Great-Papa went to be with Jesus

(April 2012) Thomas & Great-Papa

                                                                                   
Yesterday morning our Grandpa (Thomas's Great-Papa) went home to be with Jesus.  He did so many things in his life, from military, fire, traveling with Grandma and making many memories with family.  Every visit, we heard new stories of a chapter of his life.  Thomas was lucky enough to meet Great-Papa a few times.  Although, he was young we hope and pray that the memories of what a wonderful man, Great-Papa was will be in his heart.  We enjoyed a short visit with Great-Papa and Great-Grandma in April.  Great-Papa's health was failing then, but he still managed to smile and be the fun-loving Grandpa we all knew.  He couldn't get down on the floor and play with Thomas, but he sat in his chair with oxygen on and used his foot to move the trucks with Thomas.                                   

(Christmas morning 2006) 

 When we visited with Grandma & Grandpa, we never wanted to leave.  It was so nice to be with them, even if we were just watching Jeopardy or the Evening news.  He always had a pile of newspapers by his chair, or a box of old pictures with lots of stories to tell.  Grandpa's voice and presence will be missed, but we hold on to tightly the memories of stories, warmed up cups of day old coffee, flannel shirts, and the love he gave our family.  The old yellow Ford truck, trips to the dump, and trips in the trailer to visit us in California.

(Christmas 2007)

 "When I come to the end of the road

And the sun has set for me

I want no rites in a gloom filled room

Why cry for a soul set free?

Miss me little -- but not too long

And not with your head bowed low

Remember the love that we shared

Miss me -- but let me go.

For this journey that we all must take

And each must go alone

It's all part of the Master's plan

A step on the road to home.

When you are lonely or sick of heart

Go to the friends we know

And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds

Miss me -- but let me go.

What's going on??

Thomas says tonight as he's laying down to bed, "Oh no, what's going on?" I was concerned and said "I don't know what?"  He told me that he could feel his teeth and ears and feet growing.  He thinks he's getting taller and taller.  He told me that he can't wait to be big like his Daddy.

Phone call from Jim

Jim has been on a fire assignment since last Tuesday.  This morning we finally got a phone call from him.  He's been spiked out (camped out on the fireline) since the fire started.  It was a lightening fire and is burning near Tuscon, AZ.  Thomas & I are carrying on at the home front, but last night we both were talking how we miss Daddy.  We pray for his safety and for his crew, too.  The link to his crew website is www.lagunahotshots.blogspot.com

What makes a Dad....

God took the strength of a mountain,

The majesty of a tree,

The warmth of a summer sun,

The calm of a quiet sea,

The generous soul of nature,

The comforting arm of night,

The wisdom of the ages,

The power of the eagle's flight,

The joy of a morning in spring,

The faith of a mustard seed,

The patience of eternity,

The depth of a family need,

Then God combined these qualities,

When there was nothing more to add,

He knew His masterpiece was complete,

And so, He called it ... Dad

Jim is out on a fire in Arizona on this Father's Day.  I appreciate beyond words what he does for our family.  Thomas has been blessed with the BEST DAD in the world.  I'm so blessed to be the proud Wife of the BEST DAD.  Thank you, Jim for all you do and for all you are to our family!!!

The little things he says...

This morning Thomas came into my room, walked over to my side of the bed and stood there.  I opened my eyes and he said "It's a beautiful day today.  Time to wake up!"  Now if that isn't the kind of alarm clock to wake up to, I don't know what is. We got up and started our day, and he says to me, "I like the nice warm sunshine.  It makes me grow big."

Before Jim left for another fire, he gave Thomas a pretend I-Phone.  It looks exactly like Jim's, very realistic looking.  I noticed last night after Thomas went to bed, it was plugged into Jim's phone charger, where Jim leaves his phone.  It made me smile when I saw how smart he is and how much he wants to be like his Daddy.

Last night before TV but after dinner, I told Thomas, "you go pick up your cars or it's time for bed."  I'm thinking my reverse psycholgy will work and he'll go pick them up.  That's usually what happens.  He instead turns to me and said "I think I'm tired, so let's put my jammies on so I can go to bed."  I'm thinking "are you serious, the sun is still up."  He got his jammies and laid down for a PM diaper.  Put them on, and he climbed into bed.  About 15 minutes later, he was sound asleep.  It was only 7:45 and he usually goes to bed between 8:30-9:00.  I guess he was tired......LOL

When we got home this morning after running some errands, we pulled up in the driveway, and he went "aww Home sweet Home.....I love my home."  Our neighbors house is the same color and has some of the same features.  Thomas says "oh no, something is wrong here."  When I asked him what was wrong, he answered "our house has 2 roofs, they only have 1."  Our house is a little bigger than the neighbors, so we do in fact have 2 roofs (in a sense).

I'm constantly reminding myself that his is only 3.5, because at times he seems so much smarter and his vocabulary is huge.  He uses words in the correct context most of the time.

I'm such a blessed Mommy!!!

The traveling FF toy

When Thomas was little, he picked out a little FF toy to give his Daddy.  Jim takes it with him to every fire he goes on.  He also takes a picture of the FF on every fire.  Thomas loves seeing the pictures when Jim sends them to us (via his cell phone).  I love this and have kept all the pictures.  I plan on making a little scrapbook with all the pictures for Thomas when he's older.  What a fun tradition that will mean so much later when he's older.  I'm blessed to have such a great little boy in my life.  But I'm extremely blessed to have a husband who loves us so much and does these little things that make us know he's thinking of us when he's gone!!

Daddy's crew taking a little break after fighting a fire all day.  (near Cuyamaca St. Park)

The FF toy went to the Sequoia N.F. with Daddy, too.

Thomas is growing up too fast!!



Loves to climb and play

Thomas has really changed the last few months.  His vocabulary has grown like crazy and he speaks pretty clear.  He is a story teller and has recently began to say things about his "book".  He says "in my book of Thomas"....  I'm thinking he gets it from one of his favorite shows: SuperWhy.  It's a show about solving stories by jumping in books.  It is kind of cute how he tells his stories.  He also has quite the imagination.  He was telling us in depth about this bus that ran over a man and made him flat.  The firetrucks and police had to come give him air.  I'm not sure where he gets that one, but as he's telling his story, he'll stop and take deep breaths and continue by saying "And then..." 


Swim lessons with Miss Bree

He loves to watch these educational movies about phonics and numbers.  The other day he was eating cantalope with Grandma and he said "C....cuh....cantalope".  He's our little smartie pants.
We've started this discipline technique of color cards.  The good card is color GREEN, the not good card is YELLOW and the bad behavior card is BROWN.  When he gets the good card, he gets to put a sticker on a sticker chart.  If he gets 6 stickers, we go get an ice cream at the ice cream store.  It seems to be a little good motivation to do good.  I guess he says things that I must say often.  When he puts a sticker on the chart, he says "I'm sooo happy!!" 


Loves to go for little walks

He grew about a 1/2 inch from last month.  He's so excited to see how much he's grown since "he was a baby".  We mark the doorway (with a pencil) each month.  Not only is he growing taller, he's starting to eat like crazy.  Always "still hungry".  I'm so proud of him and his choices of food to eat.  He loves his fruits, veggies and eggs.  He loves eating pistachios with me, too. 

Mama feels so blessed