, Sadie had a wonderful first day of school! She was adorable when I went to pick her up and was smiling from ear to ear. Ryan said the drop-off went well too. I'll try to post more pics later when I'm over my frustration. Here she is on the ride home.

I asked her what she learned today... "I don't know" was her response. I asked her what she did today..."I don't know" was her response. Then she was quiet for awhile. After pondering for awhile, she said, "I got a sucker at school!!!!" That was the highlight of her day. Haha It was a little girl's birthday so she had gotten a treat bag on her first day- made the biggest impression obviously.

Mom- Does this ring a bell?

Miss Sadie found a fun new activity. She gets in our sink (as you can see) and plays forever in the water. I had to run get the camera because my mom and dad took a picture of me in the bathroom sink, and if I remember correctly, I was about her age. The only difference, I had a sucker in my mouth in my picture, but I didn't have any to give her today.


Look at that face! Stinker!


We had a great weekend- the high school football game Friday night, soccer and football game Saturday morning, went for a walk in the afternoon with Lisa, met Ryan's parents at Vitale's for dinner Saturday night, home to plant some plants that the neighbor gave us, hung out with the Lamers for awhile in the driveway (until SWARMS of mosquitoes ran us inside!!!), church this morning, errands (Target, MC Sports, Dunham's) this afternoon, home for another walk with Lisa, playtime with Sadie in her room and put away the TONS of hand-me-downs that Lisa gave me yesterday for her while the boys and Ryan ran some more errands, made dinner (our family's favorite meatloaf), made some Amish friendship bread- (still have 2 starters left if anyone is interested), took some bread to the neighbor who gave us all the plants, then back home for Big Brother and to put the kids to bed. Whew! That was my weekend in a long, boring nutshell. Haha

Enjoy your week- ours is busy again with work, school, football practice 3 x's, meet the teacher night, training at church AND my baby girl starts 3-school on Tuesday! Back later with pictures of her 1st day!

My 2 Sons...

are very different indeed. I love them both dearly for their strengths and their endearing qualities. Cobe had a very successful morning at football. He claimed to have 12 tackles on defense (which he plays cornerback) which Ryan attested to, and he SCORED HIS FIRST TOUCHDOWN!!!!! He had a 25 yard run on the 2nd to last play of the last game. Not many touchdowns were scored today by any of the teams, so this was huge for him!!!! They played 4 different Byron Center teams and won 3 and tied 1 game zero-zero. No touchdowns were scored by the Byron Center- they held those guys back with their staunch defense and big hits. Cobe is hooked!!!


Here is my little man. Yep- he is the littlest guy on the team, but that didn't stop him one bit!

Here is the intimidator!
Here is Cobra running his 25 yards for the TD.
He had to outwit, outrun, outplay the big ole Byron Center guys with his blazing speed. (If you can't tell, Ryan is helping me compose this post.)

And then there is Brooks with his endearing qualities. I could just eat him up.... most of the time! But for some reason, he has stubbornly decided that he is NOT going to play soccer. So I thought I would capture his 1st game in pictures so he could look back one day and laugh.
Guess which one Brooks is? Hint: The one with his head down crying his eyes out.
Poor coaches did their best trying to convince Brooks to play. He wasn't buying it!
He spent his entire game on the sidelines watching. When I left to go to Cobe's game, Ryan said they did physically pick him up and put him on the field. Brooks sat on the field Indian-style as the clump of kids ran around him. Haha I wish I had been there to see that... NOT!!!!

TGIF???????

I used to look forward to the weekends.... but now they are busier than the week it seems with 2 kids in sports. We are going to the Chix football game tonight, then Brooks has a soccer game at 8:15 in the morning (has to be there at 8:00) and Cobe has multiple football games in the morning starting at 9:00 (has to be there at 8:15) which will go until noon or 1:00. Hmmmm.... that is a lot of sports for one weekend!!!!!!!!!

1st Day SUCCESS!!!!

Look at this smiling face! Cobe got off the bus and said, "Mom, I know this is going to be a great year!" He loved his teacher, and he loved his class. He came right in, got out his homework, and got it done right away. He loves having an agenda this year and was very proud to have me sign it. After homework, he had football practice. When we got home, he read for his 20 minutes and then showered. I tucked him in, and he said, "Mom, this was the perfect day. I didn't get yelled at at school; I didn't get yelled at at football practice." Doesn't take much for him to have a perfect day! I am so proud of this little guy- he is a hard worker and he makes great choices. I don't ever have to nag him about doing his homework and doing his best. I LOVE YOU COBE!!!
And then this little fella had a wonderful day as well! His teacher is SO awesome! She emailed me during the day to say that he was having a great first day. Love that personal touch! He seemed nervous last night, but Ryan said he was all smiles this morning. Lisa saw him when she dropped off Maya and said he lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw her. It was so reassuring to know he was having such a great day too. He claims his favorite part of the day is recess- of course! He made a new friend named Carter, so that was a great thing for Brooks. He did admit though that he is happy that he has two days off before he goes again. ;-) Tomorrow night we tackle soccer practice again, so I am hoping that goes better for him. I LOVE YOU BROOKS!!!
Here is some of the crew at the bus stop this morning.

My day was good too- it was so nice to be done before 10:00. I went to Don's to browse around, filled up my car, went for a 3 mile walk, ate lunch, showered, and visited the Hains' all before Sadie's nap. Then I had some alone time while she napped- can't beat that! Looking forward to day 2!