sneak peak

Okay, I'm just too excited to wait till I can post these on my own blog...so I'm going to send you to my friend Megan's blog HERE ...the WONDERFUL gal who took Mason's one year old pictures! She did SUCH an amazing job!

I stole my favorite one from her blog...

Make sure you check the others out.
Although I'm sure I'll be posting them when I get them.

Oh, these pictures make me so sad...no more baby. He looks like such a big boy.

Happy Birthday Dave!

Today's the day....

My guy turns 30.

WOW...30!
His 20's are gone. I keep asking him if he's realized this, if it bothers him, ANYTHING?!?!?
Nope, nothing.
He said, "It feels the same as when I turned 20."

Well, much has happened since he turned 20.
In fact, here's a look into the past....
Dave's 30 years....


He always makes sure to tell me that this next one is his favorite.

What a cute boy!!!

His siblings complain that he NEVER had an awkward stage like the 2 of them had.

But I would definitely say that these glasses are a little bit awkward...but I shouldn't talk, because that is really NOTHING compared to my awkward stage. And Dave argues that these glasses were "cool" then, his sister even said so!

A garage guy...then and now.

Dave and his sister, Stef

Fraternity picture from college...

Now his life's starting to get REALLY good...

His first baby....

Becoming a daddy....

a daddy again...

We are so lucky to have this guy.

Happy Birthday Dave! We love you so much! You spoil us, take care of us, and do more than we could ever even thank you for. We are SOOO glad that when God made you, he had the 3 of us on his mind....we're so thankful he gave you to us!


Just for fun...here are 30 random things about Dave:

1. His real name is John. Middle name David. His mom wanted both names to be said "John David" That didn't stick.
2. He can fix anything. Really, he can. Anything and everything we'd have to call someone else to fix...he does it...the plumbing, the garage door, the fence, the stove, everything!
3. He LOVES LOVES LOVES to be in his garage...watching sports, cleaning up, making something, fixing something, playing with kids, hangin with guys, whatever!
4. He's seen every episode of The Real World from when it first started, hasn't missed a single one!
5. He is the proud owner of a "plum crazy purple" 1970 'Cuda. It will be making it's way into our garage again soon...now that the weather is getting nice to drive it. He redid the entire thing with his dad...many, many hours in the garage!
6. He was once going to go into elementary education, took a few classes, then switched...he's GREAT with kids!
7. He was in college for longer than you want to know....he had fun and had no desire to leave. When I met him, he didn't even know how close he was to graduating..I helped him figure it out. BUT, seeing as I didn't meet him till his last semester there....it must have been part of the plan!
If he would have left sooner, we would have never met.
8. He likes to make up words to songs, he adds them in so casually that if you don't listen carefully you'd just think he was saying the correct ones. He sings like crazy sometimes...and then asks if I think he was good?
9. He's such a people watcher and loves to talk to strangers...loves airports...he could carry on a conversation and ask a million questions to absolutely anyone.
10. He graduated in 1997 from Newton, and he never thought he'd live here after that, let alone buy a house in the same neighborhood he grew up in, but now he'd never leave.
11. He wanted a girl VERY badly, and then was completely okay if we would have had MORE girls.
12. He falls asleep all the time...while watching TV, movies, and even at the theater
13. He taught me to fold towels HIS way and insists that my way is wrong.
14. He's framed houses for about 15-16 years...he started when he was a sophomore in HS.
15. He has gorgeous blue eyes.
16. He cried when he carried Taylor out of the surgery room when she was born
17. He can snow and water ski like you wouldn't believe!
18. Every Sunday he MUST watch NASCAR
19. He loves bluegrass/folk music...he's hooked for life on the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield
20. He loves live music...most anything!
21. He was a nice guy in highschool...from what I've been told....was a homecoming king stud (well, he didn't win...but was in the court)
22. He's a morning guy.
23. He doesn't like naps.
24. He'll stand and eat 15 pieces of toast...toasting them one right after the other.
25. When he takes a shower and dries off he does everything the exact same way, in the exact same order every single time.
26. He doesn't do computers and types with just his index fingers.
27. If he didn't do construction, he says he'd like to be a farmer or a fireman
28. He was a tennis STAR in highschool...well, at least he made it to state...I say that's a STAR!
29. When I met him he had never worn a pair of flip flops...I told them they were cool....he tried them and now loves them!
30. He's seen Tom Petty in concert 3 times.

