NY trip

Unfortunately, this last weekend... we (myself, Lilly, Zach, my Mom and Dad) went to NY because my Dad's uncle Tim passed away. I hate that it was because of a death, but it is always so good to go and see the Steffens' family. My Aunt Dawn and Uncle John, Aunt Marilyn, Aunt Ingrid and Uncle Tim, Uncle Kevin... Cousins Kelly and Kristin... and all the rest. We just got along so well with that side of the family... they were always so much fun to be around... and Aunt Dorris... she is as beautiful and sweet as ever before, it was her husband that passed. It always amazes me to see the difference between funerals of people that are non- believers and believers. There is so much hope, and happiness knowing that our loved one has passed on to be with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. No longer having to live on this corrupt earth, where there is so much hurt, pain, suffering ... where satan has so much control. Uncle Tim is now resting in the arms of the Lord... he has seen Jesus face to face... I marvel at that. He is now healed from his body that was failing... he is worshiping the Lord! Praise the Lord... and that was the spirit of his service... it wasn't a service filled with hopelessness, of anger, or sadness... but one filled with joy, and happiness knowing where he is... a service that reflected the Father's love for us. This is where I would have put a picture of all of us together... but because of the shortness of the trip... Zach being sick... and me being exhausted from sleepless nights... I didn't get one.

I did however get a few pictures of our time with my cousin Erika and her two kids... Christian and Faith. It was short, but great to see them. The next time we are up on Long Island we will definitely be spending more time over there... the kids had so much fun playing. Erika and I were able to do a tiny bit of catch up, time just didn't lend itself.

Above is Faith

Below is Christian

Then a couple more pictures of Lilly and Oma-ma. Those two are two peas-in-a-pod... both going a million miles a minute... both strong willed... and both beautiful red heads! I love both of you so much... it was such a sweet time spending it with my Oma... I miss seeing her so often.

The two curly red-heads! Lilly was being that strong willed girl and wouldn't smile for the camera... you know that as soon as we were done taking pictures she was saying cheese and smiling!

She really took to Oma this time... it didn't take long for her to warm up.

Oma has a vast collection of dolls.... this one Lilly is holding is a porcelain doll from Italy... Lilly loved seeing all the "baby dolls" and wanted to take every one out of the case and hold it. These two from Italy as you can see were just as big as her.... and look just as real.
This was the four of us... sorry the shot isn't too clear....

We are now home... and my dear Lilly has the flu. She woke up last night throwing up and this morning started out the other end. I just hate it was her that got it and not myself.

Please do pray for my Opa, we don't have any pictures of him here because he is in the hospital from the flu virus as well... he was very dehydrated, so they kept him all day Monday and then he went back in on Tuesday and stayed over night.

Oh, a little more info.... the trip up my kids took about a 30 minutes nap each... then at around 9:45 both fell asleep for us to get to our destination at 10:15, only to wake up and stay awake until 12:30. Then my son Zach, who has a sinus infection, was up 4 times that night. So mommy didn't get sleep, and I don't do well with no sleep! The next night wasn't much better, he woke up twice... then it was off to the funeral... we left straight from there and both my kids slept maybe 4 hours each... so they were up most of the night... again another sleepless night! So I got home yesterday morning, and when the kids crashed (after I did a couple loads of laundry) I did also. Next time we go, we will not be driving through the night... and we'll have more than two full days there.