Friday, March 2, 2012

A Week of Goodbyes

Before discussing our time in Alabama so far, I have too many pics to share of our last week in Colorado. While trying to pack up our belongings, life continued with basketball games, going away parties, and work. One day while driving to Durango, I was blessed to see this sunset...
The beauty of Colorado is indescribable and this picture doesn't even do justice for how it was seeing it in person. I will definitely MISS the scenery of Colorado.
Haven had a Valentine's party on the 14th at school so I got to see her teacher and classmates one last time. She has never claimed anyone as her boyfriend so for the first time ever, she named Ashton as her boyfriend and she thinks he is AWESOME! LOL!
Like her Mama, she is a little taller than her man! (ha-ha)
I am going to miss her teacher Mrs. Meier. She was awesome and loves my child!
While Haven didn't have a goodbye party from anyone, she did bring home a ton of stuff given to her by her teacher including the t-shirt she has on with her class picture on it, a framed pic of the class that they all signed, a stuffed monkey, and a monkey sling bag FULL of stuff for her to play with on the ride to Bama. (Can you say "teacher's pet"?!)
Landon's music teacher at BES gave him a surprise pizza party at DRUM on the his last Thursday there. It was super sweet and Landon was speechless as he asked him to give a going away speech!
They played one last song together before leaving
The Ladies at Vallecito gave me a luncheon on Friday before moving. It was such a precious time as they were such an encouragement to me. I also shared some final thoughts with them as we ate a wonderful Italian meal together
How sweet it was for them to decorate with Bama stuff! I sure am going to miss these wonderful, godly women!!
The men had a special breakfast on Saturday for Mike and presented him with this leather art that Dan Throckmorton made for Mike....
I know that was made with a lot of love and it will forever be very special to us!
On Sunday, the church had cake and coffee after the service to say goodbye
It was a hard day but also a blessing to feel so loved by so many. Mason was given a party on Friday night by the basketball team at Pine Valley Church. On Saturday, they played their league tournament and after a very contoversial last game, they won!!
As we were in double overtime, I just prayed and asked God to please let Mason have this win. I knew it was going to be hard anyway, but a win would be much better than a loss on his last time to play with these boys. So I just want to publically thank God for answering my prayers. As soon as they won, everyone started crying and hugging Mason. They wanted him to accept to winning trophy and of all days, I didn't have my camera with me. They all started saying their goodbyes and watching 14 year old boys cry was so tough!! Then we decided to all go out for pizza at Iron Horse. After done there, everyone had to say their goodbyes again and here we go again with the tears! It was so tough!
While thinking that was behind us, most of them all showed up at church on Sunday morning!! What a blessing it was to see the church full of our church family and our friends!
So once again for a 3rd time, Mason's friends said goodbye AGAIN and more tears!! This is a picture of them all going to "bear hug" Mason
While one always wants to leave on a good note, it sure makes it sadder! Our hearts were very blessed by the love shown to us by everyone in Vallecito and Bayfield.
One last family picture at Vallecito the day before moving


And then moving day.......
It was a gorgeous day and was very hard to open our eyes for a picture because the sun was so bright and reflected off of the snow.
There to say goodbye was Connie Allen who helped me SOOOOOOOOOOO much in packing and loading everything.
She sure made everything so much less stressful!! Thank you CONNIE!!!
Also there was Bill and Joy Brooks.....

This couple is such a great example of what I want to be "when I grow up"...LOL! They are so kind and have a servant's heart. I am a better person for knowing them.
As I drove out of Vallecito, my heart was breaking as we were leaving that chapter of our lives behind. God worked and moved in that valley while we were there and truly GREW us.
"Thank you GOD for the Vallecito mission and we pray that YOU would continue to move in and around that area for Your glory"-- Amen

1 comment:

Ronnie said...

Awe!!! Seeing these pictures brought tears to my eyes as so many memories of our Goodbyes there crept up! The other day, I found the cards that Bayfield people gave us and I was so teary I had to quickly put them away. Can't wait to hear more about BAMA!!!