Birthday Week!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Hello all, His grace and peace to you all. We celebrated Susan's birthday today and honored her. Still a lot of tears. Waves of grief. But we all came together tonight and had a big dinner to honor Susan. We had a great time. Leah orchestrated the dinner. And it was wonderful. At one point, we all wrote love letters to Susan and rolled them up. Then we tied each letter to a helium balloon and launched them off into the clear sky. There was healing in the things we did tonight. We all miss Susan dearly. Here are some pictures of the evening.

This picture out front, just before launch of the balloons.

Before dinner, Leah and I in the kitchen out at the house where Hannah is a nanny. That is where we spent the evening tonight. It is a beautiful house on Coeur d'Alene Lake.

Also, earlier this week, we celebrated Sarah's 21st birthday. Here are some pictures from that celebration. This is Sarah and Aaron singing Happy Birthday.

And here are some of Sarah's friends that were at the party. Sarah had a great time!

Update:
1) A praise! Hannah did very well today on her big test. Susan would be soooo proud of Hannah. Hannah struggles with the studying/tests but God is faithful in seeing Hannah through some stressful times.
2) I am taking Mary, Laura and Kayla down to Phoenix for Spring Break on 25 March for a week. We are flying and this will be Laura and Kaylas first plane trip. We are excited. We will be staying with Susan's parents, Jack and Mary Carol. And with Rick and his family. Leah plans on joining us too. She is applying for some teaching jobs down in the Phoenix area. So pray for direction with her teaching jobs and applications.

Sarah's Birthday on Monday

We are celebrating Sarah's 21st Birthday, 23 February. We plan on having dinner with family and friends. Should be a great birthday. Will post more on her birthday in a few days. This past weekend, we went skiing up at Silver Mountain. This mountain, especially for night skiing, is a favorite of ours. We have fond memories of many night skiing trips with our family and friends of the kids. We would pack everyone into the big 15 passenger van, over the many years and go night skiing at Silver. Susan just loved each and every trip up there. So Saturday night was a special night with the family remembering those past trips.

Also, Jason got his new camera and he has been taking quite a few pictures. He has been enjoying his photography class at College, learning creative aspects of camera settings and picture taking. This a favorite picture of the flame in the fireplace at the Coeur d'Alene Resort.

Thanks to all that still check in with us. We are all doing well. Pray for Hannah and her big test this Thursday, which is also Susan's birthday. She is stressed out about the test and needs prayer. God has taken her this far into the program and will be faithful to see her through the completion of her studies. Pray for her.

Abiding in His Love

Jesus said... "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love." ... "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you." John 15: 9 & 12

This is the perfect example of love. Unconditional love from our Heavenly Father through Jesus, to us and we are commanded to unconditionally love one another. Whoa! Not always easy is it? But His love is never failing and we can always count on it. He is always faithful. We need to exemplify that same love.
I want to share with you a picture of the ladies in my life on this day celebrating love. This was a picture of my six daughters at Cannon Beach last summer. I just love this picture. They each are so much a part of Susan, her beauty, her smile, her love for life, her energy, her everything. Thank you God for blessing Susan and I with such beautiful children, especially my girls.

Updates:

1) Sarah will be finishing her current nanny position in Spokane on May 29th. She will return back home and probably nanny for Jeff, who Hannah currently nannies for his three kids.

2) Leah is sending out her resume for teaching positions down in Phoenix, AZ and up in Alaska. Opposite ends of the US. But pray that the right teaching position would open up. She is getting some teaching experience before she goes back for her Master's degree.

3) Jason is going to college at North Idaho College. He is really getting into Photography and bought a very nice camera for the class he is in. This may be a direction of where he wants his studies to go. Pray for directional guidance for Jason as he explores college opportunities. I did this very thing for about a year and a half before I decided to become an engineer, way back when.

4) Hannah is working hard at the hospital. She has been taking tests all along the way as well. She studies hard and it all has been paying off. She will be graduating this summer. Jake is laid off right now for the winter but the company has great plans for the spring and summer. So work will pick up again when the snow thaws and melts. So we are thankful for the projected work.

5) Nathan is back to work at the same company as Jake. He has been working most of the winter as a diesel mechanic. So things look good for continued work. No overtime right now but that will probably change by late spring. Michelle is staying very busy working quite a few hours as a Tax consultant, it is that season. They are doing well.

6) Aaron is still in high school. He is very active in his youth ministries. I think he is leaning towards being a youth pastor. He has a group of younger boys that he does bible studies with. He has been going snowboarding a lot and hangs out with his 'Boarders for Christ' friends.

7) Mary got a "Spirit of Canfield Award" at her Canfield Middle School on Friday morning. She had no idea that she was to receive this award. I was there, though, with Leah and Dianne Shaw. This is an award that the teachers vote on for students that exemplify: Integrity, Friendliness, Sportsmanship, Responsibility.

You fill me with Joy!

