Time Goes By

This is the title of one of my favourite British TV shows that I used to watch in Zimbabwe. It is also an expression of what our lives have been like since October. We have been so crazy and so busy that time just went by. I have looked at my blog but did not have the heart to update as it has been a busy, sad, festive time all at once.

Some friends who read this may know what I am talking about, others not. Well when you have lost a member of your family who used to be a part of your everyday life for so long, and especially of your family celebrations it is hard to adjust to those times without them.

Christmas does not have the same allure for me as it once did. Besides not being the real actual time of year that Christ was born, and the outlandish publicity of it all, our last Christmas with our son Brendon was so special and we had no idea it would be our last. We decorated all out with our 7 foot Christmas tree and lots of presents, decorations all over the living room, and special treats to eat. Each year Christmas has come upon our family way too quickly, but my husband and I are glad to see it go.

If you are wondering if we celebrated. Yes we did that. I will say though that as the years go by we notice the gap between the boys more and more. Our oldest tries to be more understanding to his three year old brother but some days it just drives him crazy! He does like to take over and 'guide' him wisely into how to do and play certain things. This makes the parents nutso too. Can anyone understand this?

We celebrated by decorating a very small tree we purchased last year for the boys room. We moved it to our living room and had a nativity scene set up as well. We read Christmas books during the month of December. I even conceded to "The Night Before Christmas" story on Christmas Eve as we were snowed in and unable to attend church. We do not celebrate Santa/Father Christmas. Our personal feeling is not to introduce something that we have to tell them to forget about getting gifts from in the future. I may switch to celebrating St Nicolas earlier in December this year though. He was a real person who blessed others during the winter months.

We had a quiet day at home with family coming over for dessert in the evening. However I did notice that not everyone was content with what they received. I need to remind my children a little more often that there are others who would appreciate just a portion of what they have once a year. Thankfulness and Gratefulness are so hard to teach young children some days when they focus so much on themselves and pleasing their will.

Scriptures we are learning in our homeschool are about Character this year, not just relating to the Bible characters, but those in our history, adventure and story books too. Who, what, and why did the characters act and say the things they did? It is a challenging one for any parent or child to learn this way.

I will post pictures of Christmas in the next post. I wanted to ask you to continue to lift our family in prayer as we may have found a church home we want to stay at. It just so happens to be the church my friend Mrs Keller attends. It was a surprise to find out this very sick little chap recently diagnosed with cancer (same kind as my son had) does go to the same church we had been visiting for a few weeks. Is it coincidence - I don't know. We shall find out!

2011 is full of new things for our family. We are still dealing daily with the past. Brendon will always be a part of every day. I know of a family in TN whose son died 10 years ago, and they still think about him daily, and what an impact he left on the world.

Don't Give Up would be on Brendon's lips if he were on earth to say it, but he whispers it in my heart most days!

Wordless Wednesdays

More photographs today - :)

The photos are in the reverse order of age development - the youngest pic is at the bottom here. All 3 boys are just so cute!

Brendon's "Angel" Anniversary Day

It was exactly two years at 1245 am this morning when our dear little 5 year old passed across to the heavenly realms. It has been a challenging week full of memories and tears. Today I woke up feeling refreshed a little and with a little smile.

I have put some new pictures on this blog for those who have never seen his younger days before. They are up above this writing.

We miss you darling Brendon. We know you are okay and with all your friends who had cancer and many other children too who left earth way too early. Thank you sweetie for 5 1/4 wonderful years in our family. Your brothers talk about you often and so do we.
Lots of love
Mummy and Daddy, Daniel and Andrew.

Obedience to Christ

Our Bible Study Devotion for school today out of "Morning Bells." Does this speak to you - share with me!


John 2:5

"Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it."

How are you to know what He says to you? Ah, it is so easy to know if we are really willing to know, and willing to obey when we do know! He has spoken so plainly to us in His Word in that He tells us, tells even little children, exactly what to do. It is most wonderful how He has said every thing there for for us, told us every thing we ought to do. When you read a chapter or hear one read, listen and watch to see what He saith unto you in it. There is another way in which He tells us what to do. Do you not hear a little voice inside that always tells you to do the right thing and not to do the wrong thing? That is conscience, and He speaks to you by it.

Another way is by those whom He has set over You. he has told you once for all to "obey your parents," and to "obey them that have the rule over you." so, when they tell you to do something, it is the Lord Jesus himself that you have to obey in obeying them.

