Memorial Services

Well, I'm finally getting on to write again. Sorry for the delay!

Thank you for everyone who's been praying and thinking of us. The cards are wonderfull and Ashleigh and Chantel--the flowers were beautiful!! Thank you!!!

Colorado was beautiful and snowy. LOTS of snow in Leadville. The back fence was nearly buried and the front fence was (with the help of several snowplows). The mountains were covered with clouds the whole time we were there but it was fun to be in the cold again. The altitude was about ready to kill me!! I'm not used to 2 miles high anymore! I guess that's cuz I'm living at about 300 feet (give or take). We left just in time though--our flight went out EARLY Tues morning (thanks Jen and George for sacrificing sleep for us!!). We were one of the first flights out of the airport and we still took off 50 minutes late (had to wait to be de-iced). Many flights were cancelled in the next several days, so it was good that we left early. I was complaining about it originally but God knew what He was doing giving us the early flight out!

It was really nice seeing family and friends up in Leadville--it was REALLY good to go home! I really needed that. We had a memorial service at the church on Sunday night--it was very nice. Mr. Schutte kind of ran things and played "The Untitled Hymn" he was going to sing it but Mrs. Schutte said he probably wouldn't have made it through. Mrs. Schutte also gave us a little stuffed mouse--a very cute white mouse with pink clothes and a pink bow. (It was actually about the size of Ady). (And they chose the mouse b/c I brought rats home from college that my parents were less than thrilled about :o) But it was a very nice service.

We also had a service in AL the Saturday after we got back--it followed close to the same format as the Leadville one. When I showed Pastor the list of songs we wanted he said, "well, Laura is singing 'Day by Day' and the Norton kids are singing 'It is Well'". So that was nice--they did a great job. The kids also sang "Jesus Loves Me"; 3 verses, the last one I'd never heard but it fit nicely. Josh's dad also got up and spoke for a little bit. Almost everyone from my work came--it was great to have them there supporting us. There were lots of tears, but it was nice. It ended with "I'll Fly Away"--b/c that is our hope--and that's what we are clinging too right now. Ady's up in Heaven and we will see her again, but it's still very tough in the meantime.

So I guess now we just start to go on with life. That's much harder than I thought it would be. I started work part-time this week. I still get very tired by the afternoon, so I don't know how next week will go--I'm suppose to go back full time. But it's helped getting back into a schedule. But there are still times (especially around babies and baby things) that I start crying and get depressed, but then I start praying, hug Josh, and keep going. Hopefully it will get easier as time goes by.

Well I gotta go--I'm gonna go help my mother-in-law plan how to make a guest bedroom into a sewing/cardmaking/scrapbooking/guest bedroom :o) Thanks for everything from all of you--we greatly appreciate it!

Sarah