Shelly and I wanted to take a second to tell you all how much we appreciate your love, support, and prayers. The amount of cards, phone calls, and visits the past two and a half weeks have been overwhelming (a positive thing!)
We have been staying at Shelly's parent's house in Allendale. They have a wonderful piece of property and a beautiful house that I have always loved coming to (not to mention how much Shelly and the kids love being here)... I guess when it comes down to it, it is a good place to heal. But even being here gets tiresome with so many people in and out. We have had the blessing of having two brief times away in the past two weeks. The Friday following the graveside service and open house, we took off for 5 nights to a beautiful beach house on the bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan (thanks D & K).
Then Thursday afternoon the weather was kinda crappy, so we went to this hotel / indoor waterpark thingy (see pic)... and Noah and Zoe... and Elijah, Emmy, Ezekiel (my niece and nephews) had a fantastic time.
Our kids have been amazing through this whole experience. At first Noah kept asking, "weao babby Abba?" (that is what he called her, Abba). Zoe did the same, but has now picked up on the fact that, "Ava upa sky... Ava upa sky wit Jesus." Don't ask how our little 25 month daughter picekd up on that fact, but she says it so matter of factly... , like, duh you guys. Of course that is whtat is going on.