Happy 30th Dave!!

another cora story

I find myself thinking that the last few months have been a dream...a nightmare.

There are moments I really have to re-grasp the fact that Cora is gone.

The tears still come....at random moments.

At moments that I think about Joel and Jess's pain and that it is NOT going away.

If I'm feeling this way....I can't even bear the thought of how Joel and Jess are feeling each and every new day.

Jess's friend Laura said it perfectly...

"With each day that passes, it seems that I am no further along in my journey to understand and come to grips with the loss of Cora. But at the same time, I am astonished and amazed that the Lord did indeed have a plan. A GREAT plan. An AWESOME plan. A HUGE plan. A plan to use the incredible testimony of Joel & Jess and the short but precious life of Cora to reach MILLIONS of people. How great is our God? Again, I say...HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD. Cora's story is still rippling through our NATION and the WORLD." -words from blog that explain so many feelings that we all are still having.

She shared an amazing article that she came across through her connection with Focus on the Family.

Click here to read this article, written by Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family.

I too, had an opportunity to share with many more people this week about Cora. Many of whom had never heard before. I was prepared to share....but the tears took over instead. For a moment I was scared I would not be able to talk at all, but God helped me pull it together enough that at least they could understand me.

It hurts....just as much as ever.
But I am amazed at how God is bringing opportunity after opportunity for Cora's story to be spread.

Dave's 30th!

So my husband is 30, well, almost.
That seems weird. 30 all of a sudden sounds kind of old to me.
It seems like a big jump...from your 20's to being 30.
I don't mean ANYTHING to anyone over the age of 30. So take no offense.
It's just my first realization that we are there...well, okay, I'm not. I have a few more years.
But having my husband be there makes me realize I'll be there before I know it.
He's taking it in good stride...but I guess that's him.
No big deal.
April 27 is the official day.
He says it's one day closer to retirement.
I guess that's a good way to look at it.
If we even get retirement by the time it's our turn.

This past Saturday we celebrated with friends.

Surprises are 100% off limits for Dave. So he helped plan his party.
Being in the spotlight is also very off limits for Dave.
So I tried my best to add a few "birthday" touches, without too much attention on him.



So the kids and I made a banner.

I thought watercolors would be fun. But notice the large water spots (spills) on the paper.

Luckily we made it plenty of time in advance so it could dry before the party.


Now, this next idea was ALMOST crossing the line.
I asked Dave's mom if I could have a bunch of pictures to display.
When she brought them over and handed them to me in front of him, he said NO WAY.
He didn't even have a clue what I was going to do with them.

Luckily, I got him to change his mind and be okay with it.

No big deal, no humiliation (although there were a couple I just HAD to put up!)...just 30 years of Dave.



If you know Dave at all....you know how much he loves his garage.

So what better place to have the party.

His work bench was later full of food...smoked ribs, bbq beef sandwiches, hamburgers, cheesy potatoes, baked beans, chips, chinese salad

and later....

by request....chocolate sheet cake.

Do you remember the shirt I made for Mason's first birthday? My friend Kendall made one for Ollie too! The important thing is that whether you are 1, 2, or 30....a shirt is a must! This was Dave's gift from Joel and Kendall! Megan, your shirt idea is such a big HIT!


Dave's good friend, Quinci, and her husband Seth, from Topeka, were able to make it too! Dave and Quinci were best buds in college and it meant a lot to have her there! Thanks Quinci and Seth for making it to help celebrate!