Now "whatsoever He saith unto you, do it!" Yes, "whatsoever," dear little one, whether easy or hard, do it because He tells you; do it for love of Him, and it will be a thousand times better and happier to obey your King than to please yourself. And He himself will help you to do it; only look up to Him for grace to obey, and He will give it.

"Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." Do not just thing about doing it, or talk about doing it, but do it! "Do it!" Do the exact thing He would have you do, not something a little bit different, or something which you think will be very nearly the same, but "do it."

And "do it" at once. It is so true that "the very first moment is the easiest for obedience." Every minute that you put off doing the right thing makes it harder. Do not let your King have to "speak twice" to you. "Whatsoever" He saith unto you, do it cheerfully, exactly, and instantly.

I need to continue writing about Brendon and his legacy, to share what the Lord has done, can do and continues to do through a small 5 year old boy.

"DON'T GIVE UP!"

National Museum of the United States Air Force

Wow this was an amazing place for boys - especially those who are interested in flying machines, war and such things. Of course that does not really include myself but I still went anyway. My favorite part of this museum was the humongous planes outside on an old runway/parking lot. As the day was about 90 degrees in the shade this was a warm venture to visit.

The museum inside has air conditioning and is enjoyable and HUGE. There are many different parts to this museum and a gift shop for those knick-knacks and reminders or just to purchase postcards because your camera can't do it justice.

The stories that are told through the history of the aircraft is amazing. We even saw Kennedy's Air force One. Fancy that. Yes it was interesting and good to go back to again in a few years when perhaps my little guy is not so tired!

The galleries are filled with places, gliders, the Wind tunnel example that the Wright brothers used to work out how to fly/build their plane. One of their planes is on display too - exciting to see especially once you have studied flying! there are the Cold War and Missile Galleries too - not to be missed. Mannequins and other props are used to make this museum more friendly to visit.

The boys and their Dad paid to ride in the the Cockpit of a 'bomber' I think. They 'flew' over the mountains, down the valleys and had a 5 minute ride of fun. My oldest could not stop talking about it afterwards and the little guy said they nearly crashed into the mountains! He thought it was real!

We had an enjoyable time there and as it is not too far of a drive from home can be visited from here in one day too. It is free with a huge parking lot. During school times I am sure there are plenty of school tours but you can pick to get there later in the morning to avoid the crowds I think. This museum is open 7 days a week and is staffed mostly by volunteers which is amazing too.

I hope you enjoyed walking through our vacation to Ohio with us this year and some of our memories for years to come. I like sharing them with you too.

Here is a link for their website:

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum

Ohio Caverns

On the morning of our fourth day of vacation we ventured Northwest of Columbus to where Ohio Caverns is situated. It is 4 miles west of a small town called West Liberty. I assure you it is long, windy, cool and our group of about 20 people took at least an hour to venture through here. There is time to take photographs during the tour but it is better if you have a professional camera or photographer with you to use them instead. I found that a lot of flash photography with regular digital cameras in the semi dark is definitely not good quality.

Our boys loved this cave experience and think it is a pretty cool thing to be 100 feet underground and see this rock formation in different colors. they have one stalactite and stalagmite formation that have joined together to form the shape of a water pump. Another humongous formation looks like a baseball bat and still other larger ones like pillars holding up buildings. The original owner of the land preserved these caves haphazardly until someone bought the land from him and then the next owner begun to stop visitors from touching the stalactites and stalagmites to prevent deterioration. I'm glad this happened as we probably would not have this natural wonder to enjoy if someone had not taken the care to preserve the natural history on this farm. Andy is above pictured next to a big icicle shaped stalactite.

We came out of the caverns at the end of our tour and had thoroughly cooled off with the temperature underground about 55 degrees Fahrenheit, to a whopping 95 degrees outside. It was a dramatic change! We picnicked on the grounds and there are shelters available to do that under too.

We later drove through the countryside on our way to an Amish restaurant (Family style) to partake of a late lunch early dinner in their buffet section. That was probably a mistake for two of us as the food did not entirely agree with us almost immediately. We are also not used to so many additives in what we eat. We will not be doing that for a while either. Photo above of the boys in the Amish wagon!

We drove slowly back to Columbus, OH for to tumble everyone into a bath as they were filthy from the caves. (Tip: wear old clothes) The fresh country air makes one weary too. So ended the fourth day of our mini-vacation.