Grateful to be "Here"

See my play list to the right of this post? If you can't see song #18, click on the forward button until you get to song #18. (As long as you can see it, you can click on #18 and it will start playing.)

The song is called "Here" by Rascal Flatts. They happen to be one of my favorite groups and I love their music. (Bear with me if you're not a country music fan.) I'm pretty sure this song was written to express the gratitude one feels after finally falling in love with "The One." But when I heard this song (especially the chorus), I immediately thought of the journey we had to take to get Wesley.

There's a place I've been looking for
That took me in and out of buildings
Behind windows, walls and doors
And I thought I found it
Couple times, even settled down
And I'd hang around just long enough
To find my way back out
I know now the place that I was trying to
Reach
Was you, right here in front of me

And I wouldn't change a thing
I'd walk right back through the rain
Back to every broken heart
On the day that it was breakin'
And I'd relive all the years
And be thankful for the tears
I've cried with every stumbled step
That led to you and got me here, right here

It's amazing what I let my heart go through
To get me where it got me
In this moment here with you
And it passed me by
God knows how many times
I was so caught up in holding
What I never thought I'd find
I know now, there's a million roads
I had to take
To get me in your arms this way

And I wouldn't change a thing
I'd walk right back through the rain
Back to every broken heart
On the day that it was breakin'
And I'd relive all the years
And be thankful for the tears
I've cried with every stumbled step
That led to you and got me here, right here

In a love I never thought I'd get to get to
-here
And if that's the road
God made me take to be with you

And I wouldn't change a thing
I'd walk right back through the rain
Back to every broken heart
On the day that it was breakin'
And I'd relive all the years
And be thankful for the tears
I've cried with every stumbled step
That led to you and got me here, right here

And I'd relive all the years
And be thankful for all the tears
I've cried with every stumbled step
That led to you and got me here, right here

When you're in the middle of a major trial, it's sometimes impossible to see how there will ever be a happy ending. The despair can be overwhelming. But thankfully there is almost always a light at the end of the tunnel. I think it's that hope that helps us push through, even when it seems too hard. I'm thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who is always there, to remind us of that light and to nudge us towards it.

Wesley's SECOND Birthday!!

It's hard to believe that Wesley is two years old! He's changed so much since he was born! He started out so tiny, with light skin and straight hair! Then he grew into my chubby (okay, FAT) little baby with an adorable 'fro and beautiful chocolate skin! And now he's tall and lanky with a very short haircut. It's hard to believe because we were SO thrilled to have him in our family, but life with Wesley has only gotten better!
To celebrate Wesley's birthday, we planned an outdoor party at Aaron's school. Because of the covered picnic area and awesome playground, it's the perfect place for a party! Well, except for May 9, 2009. Let me explain...

The week before the party, a UGA professor went crazy and shot his wife (and two other people) at a local community theater. The professor and his family lived in a neighborhood very close to Aaron & Maddie's school. After the shooting, the professor went missing and his Jeep was found in a ravine less than half a mile from the school. Everyone was sure he had ditched his car and was trying to get out of the country.

WRONG!! When we drove up to get ready for Wesley's party, we saw fire trucks and a ton of unmarked police vehicles. I instantly knew they were looking for the man. And I instantly knew the party was ruined! Of all things!! How dare he ruin my party!! (I know, I know! Pretty selfish of me!) The police were very nice and told us we could still have the party, but we'd have to have it inside. Great, except for the fact that the school's lights are on a timer and the only person with access to override the timer is the principal, who lives over an hour away. After a long ordeal which involved the school custodian and the school district's weekend security person coming to the school, we were able to get the lights on.


So the party went on--NOT!! Within an hour of us arriving early to set up, we saw the coroner's van drive up really close to the woods. We knew something was happening and Aaron was so ready to get in the middle of it! We were amazed at how much information the police were willing to share. And we (okay, AARON and my MOM) were more than happy to listen. We knew all of the details of the police discovering the man's body hours before the media knew. It was absolute craziness! Click HERE to read an article about the shooting and the discovery of the body. This is the article that was posted on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's website, and Aaron (and the party) were mentioned.


And all of this led to us not getting anything set up until AFTER the party was supposed to have started. My Type-A personality always goes into overdrive during events like this, but oh my gosh, I could've use some major anxiety meds after all of this!!



Putting aside all the drama, the party itself was a ton of fun. I did a sports theme, because Wesley has been obsessed with sports since he could hold a ball. My mom did an AWESOME job on the cake, as usual! And Aaron's gym was the perfect place to have the party because of his wonderful PE equipment.

(He was SO tired by the end of the party!)

The media showed up towards the end of the party and asked to talk with us, but one of the main law enforcement guys had asked us not to give them any details.


This the the stretcher they brought the body out on. My family was OBSESSED with this! I think Aaron spent 95% of the time outside, talking with firefighters and police officers. And I'm pretty sure my mom, Aaron and my sister got more pictures of the scene outside than the party inside. :)

As we were cleaning everything up, a lady with this really different-looking dog came in to use the bathroom. Turns out this was the dog who found the body. Her trainer was really proud of her. She was a sweet dog who was willing to let all the kids pet her.




And because my family is CRAZY, they went in the woods, trying to figure out where the searchers found the body. They said it was too hard to tell where the police had been, but here's a picture of the woods, in case you were interested!


I'm hoping for a PEACEFUL, completely normal party next year!!

Zoo Atlanta

Maddie had a field trip to the zoo in Atlanta, so Aaron took the day off--we decided to make it a family affair! Aaron, Wesley and I drove over a little early to take care of the business end of the field trip (pay for tickets) and Maddie rode with her class on the bus.

Welsey was SO excited to go the zoo to see all of the animals! He had this adorable look on his face the whole way. :)

Welsey wasn't too sure about the bronze animals. He wouldn't stand next to one until Dad helped him realize it wasn't real!

Most of Maddie's class.

We started off in the playground.

SO excited to be on the Merry-Go-Round.
(Before it started moving)

Not quite as excited.

GET ME OFF THIS THING!
(I know I'm a bad mom for taking pictures of my terrified child,
but it was just too funny to pass up!

Maddie and I couldn't stop laughing at Wesley.
Maddie and her good friend, Morgan

Our group on the train.

Happy to be on the train.

Maddie and Kadjari.
(I have a special place in my heart for this little man. He comes from a pretty rough home and he craves attention. Any time we went to Maddie's school, he wanted to hold Wesley and give me hugs. He's going to have a rough life ahead of him--he's the kid who everyone blames for anything that goes wrong even if he didn't do it. (Although he is often the culprit.) Maddie was so sweet to Kadjari. Her teacher said she was a great friend to him.)

Combing the goats

Ugh! Goats are the ugliest and noisiest animals ever!

The pandas were so cute!

Kadjari, Maddie, MarKeith (that's his real smile) and Morgan

Otters

Mr. Orangutan
(He was covered in long, nasty dreadlocks. Gross!)

Going into the blind mole rat exhibit

Maddie was SO excited to have her picture taken.

Massive gorilla

The kids threw their snacks to this ape or whatever it is (don't tell the zoo keeper!) and he followed us all along the fence, begging for more.

Cuties

Excited to see the zebras

The parakeet exhibit was the best part of the zoo! You could buy these little seed sticks and the birds would land right on them.

Morgan was not a fan!