A New Way To Celebrate Life

As most of you know, after my mom passed away on January 27, 2009, I planted a memorial tree in her honor in Kyle, Texas. The first couple years the tree was alive, I was living in Kyle/Buda & could nuture it and watch it grow. Now that is not the case... By the grace of God (yes, we are thankful for this lifestyle!), God has called us to be a military family. We probably will not have the opportunity to live near the tree again for another 15-20 years (if ever),  so we've decided to make some changes! This is simply a new way to celebrate her life!

 Here's the tree right Mother's Day 2009...just a few months after planting it!

Trevor and I go by and see the tree everytime we are in Buda and it was doing well until this winter. We started noticing that the leaves were falling off and of course we just thought it was winter...unfortunately it was not. As spring arrived, nothing changed with the tree and I knew deep down that it was dying. I was not ready to accept the fact that the tree could die, so I just continued watering it when we came in town and asking for others to help us water while we're gone. It became obvious that this tree was not meant to live for whatever reason and I was devestated. It made me so incredibly anxious to think of digging the tree up.

(The night we decided to dig up the tree... I couldn't let Trevor do it...he was so patient and we decided to wait until the next morning)

Trevor, being the wonderful husband that he is, had a great idea! He suggested that we dig out the tree and take the soil (where we scattered her ashes) and take the soil home with us to plant a garden. He said we could use a small amount of the soil to plant a garden at each home we have as we travel the world. I immediately knew that was the PERFECT thing to do because my mama always told me that when I got married someday and I moved away, she would follow us and live next door wherever we lived. Well mama, get ready for the adventure of a lifetime...you always said you wanted to see the world ;)

These are pics of the process... I found it very therapeutic to see the roots of the tree where life had begun to form since my mom went to be with the Lord. I never imagined that the tree would be so deeply rooted so quickly. Then we put all of the soil in a bucket with the tree broken into pieces, I haven't decided what to do with the branches yet, but they represent life to me...Let me know if anyone has ideas! The last picture is what the spot looks like without the tree. I am in the process of having a friend of mine create a memorial sign for the location... this will always be a significant place in my life. The place where my mom came to know the Lord (groundbreaking location of our old church) and next to the funeral home where we celebrated her life full of JOY!

We are starting the creation of "Patt's Garden" in our backyard this weekend... another blog with pics to follow!

**Grief is a life long process... God doesn't promise that there won't be pain, He just promises that He will carry us through it!**

A weekend for our marriage!

Last weekend (yes, I know I am a bit late) we decided to take a getaway over the 4 day weekend for Memorial Day! I had been super stressed out and my hormones were off the charts for a couple weeks and I was in desperate need of a relaxing weekend with just my husband! I had stressed myself out even more trying to book us a room at the beach approx 10 days before a holiday wknd...totally defeats the purpose if a getaway causes more stress! Anyhow, I came home in tears (literally) because I had hit my breaking point. I was emotionally, spiritually, and physically exhausted and I unloaded on Trevor as soon as I walked in the door from work...thankfully he is very gracious and allows me to "unload" as needed. He very quickly said he would take care of the vacation plans and told me not to worry! Of course I was thinking "yeah...good luck, I've been trying to book something for a week" but I shut my mouth. Within 10 minutes, he found a 5 star hotel, one of the top 3 in Galveston, for an amazing military rate... I was so excited that I couldn't be frustrated about how quickly he found it (but...I secretly wanted to be! ugh!). 

Poolside!

Day #1-- Check in, pool time, dinner!

Beautiful hotel! 

Kissing hubby on the elevator! 

Day 2-- Moody Gardens Rainforest and of course...the beach!!

Day 3-- A ton of sleeping, the beach & pool, & a splurge for dinner!

 








This trip was exactly what Trevor and I needed...Time away to just focus on each other and our marriage! I think every couple should make it a point to take little getaways, even if it seems like you can't afford it at the time. Trevor and I have a "traveling" fund that we put money towards every month to make these little trips possible, and I am so thankful for them :) Thanks love for making this trip possible! 

Blessed by friendships!

We are so blessed. Period. I've been thinking about a friend of mine who's husband will be leaving tomorrow for a year. I've watched her go through the emotions of preparing for deployment and I know that the road over the next year will bring even more emotions... emotions that God does not intend for us to go through alone. He has created and made us to be in relationship with others and that is what Trevor and I have found here... Community. A community of couples who love the Lord and have the desire to live life together and serve one another and he city we live in. It's amazing! For our family and friends who haven't met them... Meet our friends :)

This is Emily...AKA an amazing friend and def the best at hair! She does all of ours...if you see some hair you like, you should find Em! ;) This is also the girl I was talking about above, so if you think about her, stop and say a prayer that God would provide her with comfort as she transitions into the next year of life here at Fort Hood without her hubby. 

Quinn and I! God clearly had a plan for our families to move around the country together. The Walker's have become family to us here at Fort Hood... we look forward to our family dinners every week! We love you both and your girlies! You guys mean the world to us :) 

The Huckabee's! We met Austin and Britt in our first small group at Grace Bible Church and Brittany and I immediately became inseparable! The Huckabee's moved to Africa a little less than a month ago and it has been such an adjustment to not have them here. We are so incredibly excited for what God is doing in their lives with serving in Africa :) I miss you like crazy Britt!

Tori is probably one of the most laid back, fun loving girls I have met here and we have gotten so close, so quickly! I can't believe we just met her and Jesse in December. Trevor and I co-lead our small group with the Kangas' and we absolutely love it! God has been so faithful to provide us with such a great friendship!

The girls on Easter! We hosted an Easter lunch at our house and Britt and I got to cook a full feast together! 

And... the whole group on Easter! Very prom pose-ish, what can I say? We are kinda cheesy ;) 

The next photos are from a romantic dinner we planned with the Kangas' for the couples in our small group as we ended a marriage study for deployments. We wanted to make the evening special with a fancy attire, a nice dinner, and of course...a photo booth ;) 

 

I wish I had pictures of all of the girls to post individually because they are all such a blessing in my life! I have no idea what we would do here without these friends and I can honestly say that I will be SAD when we leave Fort Hood, Texas...I don't think most people share that opinion around here! I can't wait for our family/friends from home to meet our amazing group of friends here at Fort Hood! :)