For 8 days, this is what it was like around my house. There were baby things everywhere...and we all loved it. They are gone and we are all saddened by the reality that we won't be finding these things around the house...
Amy left at 2AM this morning headed home to see Ryan. Gracie should sleep a good part of the trip, I pray she does. I got up to help her and when I came in after she left, the first thing I noticed was no more of these on my kitchen counter...
Then I walked in the Living Room and what had been Amy's closet for 8 days was now empty. I could have easily wept with sadness but I did that yesterday and asked God to help me focus on my thankfulness for 8 days rather than my sadness over it ending. We are so thankful for so much time with them after so many months of missing them so! The worst part has been my Claudia. When Amy & Ryan got called to ministry in Florida, I was so terrified of Claudia crying herself to sleep night after night but she handled it so well. Of course, they moved right at the beginning of a school year and she was super busy and super tired. She also didn't really have a grasp on what them leaving meant since no one in her life has ever left like that before. Now, she completely understands what them leaving means. She has done just fine with the little one or two hour visits we've had since they left but this visit, she had time to get majorly attached all over again and she is so sad for them to be gone. We all are...
While they were here, I did something astonishing, I rarely picked up my camera.Another thing I did was ignore my blog. I would think about both but then I'd be so caught up in the moment that I would decide to just enjoy them all and not worry about the camera and I wouldn't want to take the time away from them to work on a post. I took some pictures on their last day with us. I have been sad that this visit coincided with me working at our Kindergarten JumpStart program from 7:00-12:00 each day so I have not gotten to be home with them in the mornings. Claudia and Cooper stayed with Amy two of those mornings and they loved getting to have her babysit again. She is the BEST babysitter! We couldn't wait to get home to them on Friday to enjoy the afternoon.
I'm trying to convince Amy to make the move to some bigger bows. I got out this one of Claudia's and sent it home with them...I think she looks ADORABLE in this big bow!
As this picture shows, Gracie Lyn cannot take her eyes off Claudia when she is in the room. Claudia has carried her all over this house and Gracie has loved it.
Claudia was playing with her and I went in to check on them and she was practicing changing her clothes.
On her last night here, I gave her a bath while Amy swam with the kids. No other kids could possibly love Amy and Ryan more than mine do. Boy was it hard to see our last night wind down. We were all teary to say goodnight because we knew they would be gone when morning came.
It is no secret that our heart's desire is for our friends to move back closer to us. We can't and won't argue with God but we really hope that He will someday bring them closer so that our visits are not so spread out. We want to be a part of Gracie's life so badly. We want to share her growing and changing with them first hand. In the mean time, we will cherish every visit like this one that God blesses us with. He has been good to us over the past 8 days. It has been busy and we are all pretty tired but it has been pure JOY! We are praying that God will bless us with another amazing visit like this one very soon. We missed Ryan so much and we are so thankful he loaned us his girls for a few days! One thing I have shared with Claudia is that it is good to cry because she will miss them so much because to miss someone BIG means when they were here, you loved them BIG and BIG is the only way to LOVE!
Amy left at 2AM this morning headed home to see Ryan. Gracie should sleep a good part of the trip, I pray she does. I got up to help her and when I came in after she left, the first thing I noticed was no more of these on my kitchen counter...
Then I walked in the Living Room and what had been Amy's closet for 8 days was now empty. I could have easily wept with sadness but I did that yesterday and asked God to help me focus on my thankfulness for 8 days rather than my sadness over it ending. We are so thankful for so much time with them after so many months of missing them so! The worst part has been my Claudia. When Amy & Ryan got called to ministry in Florida, I was so terrified of Claudia crying herself to sleep night after night but she handled it so well. Of course, they moved right at the beginning of a school year and she was super busy and super tired. She also didn't really have a grasp on what them leaving meant since no one in her life has ever left like that before. Now, she completely understands what them leaving means. She has done just fine with the little one or two hour visits we've had since they left but this visit, she had time to get majorly attached all over again and she is so sad for them to be gone. We all are...
While they were here, I did something astonishing, I rarely picked up my camera.Another thing I did was ignore my blog. I would think about both but then I'd be so caught up in the moment that I would decide to just enjoy them all and not worry about the camera and I wouldn't want to take the time away from them to work on a post. I took some pictures on their last day with us. I have been sad that this visit coincided with me working at our Kindergarten JumpStart program from 7:00-12:00 each day so I have not gotten to be home with them in the mornings. Claudia and Cooper stayed with Amy two of those mornings and they loved getting to have her babysit again. She is the BEST babysitter! We couldn't wait to get home to them on Friday to enjoy the afternoon.
I'm trying to convince Amy to make the move to some bigger bows. I got out this one of Claudia's and sent it home with them...I think she looks ADORABLE in this big bow!
As this picture shows, Gracie Lyn cannot take her eyes off Claudia when she is in the room. Claudia has carried her all over this house and Gracie has loved it.
Claudia was playing with her and I went in to check on them and she was practicing changing her clothes.
On her last night here, I gave her a bath while Amy swam with the kids. No other kids could possibly love Amy and Ryan more than mine do. Boy was it hard to see our last night wind down. We were all teary to say goodnight because we knew they would be gone when morning came.
It is no secret that our heart's desire is for our friends to move back closer to us. We can't and won't argue with God but we really hope that He will someday bring them closer so that our visits are not so spread out. We want to be a part of Gracie's life so badly. We want to share her growing and changing with them first hand. In the mean time, we will cherish every visit like this one that God blesses us with. He has been good to us over the past 8 days. It has been busy and we are all pretty tired but it has been pure JOY! We are praying that God will bless us with another amazing visit like this one very soon. We missed Ryan so much and we are so thankful he loaned us his girls for a few days! One thing I have shared with Claudia is that it is good to cry because she will miss them so much because to miss someone BIG means when they were here, you loved them BIG and BIG is the only way to LOVE! Amy, Ryan, and Gracie Lyn,
we LOVE you BIG!
1 comment:
I couldn't wait to get home and read your post and as always it didn't disappoint-loved it!
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