Our Son Got Married!

Our son Dillon married the love of his life, Bri on August 6th! 

We finally have another girl in the family! WooHoo!

It was such a special day! 

Of course I had a front row view and even though I didn't have my good Nikon with me...I couldn't help myself, the photographer in me just couldn't sit by and not capture it all with the only thing I had on hand~my cell phone.

So...let me just take you into our big day. You'll have to bare with me because such a special occasion requires *picture overload* and a few videos. 

*~*Be sure to watch the surprise Bride & Bridesmaid Dance!

Before the wedding pics:

And this beautiful daughter of ours will be bringing our first grandchild into the world in December!

My future daughter-in-law!

THE LOVE STORY BEGINS...

***•THE WEDDING•***

 

 

BRIDE AND BRIDESMAID DANCE 



GROOM HOIST


Family Dancing

After Wedding Shenanigans:

Thanks for stopping by. I loved getting to share this day of love with you!

Interesting Beach Finds!

After having lived by the beach for so long...I have to say, I'm never too surprised by the interesting things I see here.

So here's a guy cruising around in his Star Wars getup.

 Then we have squirrels who think they're prairie dogs. 

A movie crew filming as they pull a parasailer behind a car along the ocean's edge.

To this kid who was running up and down the beach on this futuristic "blade runner" type contraption. 

Let's end this post with a very cautious Mod Vespa driver. Someone's obviously heard the famous motorcycle warning..."It's not *if* you go down it's *when* you go down. 

He's having none of it. LOL!

Oh beach life in the summer is always beautiful, fun and interesting.

My Handsome Lunch Dates

Such a gorgeous day out and so much to be thankful for. Elijah surprised me and joined me for yoga today, and then Josh met us downtown for lunch after he finished school. Unfortunately little Josh has summer school and wasn't able to join our lunch date. 

(This was the only look I could get from Elijah when I told him to smile for our lunch date pic!)

There's something special about mother/son time as they get older. They're usually *too busy* to make time for the "old people" as my boys so affectionately refer to us (Brats!) Lol!

But I truly cherish every minute together, knowing that as they one day have family's of their own our time will be less and less. 

Jump aboard today's "THANKFUL TRAIN"...what are you thankful for? 

Meet Joan and Lloyd...

I worked out and decided to drive down to Laguna for my lunch/writing/reading spot today. I'm glad I did. It was cloudy, windy and cold at first, but soon a bus load of elderly people showed up and brought the sunshine with them. The clouds cleared as they slowly emerged from the bus one by one. They made their way down to the beautiful view overlooking the ocean. I took some pictures and was walking back to my chair when I noticed a couple of late comers deciding to get out and see the view. An elderly man was trying to help a shaky, wobbly woman out. I ran over to help and "Lloyd" and I each grabbed "Joan's" arms as she slowly shuffled along to a cement seating area. 

She kept telling me I was going to earn my Girl Scout buttons today!😃 After I sat her down she said, "You better tell your scout master that you helped a little old lady today." Lol! 

 I said, "Oh I think He already knows...my Scout Master is Jesus."

They smiled as I said, "Just give me a holler when you're ready to go back." I loved that even though Joan had trouble walking, she refused to just sit there in that bus.

Soon she was ready to head back. Lloyd and I were able to get her all the way to the steps when two young lifeguards came by and helped her the rest of the way in.

Im thankful for meeting wonderful people today who still know how to enjoy life in the midst of their trials!

Jump on today's "THANKFUL TRAIN"...what are you thankful for?

SHARK WARNING

While at the beach a couple of days ago I came across this sign. It's something I've NEVER seen here on the normally safe OC beaches. A warning. Not just any warning but a SHARK warning. It's been all over the news-13 juvenile Great White sharks hanging around our local waters.  

REMINDERS. There are things that I may need to be made aware of. Whether it's slowing down to look at some areas in my life that I may need to work on/give more attention to...or something as blatant as a warning sign not to go near an area.

So today I'm thankful for reminders/warnings, mental and physical. For that is when I pause and take notice. 

Jump aboard today's "THANKFUL TRAIN"...what are you Thankful for?

WOW...WHERE TO BEGIN-THE ADOPTION?

WOW...where to begin? I guess I'll start here:

First of all, we're on the tail end of ALL the paperwork to finalize the adoption of our foster son, Lil J. We thought we were done raising our "Brady Bunch" family when Elijah (our baby) graduated high school (WOOHOO...US time!) But Jesus had other plans for us. I received an email about a young boy that changed everything. It reached deep down into my core. I was unable to shake it. So, after praying with my hubby for several days, we began to move. We took steps of faith, walking it out and waiting on The Lord's will for our lives, our family's and lil J's. 

His mom was in hospice, dying of breast cancer. He hadn't been placed in a home yet and had been at the large local facility waiting for the right family for 3 months. As we visited with him (getting to know him and him us), I prayed that if The Lord wanted us to have him in our lives, to please let his mom hang on long enough to meet us and know her son would be well taken care of. 

After several visits with lil J, knowing/getting confirmation that he would become our foster son, I asked him if it would be okay to visit his mom so she would know that he would be well taken care of. I just couldn't imagine getting ready to leave this earth and not knowing where my child would end up/who would be taking care of him. He gave his approval (he was 13 at the time). I sat on it for a whole week. I was nervous and knew it would be awkward (Hi, you don't know us but we're going to be raising your son, as you prepare to go to Heaven). 

Finally, after work on a Friday, I KNEW it was the day we HAD to go visit. I bought flowers, took pics of our house, his room, our family, and our dog. The hubby and I headed over to the hospice facility. She looked better than I expected and was sitting up. She was very thin, pale, with long dark hair and big eyes. She was so young...too young to be going through this. We nervously introduced ourselves. She stared intently at us for a few minutes, looking, searching...then told us she was really hot (I'm sure she was just as nervous and uncomfortable as we were). My hubby went out to get her some ice for her ice pack. I stumbled over my words...wanting her to know how we came to this point, standing here in her room-preparing to care for her child. I showed her the pictures and explained each one. She took a long time...as though committing each and every picture to memory. After about 30 minutes of visiting, her mom and aunt came into the room. We introduced ourselves to them and then said our goodbyes (it was about 8:30 p.m.) I mentally made plans to come and visit her in the coming weeks so she could really get to know me. 

The next day, (Saturday, at 12:00 p.m.), as we were driving to go visit lil' J, we received a call that his mom had passed away. I broke down sobbing. I thought we would have more time. She looked like she had more time, I mean, we had just been talking to her...

At her services, her family shared the fact that she had been praying for a good family to take her son. After meeting us, she felt she was finally able to let go of her pain and suffering and go home. I took special note of the date, it was December 7th...the day before my birthday. One mother, handing her heart over to another; her gift to me, her greatest treasure, her child...her son.

After 1 year of being in our family as our foster son...we are now making it permanent. Sometimes children are just meant to be a part of your family. God knows exactly what He's doing. It happened first years ago, when I received my three step-kids to help raise and guide. And now we've been given another son, who was meant to be a part of our lives. As we said, "Yes, LORD, YOUR WILL for our lives," He in turn answered a mother's prayer before she was called home. He is always working, as we learn to let go of our carefully planned lives and give HIM room to work, we find our true purpose and joy...HIS WILL.