Christmas 2009

My Christmas was filled with lots of love, laughter, great food, wonderful family, and lots of presents! Although, I wanted to share my most favorite present with you- my memory blanket. This blanket is made out of my dad's tshirts that were special to our relationship with him. Of course, he had enough shirts to make tons of blankets, but my mom picked out just a few that held a significant meaning to us and our favorite memories of him. I thought this was the absolute neatest idea my mom could've come up with for a gift!! Many times it's easy to get wrapped up in the expense and number of presents that have your name written across the top, but someday those presents will tarnish, fall apart, and break into pieces. It will be thrown away and replaced with something newer, bigger, and more expensive. But this present will never tarnish or fall apart, because it holds some of my fondest memories of my dad while we were living life together, and that memory will never die, it will forever live on in my heart.

From the very top (left to right)-

A picture of my dad & I on our last Florida vacation together during a baseball game

The shirt worn while he & I coached together in 2008

Our last family picture taken during the summer of 2008

The shirt worn while he chaperoned and participated in my Senior Post Prom

The K&K shirt he wore everyday to work to provide for and take care of his family

The shirt I bought him on a trip to Paris, France

One of my favorite pictures of him and I as a young baby:)

His "Walk to Emmaus" shirt which was very special because he got to sponsor me when I went on the "Walk"

Another Post Prom shirt that he helped host

One of the many Barr-Reeve shirts that he had:) But this one was of my Senior year basketball sectionals that I cheered at (I'll never forget seeing his face in the crowds)

And finally a softball shirt, which he adored playing and coaching. The Gasthof team took many years to build, but we were finally able to bring home that 1st place trophy- I'll never forget his coaching voice coming from 3rd base or the huge grin on his face after we had finally won it all:)

Briona's blanket

Baleigh's blanket

Grandma:)

Wagler grandchildren

Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!!!!!

~JM~

Christmas Outing!!

Today, Steph & I took our 12 cheerleaders to Evansville to go eat at Gatti-town, shop at the mall, and attempt ice-skating at Swander Arena! We had sooo much fun and I'm so glad that we got to spend some fun moments with these girls! I must share one episode of our trip because it's just too funny to keep inside:) As we were walking into the ice arena, a couple girls came up to me with wide, worried expressions and said, "Brittany! Why are we going here? That sign says no socializing!!!" I quickly looked at the sign, tried to keep my laugh hidden inside, and said, "Girls- it says, No Soliciting!!" It was soo funny- their worried looks were so innocent!! Here are a few pics from our outing:

~JM~

Life Legacies

LIVE DEEP
Never stop learning, playing, or finding wonder in the world around you. Live the length of your life, but live the depth of it as well.

TRAVEL LIGHT
There is no excuse in carrying around worry and regret. They only weigh you down. Always keep yourself open to hope and to love. They give us wings.

FORGIVE IMPERFECTIONS...
in yourself and others. Imperfections keep things interesting. They're the cracks where the light shines through.

OWN BEAUTIFUL THINGS..
And not just to keep in the drawer, tucked away for a perfect day. Surround yourself with things that make you happy, that remind you of the beauty all around us if we only keep our eyes open to it.

MAKE MISTAKES...
Follow detours. Sometimes it takes an unexpected turn to help us find the life that is waiting for us around the bend. Trust yourself and the path that is meant for you.

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF...
And sometimes that means you need the ice cream:). Be good to your body, but also to your mind and spirit. You're the only one who can.

(Don't know who this is by, but I absolutely LOVE it!:))

~JM~

Elf Yourself!!

Great News on my aunt!! She was moved out of ICU and into rehab to work on her progress and then on sending her home!! Thank you, Jesus:) what a great Christmas blessing!! Anyways, I was playing around on the computer today and I found this really fun site where you can crop pictures, put them on elf bodies, and make them break it down to Christmas tunes! It's soo cute and I thought some of you might enjoy it:) Here's the link below:

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/


~JM~

Over the weekend...

The Cross wreath we placed on my dad's grave (his favorite)!!

Our family got some unsettling news on Saturday morning, my Aunt Ruth (dad's sister), was back in the hospital and not doing very well at all. They suspected that she had had another heart attack and her lungs were 3/4 of the way filled with fluids, so she was having a lot of difficulty breathing. As I walked back into the ICU to visit with her for what I thought may be the last time, I felt the tears start to stream down again and my heart was so anxious. It was such a struggle for her to breathe and all I could stare at was her chest rapidly moving up and down. It hurt me to watch her fight for life while I've taken so many days for granted, without thought of my next breath because it comes so easily... I tried to memorize the feel of her warm fingers, the touch of her hand against mine, and the eyes that looked so deeply into mine because I never got the opportunity to memorize the "last touches" of my dad's. This weekend was tough... I'm not ready to lose another loved one yet. I don't want that call telling me that a family member's life was taken again. These next couple of days will be vital to her health, so if you have some quiet time, please remember my Aunt Ruth in your prayers. Our family would greatly appreciate it:)

~JM~

Christmas is in the Air!!

Christmas is my absolute favorite season- hands down!! I love the music, the decorations, the lights, the warmth that people seem to carry around, and of course the FOOD:)! So mom and I decided to start day 1 of Christmas decorating. We got the downstairs tree up and few other decorations throughout the basement. But there is still so much to do- the upstairs and all of the outside stuff! We definitely feel the missing hand that we used to have around.. It's a lot of work with only 2 people!!

Last weekend, me and a few friends went to see these old railroad tracks and it was soo neat!!Me & Regina on the tracks- trying not to look down!!!

Let me just say, I found out how out of shape I was when trying to climb the hill to the top:)!!!

Soo neat!!

** Oh Beautiful Star of Bethlehem by The Judds was my dad and I's FAVORITE Christmas song!! I love the blog background that I found to go along with it:)

~JM~

Address in the Stars/ Lucky Man

I stumbled across your picture today- I could barely breath. The moment stopped me cold, grabbed me like a thief. I dialed your number, but you wouldn't be there. I knew the whole time, but it's still not fair... I just wanted to hear your voice, I just needed to hear your voice.
What do I do with all I need to say?? So much I wanna tell you everyday. Oh it breaks my heart, I cry these tears in the dark. I write these letters to you, but they get lost in the blue,
'Cause there's no address in the stars...

Address in the Stars- Caitlyn & Will

With Thanksgiving coming up, I started thinking about thankfulness and how easy it is to forget about all that we have and how lucky we really are. Last night as I was driving home, I heard this song by Montgomery Gentry, and for some reason it reminded me of my dad so vividly. It seems that every verse in the song related to him, or he'd said it himself. One thing that I always loved about him was his knowledge of what he had. Yes, there were many days when his thoughts were caught in "paying this bill, saving for our schooling, fixing this, or having to buy that," but at the end of the day, when he would come in from working outside, he would always wrap his arms around us, find our smiles, tell us how special we were, and like a lightbulb, a soft smile would appear on his face almost as if he were thinking, "Man, look at what all I have; I'm a pretty lucky guy."

In his dedication- "Lucky Man" by Montgomery Gentry
*(make sure your volume is turned on:))