Passages and Then Some Cross Eyes at the End

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I haven't blogged in a while...there have been too many other important things going on (hence the title, except for the cross-eyes part). We've had lots of important events, some that I'll include here, some that I'll write about later, and some that just were lived and don't need to be documented.

The beginning of my busy season (or maybe the beginning of the end of my busy season, depending on how you look at it) started with a baby shower for my friend, Mariah. We've known Mariah and her husband, Jason since college days...when Jeremy and Jason were goobers dying their hair orange together, leading ill-planned trips to Mexico, asking girls on dates and then acting like it wasn't a date just to confuse them, jumping on cars with food on their faces, and embarrassing themselves left and right (though what made them cool was their lack of awareness of their goober-ness...or maybe their way of leaving you guessing as to whether they were aware of it or not...I'm still not sure, but in any case, Mariah and I each married one of them despite their antics, so there you have it).

Always purposefully managing to mess up what would have been a nice picture for other people

Newlyweds

Jeremy and I lived with Jason and Mariah when Samuel was a wee little baby, and they expressed their desires to have a baby of their own. Mariah doted on Samuel and loved him like a true aunt, and each year that Sam celebrated a birthday and they still had no children was very bittersweet. Mariah shared her ups and downs with me over the years...what a good friend she was to be open and vulnerable with me even though I eventually had 3 children and she still had none! She was truly excited for each of my pregnancy announcements, and even was at the hospital as my "doula" when Annie was born. I remember when she really became at peace with God's timing and what He was doing to refine her character...her demeanor totally changed (even though she still wanted babies)...she had such a peace and joy about her! I never ever once saw bitterness in her--and that says a lot, because I think it would be really hard to not become bitter or jealous in her situation.

After Jeremy and I got back from Europe last fall, Jason and Mariah were eager to come over to see us and tell us the news that they were pregnant! It was so exciting to watch Mariah and Jason grow (literally and figuratively, sorry Mariah, I couldn't resist) as they prepared to be parents. Whenever people mentioned how long they had to wait to get pregnant(Samuel is 6 and a half, so that's at least how long it's been), Mariah would always give glory to God and His timing in her life. Once she said to me, "The baby is the answer to prayer. The MIRACLE is my contentment in the waiting."

So...hostessing a baby shower for her was a true joy and privilege. You might think I went a little overboard with the theme and decor and all, but everyone who was there would agree that she and this special baby were worth it!

The theme was India/Nepal (places she and Jason have both been)

I had lots of help with the shower from these ladies and a few other friends!

Here I was reading a card from Samuel to Aunt Riah that brought tears to her eyes. Since they didn't know whether they were having a boy or a girl, he wrote one to a boy baby and one to a girl baby.

Mariah calls this picture, "Welcome to your crazy family, baby!"

Some other passages have been the end of leading MOPS for me (maybe more on that later), Samuel's graduation from kindergarten, Aunt Stacey's wedding in Atlanta (more on that later), another wedding here, Evan turning 4 (more on that later), the painting of our house and Jeremy's 2nd knee surgery. But as always, there's just a lot of daily life mixed in!

These pictures are from Sam's field trip to the park at the end of the school year. Annie and Evan got to tag along.

A big rite of passage for Evan was climbing the chain ladder at the park by himself. All the kindergartners cheered him on by name...it was so sweet!

Silliness and cross-eyes:

Here's Jeremy recovering from a major knee surgery. He's been known to suffer from a man cold in the past, but he's being a pretty good patient with this. He tore both the inner and outer miniscus, tore the ACL (which ripped of a chunk of bone that flipped back and rubbed the cartilege away), tore his MCL and had fractures in his femur and tibia (I think I'm getting everything). And yet, he painted our house and worked on the roof by himself, walked around Atlanta, performed/helped with 2 weddings, and hardly complained. I'm not sure what was holding his knee together besides his skin for all of that!

Post knee surgery excitement=cruising around Walmart in an electric shopping cart. I'm surprised I captured him on film considering his speed and swift maneuvering.

Last day of picking Sam up from Kindergarten in the gym.

Crampaw and Grandma visit for graduation and birthday celebrations

Sam was so concerned about making Evan feel welcome at his little classroom graduation party--it was so sweet!

I made a cake wreck for the graduates at youth group. I don't think any of them noticed.

The most exciting passage of all was the safe one of this little GIRL into the world on Saturday, June 11th--Welcome to the world, Karli Anne Rohr! You are loved!