valentines

Happy Birthday Neal

May 11, 2015trish1 Comment

Neal would have been 57 today.

Fifty seven seven years ago May 11 was Mothers Day. For many people it is a difficult day. I usually shed some tears but also have some wonderful memories of the man who made me a mother. This year I was in Indianapolis for the weekend with Whitney, Ty, and Banks. Karsten drove over Saturday to join us. We had a wonderful day at church and then out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants, Seasons 52. Banks made me this cute flower pot with his feet prints.

When I got home last evening, I continued gathering things to put in the Bridgman city wide garage sale which is this weekend. I went into a closet that I hadn’t been in for a couple years. It had a lot of my scrap booking supplies and rubber stamps for card making. I pulled out a container with the stamps to price them and found a love note from Neal. Before he was sick, Neal would write on children’s valentines and hid them in random places for me to find. So before he died, Neal wrote on several Valentines and had the boys hide them around the house. Much to my surprise and delight I found one in with my stamps. What a special gift for Mother’s Day! Neal was so thoughtful, always thinking of other people.

The valentines I have found since Neal died.

I pray you had a wonderful Mother’s Day whether you are a daughter, mom, a role model for kids or teach kids.

i am blessed to have 8 people call me Mom and 6 children call me Grammy. ❤️

On the journey,

Trish

Love Notes

April 18, 2014trishLeave a comment

I have been doing some remodeling and purging in anticipation for a garage sale. This week I was cleaning out my jewelry armoire and came across this note from Neal:

Last week I came across this one when I was cleaning out my coffee drawer:

Don’t judge, I know it has been 20 months since Neal died, there was a lot of cleaning to do! I had let things go for a few years. I had a good excuse and I’m sticking to it. 🙂

Neal, out of his great love for me, had these notes hidden all throughout the house. Even in his death he was thinking of me, not his situation. I thought it was timely that I found a note this week since we are focusing on the meaning of Easter. God, out of His great love for us, sent His Son to die a brutal death on the cross so we could have forgiveness of sins and have life forever with Him in heaven.

“But God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5

Neal demonstrated his love for me through these love notes. How much greater did God demonstrate His love for us by sending His Son, Jesus. As we celebrate this weekend, let us take time to thank God for His incredible demonstration of His love for us.

I wish Neal was here so I could tell him how much these notes mean to me. These are the notes I have found so far:

Thank you Lord for showing us Your love.

On the journey,

Trish