I realize guys don't like to pose for pictures. I shouldn't have made them. They obviously would have looked way more relaxed if I would have just caught them in conversation.

Mike and Justin are both friends from highschool, and then Dave and Mike were roommates for part of college. Both guys were in our wedding.


We had some other cool people there...

like this guy....
who makes corn hole look like it is REALLY hard work.

and these cool fellas...

We were SO lucky on the weather. It was suppossed to rain. I cleaned my whole house to be safe...not knowing if they party would end up inside. But the evening was beautiful!

Just as beautiful as these lovely friends of mine...

BUT, just as the sun was going down and we were all enjoying the fire in our fire pit,
the wind shifted and blew fire and ashes at us like crazy. I mean LARGE pieces of fire. FLYING at us! EVERYWHERE! We ran....and screamed. Someone even screamed "STOP, DROP and ROLL!" Luckily, we didn't really have to.

The temperature took a huge drop and everyone started grabbing everything they could out of the yard and off the deck. Luckily we didn't lose any kids.

The rain had finally come. Quite rude...but I guess it could have been worse.

So we moved to the garage.

This is Dave and his sister, Stefanie, she's just a few years older. SHE on the other hand LOVED her surprise 30th a few years ago and ate up ALL the attention.....they are different in MANY ways! We loved having her and her husband, Steve, there as friends AND family!

They are both looking quite a bit cuter than they were in some of the pictures I had up!

It was a fun night with friends....Dave loved it!
Even though we didn't get to have that band he was wishing about for so long, it was still a great night....all for this guy.

Happy early birthday babe! I will love that baby face of yours ONLY until the day that others ask if you are younger than me (which, has happened a few times already...but I'll ignore them for now).

I realize that you don't like surprises and you don't like attention on you at all. But I don't think you've ever specified what I can and can't do on my blog. And since you're not really on spotlight in person, I think I'm safe. I just really feel the need to get a little bit more use out of those pictures your mom sent over, before I send them back. I may be putting my scanner to work very SOON...just in time for your REAL big day!!!

bookworm

I have been finding this little guy like this quite often these days.

Somewhere, on his own, with a book or 2.

Many times the books are upside down...but he doesn't seem to mind.

dinner out

Outside, that is.

I love when the weather is nice...with NO wind.

I'd much rather run the garden hose and clean up the deck and plastic table and keep my inside clean!

The kiddos love eating outside!

Thanks to my mom and dad for the kid's picnic table that Mason got for his birthday, I have a feeling it's going to get A LOT of use.

We love being out on our deck and are hoping we have more of these evenings coming more often now!

first hair cut

I trimmed Taylor's hair ONCE when she was 18 months old.

And I mean, TRIMMED, as in, I just cut off one curl in the back that was longer than the rest of her hair....giving her the rat-tail look.

I don't have a decent pair of scissors and for some reason I'm scared to death to cut my children's hair. Other than just a straight cut, I have no idea how to do anything else. I'd just rather put it in someone else's hands.

The last few months she has been in desperate need of a new-do.

Her hair has so much curl on the underneath side and the rest of it, well, it's just been crazy. It's never lays straight, never curls under or out or anything. It's just all over the place.

She won't let me come near her with a curling iron or blow dryer, which is okay by me. I hate to start all that on her hair already. So needless to say, we deal with crazy hair all the time....or lots of ponytails!

I took Taylor to my friend Lori who cuts hair. I was so worried that it would be a disaster....screaming, crying, kicking, resulting in rescheduling. But she surprised me, and was PERFECT!

Lori framed the bangs around her face a little bit, and layered the back just a little. At least the top layer lays much better now!

TWALAH!!!

So cute!

Way to go Taylor...you did SOOO good!

our easter

"He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay."

Matthew 28:6

This Easter was different than any others for me.

I have never experienced a loved one dying...Cora has been the closest to home.