"You have made known to me the path of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." Psalm 16: 11

Hello dear family and friends. This verse speaks so much to me. First, God does have a plan for us. Each day he reveals more of His plan. The more we get to know our creator, the more we know His will for our lives. Each of us need to abide in Him and he will make that life path known to us. It is difficult at times, but God didn't say it would be easy. In fact it is hard. We are all doing well by abiding in Him. Grief is not an easy thing, especially when we loose a special loved one like Susan. I am still grieving and mourning. He fills us with joy when we abide in Him. Joy defies circumstances and happens in spite of difficult situations. Susan said that happiness is a feeling where Joy is an attitude. We choose Joy! Happiness can be situational and that can vary. But His joy will permeate every part of our life when we allow it through the Holy Spirit. And the eternal pleasures are God's gift to us when we put our trust in His son Jesus. That is, eternal life with Him in heaven.

We celebrated Jason's 19th birthday last weekend. I took Jason out to breakfast (which has been a tradition for all the kids since way back when). Then I helped Jason out with troubleshooting some things on his car. Some male bonding in the garage. It was great time. Then we had a party later on for Jason. Here is a picture of us all. Next to Jason is Jenna. They have been going out for about nine months now. She is a very special girl. We have known her family for years now.

Finished the Marathon!!!!

We had a great time doing our marathon (some may think how that could be possible). But for me, how precious was running with my son, daughter and my nephew. Priceless!!! It was rather warm (78 degrees) but the start was around 48 degrees and that felt pretty good. Nathan came in at around 3:47, Christian and I came in together at around 3:58 and Leah came in at around 4:07. It was Christian's and Leah's first marathon, so I was really proud of them for doing so well. This picture was taken along with Laurel, after she finished the half marathon. A great job for Laurel also. We were all protected from injury. Several people had collapsed during and after the race, so there were casualties. And then we hurried home to watch the Arizona Cardinals win their division to make it to the Super Bowl. So it was really an exciting day in Phoenix. The weather has been wonderful. It will be hard to come back to the snow and cold.
Here is a picture of Leah and I before the race. Christian arranged for us to join his running club in a heated building before the race. There were all kinds of things to eat, drink and our own porta potties, which was very important.
Here is a picture of us three right after the race.
This is a picture of us on a hike. This was the first day in AZ. I was still in my jeans. I've been in shorts ever since.

Birthday Time

Kayla had a birthday (#9) on January 3rd. She had a sleep over party on Friday night with Katie, Hannah and Brooke. They had pizza, brownies, presents and played in the hot tub outside before settling down to watch The Parent Trap with Hailey Mills (the original movie). I didn't get a picture of their party. And then Laura had eight girls over on Saturday to celebrate her birthday (January 4th, her #11). They had hot tub fun, brownies, ice cream and presents. They also played games in the afternoon. We all had fun but good to get two birthdays out of the way. Here is a picture of Laura's party in the hot tub.

Jake and Hannah also celebrated their first wedding anniversary on January 5th.
Here is a picture from their wedding day. What a great looking couple.

Also, I was so thankful that Susan was doing so well at the time of Hannah's wedding. Here is a picture of Susan with her family at the wedding a year ago. Susan always had a smile even through the tough times.

Leah and I fly to Phoenix on Thursday morning to join up with Nathan and Micelled for the PF Chang Rock n Roll Marathon on Sunday morning, the 18th of Jan. We will join up with Christian and Laurel who are running as well. We will stay with Rick and Cheryl (Susan's brother and family) and Nathan and Michelle with Jack and Mary Carol. It will be good to see them again. Looking forward to the run, as well. Pray for good health and safety. Will update the blog from down south.

The Lord is my Shepherd

It is that simple.... "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want." Psalm 23:1
He is what I want. In all my loneliness, in my grieving, in my parenting, in my spiritual growth..... He is all I want. That is enough for me, for my existence.
It has been a while since I last talked with you. My brother Johnny was visiting for two weeks, Christmas, New Years, working and parenting. I am also realizing that I am still deep in the grieving stages. So I knew that I should update the blog but it became too easy to just relax, watch a movie, play a game, put a puzzle together. So here I am. I don't think that I have grieved adequately for myself because I have been so busy keeping the family together, and seeing to it that they are staying happy. Christmas was wonderful with the family but Christmas Eve was a tearful time when I was out finishing up with some gift wrapping and looking at Susan's picture above the fireplace with her stocking hanging from mantel. There was a flood of Christmas Eves past. A huge void. I miss her.
Here is a picture of some of us with Santa Claus. Every Christmas Eve for the last 10 years, this guy has come around to give candy canes to all of us. I don't know who he is, but he knows our names. Just a figure out of no where that pays us a visit each year.

And here is a picture of all of us on Christmas day after we opened presents and after dinner. What a good looking bunch. I really do love my kids. They made the days special.

And we have had a record snowfall here. Like 90 inches for the month of December. We have shoveled our roof twice now because of the large snow storms that we have had. We have been too busy shoveling even to go snowboarding as a family. Soon though. Here is a picture of my brother Johnny up on the house, clearing snow.

And to put it in perspective, here is a picture of our STOP sign out front of our home. This was several weeks ago too. Alot of it was piled up from the snowplow but still pretty awesome to see the accumulation. The piles around our driveway are 6-7 feet tall. It definitely was a White Christmas.

Be praying for me, Leah, Nathan and my nephew Christian. We are all going to run in the PF Chang Rock n' Roll Marathon in Phoenix on Jan 18th. We will be flying down on the 15th of Jan. Training has been a challenge especially for the long runs which we can't do because of the weather outside. Treadmill running just isn't the same. But it will be fun.
Too you all, His grace and peace. Thanks for being patient. Love Doug