"35 years young"....

WHEW - 35.  Did I really just turn 35?  I am on the "other side" of 30 now - YIKES!  My birthday was yesterday and it was somewhat of an emotional roller-coaster, as most of my days seem to be of late. I was anxious about what the day would be like not having my sister to talk to, or celebrate with for the first time in 35 years. She was there when I was born, and I am quite sure she wished me a "happy birthday" in her little 2 year old voice that day. So yesterday was truly the first time that I haven't audibly heard the words, "happy birthday sweet sis' in 35 years. HARD.

My sweet family did everything they could to make sure that I had a happy day/weekend. I have really come to appreciate birthday's and life in general, in a way I have never done before. Birthday's aren't just another ordinary day, they really are special times of celebrating life. If all of life is sacred, and I believe it is, then a birthday is a sacred day. I found myself thanking God over and over again yesterday for life - it is something to be cherished. We are but a vapor, but dust, and the days are evil and fleeting as Scripture says. I cherished yesterday. Nothing monumental happened necessarily, but the day was cherished.

Wyatt and Bradford were with me for the weekend, and my sweet mom prepared a lovely meal at her home for me the night before. My grandparents also came over - how thankful I am that at age 35, I still have 2 grandparents living and my children know their great-grandparents. Such a gift - a gift not to be missed or taken for granted. I didn't have my camera with me, but all of the kids enjoyed giving me their special homemade cards, and singing "Happy Birthday" to me - and of course, eating Chocolate Chip cake!

My actual birthday this year fell on a Sunday - and for a pastor's family, Sunday's are ummmm....., busy!  Jay was preaching and I was actually singing in both the choir and on the praise team so it was a busy morning. A church-wide luncheon followed, and then home for kid's naps. It was a gorgeous, sunny day so when the kids woke up, EB wanted to give me my presents. I have blogged before about how much we have been enjoying our family bike rides....., well, Jay had my bike cleaned and gave me a "trailer" to pull behind my bike so that the kids could ride in it.  He thought Ellison would be much safer in this than on the infant bike seat behind his bike (she won't keep a helmet on, and if he ever fell off, she would fall off too), and also it is great for EB to ride with her when he gets tired of riding his own bike and just wants to rest.  Now for me, it means I am pulling nearly 70 lbs of children behind me on 2 really bad knees......, but if the squeals of delight I heard yesterday continue every time I ride, I don't care if my knees hurt!  They were absolutely having a blast riding, and I realized if I put my bike in the lowest gears, it wasn't as hard on my knees....., so WIN, WIN!  I think EB will actually ride his own bike more than he will ride behind me, so really I won't be pulling very much weight if it's just Ellison. He was just enthralled yesterday with a new "toy".  We spent about 1 1/2 hour just out enjoying our time together as a family - doing nothing but cruising around on our bikes and letting EB splash in puddles from all of the rain.  I think he kept waiting for us to tell him to stop, but we never did. We let him jump, hop, skip, run, and yes, even lie down in the puddles for as long as he wanted to. He really did keep looking up at us with a confused, but very happy look.  It was my birthday, and I was just so happy to see my family having such a good time just being together.

After a great bike ride, my parents came over to keep the kids so that Jay and I could go out to dinner - we had a great time, and great conversation. Lots of tears shed over dinner by both of us, but such a good conversation. God is at work in our lives and we both know it, and are just overflowing with thankfulness at the deeper places God is taking both of us.....,  through trials, through hardships, through frustrations, through disappointments, through happiness, through exhaustion - God is at work.

I think one of the most meaningful things though about my birthday was a card that my Mom gave to me. She had a note attached to it that said, "this is from Elliot".  I was confused and really didn't understand. She told me to read the note attached and that I would understand. So after I left her house, I went home, got the kids in bed and had some quiet moments to myself. I opened the envelope and there was a card in it that said, "Happy Birthday Sister".  It was blank and had not been signed, but it was obviously for me. Mom told me that when she was cleaning out some of Elliot's drawers a few months ago, she found this card that was meant for me. Elliot had bought me a birthday card before she went to Heaven in hopes of being able to give it to me on my birthday. I was overwhelmed that I am loved that much by my sister that she would have already thought about me, bought me a card, and had it "sitting on go", ready to give to me. As I read the words, I realized that she had truly hand-picked it for me, for such a time as this. She bought it when she was sick and just held onto it - this card is now one of my most treasured possessions. As I read it, I wept loudly - Jay heard me from the other room and came to check on me, and we just held each other crying as we read it over and over and over again.  That is my sister - always thinking about others, even during her sickness. She was thinking about me and my birthday probably at least 10 months prior to yesterday, maybe longer than that.

So, while I didn't get her hear her voice audibly yesterday, I heard her heart loud and clear wishing me a "happy birthday".

Oh yes, new bike helmet too from EB.  He insisted that I wear it even though I was riding unbelievably slow pulling 70lbs behind me!   Have to set a good example though :) 

I haven't posted many pictures of this big girl lately due to so many Disney posts. She is getting SO BIG! 

Just look at this grin!  This is  the "Ellison smile".  Classic! 