At the end of the sermon on Sunday morning, our pastor spoke about all those who have lost loved ones, and stated that it is ONLY because of Easter that they are able to have the peace and hope that they will one day walk with their loved ones again.

This year, the meaning of Easter became more real to me than ever.

And I really can't even begin to explain it all.

Don't get me wrong, I have always understood it, I have always known that without the crucifixion and ressurection, we would not have the gift of eternal life that is offered to us.

I have read the story in the bible, I remember watching The Passion, when it came out...and I cried. I realize what happened, I realize that God gave his only Son for US.

BUT, I have never cried on Easter.

I have never felt it so deep inside.

It is because of EASTER that our friends, Joel and Jess , have hope and a sense of peace.

They WILL hold Cora again.

And it's because we serve a LIVING GOD.

A god who overcame death for all of us.

Jess wrote a beautiful post about her feelings this Easter, the first Easter without Cora. I hope you'll go read it.

We had a wonderful Easter day with family.

It started out with Easter baskets at home before church.

Mason was VERY proud of his new flip-flops. He didn't want to take them off. He stomped around in them for a long time before church! Baby flip-flops are the cutest!

Then we had a WONDERFUL church service with the best music EVER!!! Awesome job, Adam!

Here's the best picture we got of the 2 kiddos all day long.

And then on to Papa and Nana's house for more Easter fun, yummy food and cousins!


You may be able to tell from the pictures above, that it was a very cold and rainy day.

So the easter egg hunt took place inside.

Nana told Taylor a story about some very special Easter decorations, I believe from when she was a little girl. She also had all the grandkids make these cute chicks and bunnies for table decorations.

Hope you all had a blessed Easter!

easter eggs

We had fun dying easter eggs on Saturday night!

They just got out of the bath, so we decided to do this with no shirts. Funny, because I looked back at my post from last year , and no shirt then either. Obviously, this can't go on forever.
It's funny how similar the pictures are too!


This little guy was quite fussy and only lasted about 30 seconds. We decided to go with the yellow dye for him...least dangerous!
We've been talking all weekend about what Easter means. We've told Taylor that Jesus died on the cross and rose out of the tomb and is alive so that he could save us from our sins. When I asked her "why is Easter special?" She replied "Jesus keep me safe". For now, Jesus keeping her safe and Jesus saving us, means the same thing. Safe - Save--- pretty close!

You'll have to check out my friend Jill's blog...she and her husband, Adam, have come up with such creative ways to teach their little girls about Easter....I LOVE IT and may definitely have to purchase that book she recommends!

Happy Easter!

amazing love

But the servant was pierced because we had sinned.

He was crushed because we had done what was evil.

He was punished to make us whole again.

His wounds have healed us.

-Isaiah 53

It is because of this....


and because of this...

That we have hope.
That we can have the assurance that no matter how bad we mess up, no matter how bad we fail...he has already PAID IT ALL.

There is nothing we can do to change this.

What we must do now...is owe our life to Him.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:8-11

I pray that everyone reading this post knows this HOPE...personally and deeply.

Have a BLESSED Easter!

I found this AMAZING video...it's intense, but it's the TRUTH.

You can't help but imagine you were there... and imagine the feelings and truly realize what he did for us.

basket of cora LOVE

This morning 30 of us girls gathered for a special surprise for our friend Jess.
It's been 2 months since Cora went to be with Jesus.
And we knew this Easter weekend was going to be especially tough for Joel and Jess.

For about a month, many of the girls in our Young Married's Sunday School class, and a few others, purchased many of the Cora Paige Etsy items that were being sold by crafters all over the country. We wanted Jess to have a collection of these special items...to always remind her of the way the world has been touched by sweet little Cora.

We didn't originally plan to give this to her on Easter weekend...it just happened that way.
But how perfect it was....the "basket of Cora love" became Jess's Easter basket!

