This has been a tiring week, a long week in a lot of ways. I will try to summarize the week here...
We had Drew's birthday party a week ago Friday night, Gailen died later that day. And since then the week has been a blur. There were a lot of pieces that needed to be coordinated for the Veurink family, meals, cleaning, visitations and one of the most beautiful Celebration of Life services I have ever been witness to.
It also happened to be the busiest week of our summer with the boys activities packed in...and also ended up being the end of the Little League baseball season for Tommy and for Jack. Scott was also the Keynote speaker in St Louis for Monsanto's big kick off meeting on Wednesday so he was gone a lot. And today Drew had a baseball tournament in Omaha, and Tommy subbed in on his old AAU team about 45 minutes from home. It's been non stop. I have had a full range of emotions this week, from sadness, to peace, to overwhelming moments, to joy, to exhaustion...just being honest. Thank you to MY friends and family who have prayed for me this week, my dear friend Sarah who brought our family food and her homemade wheat bread. Sweet to be loved on by others. I have needed it this week. My Aunt Donna sent Drew the sweetest sympathy letter, it touched my heart as well. So many loving and caring for us all.
We have so much to be thankful for...so very much. There are things my heart feels that need to change in my life , I want to be more intentional, I want to be more patient, more loving, more grateful...I want to be more focused, more kind, less stressed...so much it makes my head hurt.
One day at a time I need to remind myself. And lots of grace and loads of prayer.
Here are some pictures from our week....I will warn you they show a full gamete of the week.
We had Drew's birthday party a week ago Friday night, Gailen died later that day. And since then the week has been a blur. There were a lot of pieces that needed to be coordinated for the Veurink family, meals, cleaning, visitations and one of the most beautiful Celebration of Life services I have ever been witness to.
It also happened to be the busiest week of our summer with the boys activities packed in...and also ended up being the end of the Little League baseball season for Tommy and for Jack. Scott was also the Keynote speaker in St Louis for Monsanto's big kick off meeting on Wednesday so he was gone a lot. And today Drew had a baseball tournament in Omaha, and Tommy subbed in on his old AAU team about 45 minutes from home. It's been non stop. I have had a full range of emotions this week, from sadness, to peace, to overwhelming moments, to joy, to exhaustion...just being honest. Thank you to MY friends and family who have prayed for me this week, my dear friend Sarah who brought our family food and her homemade wheat bread. Sweet to be loved on by others. I have needed it this week. My Aunt Donna sent Drew the sweetest sympathy letter, it touched my heart as well. So many loving and caring for us all.
We have so much to be thankful for...so very much. There are things my heart feels that need to change in my life , I want to be more intentional, I want to be more patient, more loving, more grateful...I want to be more focused, more kind, less stressed...so much it makes my head hurt.
One day at a time I need to remind myself. And lots of grace and loads of prayer.
Here are some pictures from our week....I will warn you they show a full gamete of the week.
ready for his 12th bday party
Sweet Blakely came to the party
Ross, Emily and Blakely
Happy Birthday to Drew, some of his buddies came to celebrate
Concentrating on the trick candles
Saturday and Sunday Drew had a baseball tournament, here he is pitching....
here he is after making an OUT at first to end the inning
Tommy was there cheering him on...
Max was there resting during the game...
Jack was the batboy and even got a first place trophy for it.
His team won the tournament
Max was proud
Drew and one of his closest friends, Matt...he stopped by on Sunday. They have been friends since before they were even 1 year old. Drew has ALWAYS been taller than Matt...until this year. :)
At Gailen's visitation, my friend Jerilynn took this shot.
A few more from Jerilynn of the burial on Tuesday morning...
Jack's last baseball game was on Wednesday night, they lost in the playoffs but had fun
Tommy tags him at first OUT
Tommy's end of the season game was on Thursday night...
The boys walking to the car....sigh...blessed we are.
Yes you are so so blessed! And such a wonderful, caring, serving friend. I loved all the pictures - thanks for taking the time to upload them all and type the post. I know it's time consuming, but truly a blessing to those of us that read it.
ReplyDeleteThis was a wonderful post. When you look back at this post you will be reminded of this week...fun, sad,hard, happy, joyful and beautiful. Life and death rolled into one full of grace, love, hope and family.
ReplyDeleteLove you dear friend. I wish I could have been here this last week.
Susan, what a beautiful post. We are sending our love from Rochester. We have been thinking about all of you, as well as the Veurink Family.. We will keep them in our prayers..
ReplyDeleteOne day at a time Mama. You have so much going on. Sending love and prayers your way. XOXO
ReplyDeleteWhat a week!! Thanks for sharing it with us here. Praying for your family and the Veurink family. The picture of you and Drew breaks my heart. Life is so hard sometimes...and seeing our children hurt is the hardest. <3 to you.
ReplyDeleteCatching up on blog reading...*sigh*...love to you, friend.
ReplyDelete