Busy, busy, busy...

So life around here has been very busy lately.

Last week we celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. My mom kept all 8 children overnight and Al and I enjoyed spending some time alone. 3D movie, bowling, mini-golf, shopping, dining, and listening to some live jazz music. It was nice just to have some fun time alone.

Al has also been struggling with sleep apnea for sometime. The last few weeks I have been spending quite a bit of time researching and working toward getting him treatment. He had a sleep study done 2 weeks ago which did confirm the sleep apnea. And next week he will get his new machine. Hoping and praying this will help to get some much needed rest at night!

The beginning of the month was spent on vacation. This was the first family vacation we have had in years (other than just long weekends). It was wonderful and some much needed fun time together as a family! Al had 10!! days off from work. The kids LOVED it. We had a family reunion with swimming, fishing, camping, campfire, food, and games. We also went to 2 different museums. And then we came home to enjoy getting some things done around the house. And we finished up with a Kids Triathlon. The five oldest competed and everyone finished. Monte got 3rd place in his age group.

As for grieving, I honestly haven't had much time lately to stop and grieve. I still wonder if I might not still be in shock. There's a lot I can't seem to consciously remember from the past 3 years right now. It makes me sad that I can't remember everything about Ali, but I also understand that maybe that is God's grace to me right now because when in those rare moments when the memories do flood back, they are extremely overwhelming and consuming.

I have a lot planned still that I would like to do to remember Ali. I have her gravestone finally designed and I am hoping to get that ordered soon. I'm very excited about how that is turning out!  I have the molds of her hands and feet that I would like to get framed and hung on the wall. I have a 3 dimensional photo frame for the dining room table to stain and fill with photos. I want to get the recording from her funeral service uploaded to share. I also have a book that I have been working on for years literally which combines this blog and lots of pictures and emails and comments from friends all into one book. It contains so many of my important and treasured memories of Ali and God's grace to us throughout her life.

So we've been very busy and I have lots still do. Now if I could just stay focused and stop feeling quite so restless. :-D