Jess's mom, Kathy, graciously hosted us all and served her delicious waffle bar! Thanks Kathy for all you did!

My friend, Kendall and I, got together last week to write a poem that we wanted to use to help present Jess with her basket and explain to her what it was and why we did it. We wanted to make it somewhat light-hearted and humerous, to not make things any harder on Jess than they already are.

I will give you all the same warning we gave the ladies this morning...

Although we might have you completely fooled, I promise we are not professional poets.
Yes, we did teach 3rd grade together, and we do know how to write the occasionaly limerick or haiku. But there are no promises that we have the correct number of words, correct number of syllables or even that the words rhyme.

Here's the poem....

Basket of Cora Love

So this all began 2 months ago,
When a stranger from Cali started to sew.
It started as just messy flower pins,
Until hundreds more crafters decided to chip in.

They heard the story of your sweet little girl
And how your journey was touching the whole world.
So this website called Etsy become much more than it was
They didn’t know you from Adam, but they chose to show you their love.

Such cute things - every day more and more.
And then dear, sweet, Amy had an idea in store.
That’s when we knew we wanted to shop just for you.
Because we loved Cora and of course we love you too!

So the Basket of Cora love was born
“You girls don’t go broke!” your mom gently warned.
We love Joel too, but this basket’s kind of girly,
So here’s an Easter basket just for you, one day early.

When you were 5, your basket held yummies,
Like candy-filled eggs and big chocolate bunnies.
But your big-girl Easter basket is quite different.
This one is filled with love and sentiment.

Some cards, and jewelry, a doll and an apron,
Keep what you want, and share some with friends.
Let these fun things remind you of your story,
That’s touched the world and is bringing God great glory.

We’re here today for more than just grub,
We know this weekend may be a little tough.
So as we are sitting here on your mom’s rug,
We’ll finish by giving you a giant bear hug!




It was so fun seeing all the cute things made with such love, mostly from people who have never even met the McClenahan family.

(most photos courtesy of Amy, THANK YOU!)

It was such a beautiful morning with so many beautiful women. I feel SO blessed to be a part of such an amazing circle of friends.

Oh, and here's a funny (STRESSFUL) story of how our morning got started:

Kendall and I headed out to make sure we were there early to help Kathy, and to help Jess's nerves (she didn't know who all was coming...she just knew it was "some friends and some family"....she didn't know it would be 30 of us). We didn't want her to worry, and I kept assuring her that it would be casual and laid back and nothing too hard. We wanted to be there before everyone started arriving.

We stopped at Dillons to pick up some coffee creamer. As we walked back out to my truck, I realized my keys were in the truck and I was 99% sure I hit the lock button when I got out. I was right. Stranded at Dillons. And of course it's the ONE time my husband doesn't answer his cell phone. I didn't even know for sure if we had a spare key at home, I was thinking we did...and praying we did. We just had to get there. We could have just gotten a ride to the brunch, but the basket was locked in the truck...we couldn't go without that!! It was the main reason for the morning! It wasn't 2 seconds after Kendall said, "Man, I wish we knew someone here", I spotted someone I knew! Gary, I'm 100% sure you don't read my blog, but THANK YOU!! He drove us back to my house, where I DID find a key, and then back to Dillons.

Needless to say, we were the LAST ones to arrive at the brunch, that WE had organized. Oh my! I was so flustered and felt SO bad we weren't there for Kathy and Jess. But at least we made it....with the basket.

Jess, we just hope you know how much your loved and how much we loved Cora. You are an amazing, AMAZING woman, who continues to touch so many with your tender spirit and testimony. You are beautiful inside and out...your smile was especially beautiful today. We hope the fun etsy stuff will be a reminder in the days and years to come, that Cora touched THE WORLD and that so many people EVERYWHERE are praying for you! As your friends, we promise to continue each chance we get to shine a light for you, as you walk this dark and painful path....you do not have to do it alone...we love you!