A Gift for Landon....

About 6 weeks ago, I received an email from Landon's music teacher (Mr. U) at Bayfield Elementary School asking if we would consider sending Landon to Denver to perform at competition with his D.R.U.M. group.  Our first reaction was "no way".....it's too far and too expensive.  So we didn't even mention it to Landon.  Mr. U continued to send emails, offering to cover most of the cost if we would send him.  By this time, I was beginning to feel sorry for Landon because he was missing field trips here that I know he would have gotten to go on IF he had started the year here such as the gifted field trip and the AR reward trip.  And I knew he was missing the fun times in Bayfield because he was here.  I started questioning Mr. U on what my expenses would be because I knew that I couldn't "send" him.  He emailed back and said that all my expenses would be paid while there so this meant I would only have to buy my plane ticket.  SOOOOOO we went for it......we felt like Landon was worth every penny to get him to this place where he was so heavily wanted.

Mr. U wanted to keep it a surprise to all the other kids so we flew to Denver last Friday and met them at Fun City.  Mr. U had gathered everyone together in a private room and said, "Boys and girls, It would not be DRUM competition without a special guest....straight from Alabama....IT'S LANDON!" And Landon jumps out and this is where the video begins  (click on the arrow at the bottom left of the screen)

It brings me to tears everytime I watch it!  How awesome that made him feel!  Those couple of moments were worth every penny of what I had to pay to come out there!

What this was the Elitch Garden Music Festival where the groups perform in front of 2 judges who critique their performance and judge them.  Every group from Bayfield Elementary won gold which was the highest you could win.  BES has a choir, several orchestra groups with violins, violas, and cello's, and then the D.R.U.M group.  While it would seem that the D.R.U.M. group would play the drums, they actually play all types of percussion so on trip they played the mallets and it was beautiful.  Here is a video of their performance....Landon is on the far right

It wasn't as if Landon was "needed" to do this performance.  They all played the same thing and it would have been fine without him.  It was the fact that he was so "wanted" by his music teacher to be a part of all the fun they would have on this special weekend.  It blessed my heart so!

This is the whole group from Bayfield Elementary.  This was about a 7 hour drive for this group to get here.  Below is the DRUM group that Landon perform with

Landon with the Gold!

 

After the competition they got to spend the day at Elitch Gardens which was an amusement part right in the heart of Denver

Landon and Mr. U

After Elitch, we went down town Denver to the Hard Rock Cafe for supper

We had to wait a while for them to get our tables ready so the kids ended up performing on the sidewalks and people stopped to watch.  It was a neat experience! 

So an extra special THANK YOU to Mr. U for making Landon feel so cherished and loved!  Landon has endured another major life change by moving and this was an awesome reward for his courage and endurance, and a reflection of how loved Landon is for being Landon!

My Softball Gal!

My Haven girl is finally getting to play a team sport!

She is playing Softball and her team name is the Cupcakes....I know....pretty awful team name and she wanted to quit when she heard it!

The team...well, let's just say they are improving but we've lost every game so far.  She has gotten a few hits and this is where she plays

But she loves it and she is awfully cute in he little uniform, isn't she?

A More Decorated Home

Just thought I would share pics of the house once it was decorated.  Here's our new furniture for the very spacious living room......

Landon finally got his own room to decorate!  When we lived in Holly Pond, we had a 3 bedroom house so when Haven came along, Landon's "room" was down in the basement because he slept with Mason anyway every night.  Needless to say, he didn't spend much time in his "room" because it was in a damp, dark basement.  In Colorado, he had to share a room with Haven.  So here, he finally got his own room to decorate and as you can see, it has a music theme

I had so much fun helping him decorate as we got all my old records and put them on his wall.  He wanted to listen to all the songs so thanks to You Tube, we did.  He really appreciates all music and I love that about him!

Mason kept the whole Alabama Crimson Tide theme.  I did promise him a "Fathead" for his wall when he can decide which one he wants.

It made me sad that he did not want to display his trophies.  He realized all the trophies he got in Alabama where not a result of anything he accomplished but were given just for participation so they really don't mean much to him now.  Maybe now that he is not far from high school sports, he'll start a new trophy case with some well deserved awards!  He did still want all those team pictures we paid for during the years on his wall so I made a nice little arrangement for him...............

Haven's room has a cute little horse theme.  I actually have the curtains for her room now and it is officially complete!  I'll have to say that since we've been here, Haven rarely plays in her room and keeps it really neat because she is ALWAYS outside playing.  I love it!  We had to leave her bicycle in Colorado because we ran out of room in the moving truck so we bought her a new one here.  She stayed on that bike all the time!  A week after we bought it, my sister-in-law ran over it because Haven left it behind her truck.  So she is now on her 3rd bike and loves it just as much.   She has to ride it to church for every service.  So cute!

This is our sun room....they put in outdoor carpet and it's a neat little reading room.  Lucee seems to think it is her bedroom too!

And this is our dining room....I really want to change the color scheme here and have done a lot of shopping to find something I like better but I just have not found it yet. 

I still need to pick out curtains for both the dining room and living room and that has been a challenge for me because they have such large windows.  Wish I could hire a designor to just do it for me but they are a little pricey.  I'm not good at all with arranging or designing but I do love this house and it is good enough for us.  The great part about the house is that it has a huge laundry room and several closets for storage so I feel much more organized now. 

WELCOME TO OUR CASA!

SWEET HOME ALABAMA

We're here and I'm loving it! Here's pics of our new church and home.....

Sycamore Baptist Church

This next picture shows how close our home is to the church

This is the pastorium and I LOVE it! The men have done so much to update it and even let me pick out flooring, counter tops, paint colors, etc. It is 4 bedrooms so no one has to share a room now.

I took a few pictures of the inside before we started unloading the truck. This is the bathroom that they totally gutted for me......

I wish I had taken a "before" picture. It was a blue tile 1950's bathroom complete with a blue toilet! I was so happy with the change!!

Below is the kitchen. They replaced the floor and counter tops before we arrived. They are now working on new cabinet doors and replacing the hardware. Before, everything was white...white floor, white counter tops, white cabinets and white appliances. Looks much better now!

This is our living room. It's very spacious and I love the windows and hardwood floors!


Now, this is dangerous. The pic below is taken from my front door and what you see there is a Dollar General. Yes, we live this close to Dollar General! Very convenient but we visit there way too often!

This is taken from our back door......

These make me REALLY happy!

I love seeing daffodils in February! And in my yard!! Oh how I've missed the colors of spring!! This next pic is a view of the back of the house

Nice, big back yard

Everything is so very well groomed around here and they are planting more shrubbery in the back of the house. They do all the up keep of the yard and shrubs so I am feeling a little spoiled around here!

I love this Bradford Pear tree in our yard too!

Playing around with the camera, I took this picture and it's a favorite!

The kids are doing well but Landon has had some school adjustment problems. His room is too crowded, and messy, and the boy who sits next to him likes to cheat off of his paper...stuff like that. Mason has done great and went to his first sleepover with 4 friends the other night. He would much rather be in Colorado still though. Haven is loving every part of it. It is such a blessing to live near my brother's family and we see them just about every day. The church family has been really good to us during our transition and now we just wait to see all the good things God is going to do for our family at Sycamore Baptist Church!

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