As he was riding next to Ellison, he kept singing, "you're my best friend Ellison, you're my very best friend", over and over and over again.  And they are truly best friends.  Elliot, you were right. 

"Disney World Day 4......, last day"

Technically, our last day was a travel day starting very early in the morning, so I am calling this post our "last day" because it was our final day being in the parks. And, there are ALOT of pictures. For my Star Wars fanatic, this was his most exciting day because he was going to get to go to the Star Wars Jedi Training Academy and "fight" Darth Vader.  Oh my, I never dreamed I would be so excited about "boy stuff".  I didn't grow up around boys - only have a sister and girl cousins that I grew up with - so this world of Star Wars, weapons, wheels, engines, machines etc....., is still kind of new to me.  But I am learning to love it - because I love to see my son so happy and in his "boy world".  For the record, the training academy is not open all day long, like most everything else at the park. We found out the night before that there are only 10 sessions throughout the day, and only 15 students are allowed in each session.  Ummmmm, glad we found out that important information!!  I have never seen Jay so bound and determined to make sure that Elijah Brooks had the opportunity to at least try to get in. This truly was the only thing that our sweet boy really had his heart set on the weeks leading up to this trip - this was all he talked about, so we just prayed that God would orchestrate all of the details of this opportunity if it was meant to happen. Instead of eating our normal sit-down breakfast, we grabbed our breakfast "to go", hopped on the 1st bus to the park and arrived at 8:00am - the park didn't open until 9:00!   Thanks to my hubby, we were the first people in line at the gate, but it wasn't long before we looked behind us and there was an increasingly long line of moms and dads with their sons lined up behind us.  As we listened to the conversations happening behind us, they mainly consisted of this comment, "This is the only thing my son wants to do. He is going to be devastated if he doesn't get in. We just have to make sure he gets in".  We understood that, because we felt the same way.  But, we weren't going to be rude and push people out of the way etc......   We had already told Elijah Brooks that we were going to do our best to make sure he was able to get in, but there was a possibility that he might not be able to - and we tried to prepare him for how to respond to disappointment, just in case.  We have always been super honest with him, about everything. We sat down on the ground and ate our by now, cold breakfast, but were still having fun nonetheless.  EB would get up and down practicing his best "lightsaber moves" while he waited.  We had already been told that when the gate opens, no one was allowed to run (y'all this is serious stuff - people wanted to run really??? - all so new to me)!  Well, the gate opened and the race was on - I veered off to the restroom, and the boys walked very briskly to the training academy sign up table - which was a nice little walk away. I was praying the whole time that if this was meant to be, God would just work it out - who wants their child to be disappointed really?  Well, I finally found them walking back towards where we split off, and could immediately tell by the smile on EB's face, that he was IN!  He was the 4th person to sign up and got into the very first session!!  I was so happy for him that I teared up alittle :)  We were all so thrilled for him, because really, this is all he wanted to do. He practiced his moves again in the street before getting in line with the other kids to go "train".  He immediately made friends with some of the other boys in his little training class, which is not surprising.  The pictures will tell the rest of the story:

"Hollywood Studios" 

The piece of paper that he was handed when he signed up - he was pretty happy as you can tell! 

Lovin' that tiny slip of paper :) 

This was his "trainer"!  He was a BIG guy! 

Each student was handed a lightsaber and a Jedi robe to wear - he was pumped! 

Once training was completed, these huge doors opened and the "Storm Troopers" came out - was pretty intimidating actually! 

And then, Darth Vader entered the scene - he was HUGE too! I truly didn't know what EB might do at this point. All of the kids were so happy and confident during training, and then when Darth Vader came out, the kids all started backing up and huddling together, and the smiles on the faces faded quickly.  All of the parents watching were all wondering the same thing, "is my child really going to go through with this"?  But, every single child did it and we all found ourselves cheering for each child like they were our own - just to see the confidence on these kids' faces when they walked out there on stage and conquered their fear was really pretty awesome to watch. 

You can tell that the kids were huddling together at this point, and had backed up as far as they could. EB said, "I thought I might cry mommy, but then I just found my confidence and went for the head"!!   

Here is the trainer giving EB one last set of directions before it was his turn

Look at that intensity and confidence! 

All of the kids using "the Force" to make Darth Vader leave 

"Take that Darth Vader - we are through with you" 

Getting his diploma 

And...., of course it quickly became a lightsaber 

That was one proud little boy, and one relieved momma! 

After the training academy, we went through a few more exhibits and saw 2 more shows before heading to our "Character lunch" with Jake and Handy Manny 

Look who we found at Disney World!!!!   COUSINS!!!!  We planned our trips separately and didn't know when the other was going to be there, but we happened to overlap by 1 day and we hooked up at lunch together and spent the next several hours be-bopping around Hollywood Studios.  SO fun - Elliot would have loved this so much. 

These sweet boys held hands the entire afternoon - Wyatt truly is EB's hero and best friend in the world

"Little Elliot and little Erin" 

Had to stop for a cool treat before the parade 

 

Goodbye Disney World! We had a fabulous time, and hope to go back in 3 years when Ellison turns 4!