Tattoos

Just a quick note. This past week, Peter and I got tattoos in Ezra's memory. We both got his handprint, mine is on my back and Peter's is on his chest. Peter also added some more "hoopla" to his. We discussed the idea not long after Ezra passed away. And we both decided fairly easily that we wanted his handprint. It was just a matter of money and appropriate timing. We decided August would be a good month since his birthday and the anniversary of his passing are in that month. We met with a tattoo artist whose work Peter liked and set up our appointments. And now they are done--but still healing. Mine is already lighter than it looks in the picture. Peter's will look different too. Perhaps I'll post again in a few weeks once they've healed and the colors have settled. Either that or you can see them on facebook, because I will for sure post updated photos of the tatts there. (I am pretty sure most everyone who reads this is in touch with us on facebook!)

In loving memory:
Peter's


Sara's

Year One

One year.

One year that we've been without our precious little Ezra. One year without seeing him, holding him--but always missing him, loving him. One year of questions, without answers. A year of praying, wishing, hoping, wondering. All with the assurance that God is SO much bigger than this. We know He could have healed Ezra. We prayed for it--if it was His will. Alas, it was His will to bring Ezra HOME--to deliver him to Heaven and spare the hardships he would have had to face on earth. And He spared us from having to watch Ezra suffer any more than we already had in the 376 days of his life. Most days I wish God had had a different plan for us and Ezra--like a miraculous healing--to bring Him glory. But, I know that this plan will glorify Him, even more than we've already seen. And I can rest assured in knowing that, as I claim the authority of Christ in my life, I will be reunited with Ezra again in eternity. Until then, we are grateful for the time we got to spend with him. And we thank our Almighty God for the blessing he has been to our family.

We love you, Boog. We miss you.

Big Girl Bike

Recently, someone dumped a girl's bike at the dumpster in our complex. It looked in pretty good shape so I salvaged it, hoping Peter could fix it up for her. So, yesterday, he finally got around to it. A new chain and chain guard, two new tubes, training wheels, and a bell--its as good as new (a little faded from sun exposure). So, she FINALLY graduated from her tricycle. She tried it out today and had a blast.



Peter shot this on his skateboard!

2

This day sort of snuck up on us. Not that we didn't know it was coming. Even on the weekly shopping trip yesterday we bought fixings for the cake. But it was here way before we expected it to be. And a little over shadowed by Jeremiah's first day of second grade yesterday. And so, its here...now what? How do you plan to celebrate a birthday for someone who isn't around anymore? Its so hard. Especially since we never got to celebrate even one birthday with the little man. (He went into the hospital on his first birthday, which was a Wednesday, and never got to come home for the party, which would have been held the Sat after that.) Ezra James was born at 2:29pm on August 13th 2007. What a scary, hectic hour that was! I go into the ER at 1pm, not knowing I was in labor, just thinking something was wrong. To find out that I was nearly 9 cm dilated and there was no way to stop the labor or to prevent the delivery of a 30 week, 6 day old baby. He was so precious. We couldn't tell right away that something was wrong, other than the fact that he was so tiny (3 lbs, 6oz--not quite 16 inches long) and early and he needed help to breathe. We didn't expect what was to come.

But, that is not what today is about. Today is about our little man, who would be 2-years-old. We made a cake. We sang Happy Birthday. The kids drew sweet pictures for their little brother. We scattered some of his ashes among the "landscaping" on our front porch. We watched the little commemorative video we have of him, the one we showed at his memorials. We celebrated the privilege of knowing this amazing little soul for 1 year, 11 days. We thanked God for blessing our lives with him! And we praised Him for His faithfulness to deliver Ezra from suffering and giving Him eternal life in Christ Jesus! Ezra is healthy and happy with Jesus today. He is waiting to celebrate his first year of eternity in the glory of our Lord. What a lucky little boy!

Happy Birthday Ezra!

Cake


Birthday Pictures

Second Grade!

Jeremiah started second grade today! He is so excited! A lot of his friends from first grade are in his class again this year. His teacher seems super sweet and I think their personalities will mesh well. Jeremiah requires a flexible teacher, whose tolerance for hyperactivity and short-attention span is HIGH. "Ms. Bee" seems to have a proactive teaching approach and I think it will be a good fit for Jeremiah. We got off to a late start this morning and barely made it before the second bell! We need to get back into the routine of being awake and ready by 8am! I'm sure we'll have it together by the end of the week. When I picked up Jeremiah after school today, he was all smiles. He had a great first day! Of course, the only bad report was how talkative he has been in class. He'll work on it though. He's just excited and loves people and talking to them. She sent each kid home with a special bag of goodies...pencils, eraser tips, stickers, and a letter from one of her students last year about why they liked her second grade class. All I could think when we were reading this former 2nd grader's letter was how neat the printing was! Jeremiah has horrible writing...I hope it will improve over this year. She isn't giving them "real" homework this week--just fun activities so the kids can get to know each other better. Tonight he has to choose three things to share tomorrow that represent things he loves. He chose a monster truck, a Bible story CD, and Ezra's birth announcement. I wish I could be there tomorrow when he tells the class about why he chose those items. We can't wait to see the adventures that await all of us in the second grade!!!

Rushing to class!


With his new teacher