Guin

After my last post I went looking for what I said at Guin's funeral in 2007. Guin's dad Scott called me the night before the funeral to ask if I would share about Guin at the service. I made Bethany come up front with me knowing I spoke for both of us, but being the mom of a 3 day old, she was not going to want to share. But I wanted to share with you just a little about Guin. I could go on for days, but here is just a little something.

Please forgive me as I read to you today. My name is Bekah Atkinson. I met Guin in 2003 in our apartment complex. Bethany and David lived in 214, my sister and I in 211, and the Pronovost’s in 113. We dominated the North-East corner of Richelieu, and we loved it. Every three day weekend, Fourth of July, and Easter, we would spend the whole day together. Sometimes we would bar-b-que, and sometimes we have our formal progressive dinner. We girls loved dressing up and the guys were good enough sports to put on a tie. It was like having roommates you never had to clean up after. Guin was often waiting for us to come home from work so she could show us something new Emma had learned, or the new purse she had made, or the new recipe she had made diabetic friendly. I very clearly remember the day before Emma was born when she waddled upstairs, 9 months pregnant, with her swollen ankles to show off the apple pie she had baked from scratch. Guin was in my wedding party, and I know she was in many of yours, as I saw the dresses in her closet. Don’t worry, she never complained of the dresses, even when she had to wear one of them pregnant. She loved her friends and had their pictures everywhere.

The great thing about today is that I don’t have to convince you of how wonderful Guin was; you are here because you know that. We all have stories to share, and am excited to hear yours over lunch. And yet even through all of this sorrow of the loss of a relationship, I have found joy. I know that Guin is in heaven with our Father, Christ Jesus. Guin accepted Christ as her savior as a girl, but later left her roots questioning if what she had always known was right. Over the past year Guin has come back to her foundation. She and I were looking through her year books one time, and she found someone’s note in the back that praised her for her strong faith in Christ. She looked at me and said “I want to find that faith again.” So Guin came back to church. Thank you Scott, for giving her a bible. She had it with her every Sunday. Sometimes the lessons are tough, and we find we are doing things we really know we shouldn’t (even though deep down we already knew it.) But Guin found people there who loved her and she loved them back.

Guin loved bringing Emma to church, knowing that there were people who would play with her and show her Christ’s love. Please pray for Emma. She may remember today in her short term memory, but she will most likely not remember Guin. That is one of the most difficult things to deal with today. It is up to us to show Emma pictures of Guin and tell her stories of how wonderful and beautiful her mother was. Guin loved being a mother and wanted Emma to know how much happiness she brought her mother.

I know that Guin is now in heaven, and her body is healed. She never has to take another insulin shot again. And I have joy and confidence that I will see her again. Not because I am a good person, or because I simply believe there is a God, but I, like Guin, have asked Jesus to be Lord of my life. I too, am very sad that Guin is gone. I will miss laugh and her smile. She was a good faithful friend with a giant heart. I pray that you will seek healing through Christ’s love.

Tagged By Shannon

The Rules:
1. Go to where you store your digital photos and open the 4th folder.
2. Post the 4th picture in that folder.
3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag 4 people.

This is Bethany, Me, and Guin shortly after we moved to Pinnacle at Riverwalk. I'm not sure why we took the picture, David or Kevin must have taken it.The folder was a group of random pictures I pulled out for our friend Daniel to put into a slide show for Guin's funeral. Guin died quite unexpectantly June 4, the day my niece Delaney was born. I still miss her very much and forgot I even had this picture.

Grief is weird. I find myself thinking about her a random times, often at church, or when I am by myself. I see her family around town and get sad at times. When I asked my dad what it was like learning to deal with the loss of his sister. He told me "It doesn't get better, it just gets different." And it is true, it's still so very sad, it is just different.

I do have peace though. I know that I will see Guin in heaven. Life on earth is temporary and has an end, but our life with Christ is eternal. I have hope in that.

This post was not meant to be depressing, but full of hope.

I tag Jacquie, Rachel, Erica, and Jonathan. Yes, you, Jonathan Miller. Let's see a picture!

Our Boys

A Post From Kevin

They are REALLY good puppies. Bubba and Charlie have been a lot of work, but they're so worth it. They've learned how to sit, stay, wait, sleep through the whole night, not eat each others' food, pee and poop outside (except for when we leave them in their downstairs bedroom for an extended period of time), and they've just recently learned how to go upstairs and downstairs (a scary experience for them both, at first). We're still teaching them not to bite and not to jump, but they're responding well to our "NOs". We had a couple from our marriage group come over for dinner on Tuesday. They brought their three kids (4, 6, and 7), and they just feel in love with each other. The boys were so good with the kids, and the kids with the puppies. The first thing the four-year-old asked her mommy the next morning was if she could go play with the puppies...precious. I'm telling you, they're going to be really good dogs for us. I keep telling Bekah that if we can handle these two monsters, we can EASILY handle twin babies! :) Bekah's gonna be an amazing mommy...

Random Facts

This is going on everywhere - people left and right are posting 25 random things about themselves. And I have been "tagged" a couple of time. So here are our lists.

25 Random Things About Bekah
1. I cry every time I drop Kevin off at the airport.
2. I love corny jokes; they remind me of my dad.
3. I wish I lived closer to my mother.
4. I used to make fun of dog people until I became one.
5. I worry about what life would be like if people close to me died; my husband, my sister, my best friend, my mother.
6. I love my church more and more each week and am excited about how God is using Kevin and I for His glory there.
7. I have a hard time making friends that aren’t just surface friends.
8. I am secretly beginning to enjoy all the sports I made a stink about when we first started dating.
9. I love bum days with my husband where we sit at home in our sweats eating junk, watching TV, and each of us on our own lap top.
10. I want four kids but fear time is running away from me.
11. When I grow up I want to do research for historical films.
12. I have been in Riverside for almost 10 years; longer than I have been anywhere else. And yet, didn’t really expect to stay this long.
13. I find grocery shopping relaxing.
14. I eat Good and Plenty until they make me sick, every time.
15. I love to get away, even just for the night.
16. I decorate a baby nursery in my head when I can’t sleep.
17. I correct people in my head when they say common phrases wrong: spell “whole nother” for me, “I could care less” should be “I couldn’t care less”, “irregardless” may be a word, but you really shouldn’t use it, “second” is not pronounced “secont”. And really Scott, “Alls I’m saying”?
18. I dread baby and bridal shower games.
19. I hate shorts.
20. I predict outcomes to movies and TV shows out loud to the annoyance of those around me, but can’t seem to stop.
21. Sometimes I question if nice people have ulterior motives.
22. I miss my old last name.
23. I want to pass on my middle name because it is special to me, not because I feel I have to.
24. My decorative “style” is very plain and neutral and I love it.
25. I love mindless sitcoms. I can’t stay with a show I have to watch every week to know what is going on.


25 Random Things About Kevin
1. I laugh at pretty much anything that Will Ferrell is in.
2. I would cheerfully cry if my job consisted of playing fantasy sports.
3. I selfishly think my puppies are cuter than yours.
4. I am the ultimate people watcher.
5. I am not obsessed with making money; however, I am obsessed with managing our money.
6. I like the taste of energy drinks.
7. I have played soccer for 23 years.
8. I thoroughly enjoy tacos.
9. I love bum days with the wife and kids.
10. I enjoy a great deal of sarcasm.
11. I enjoy being nasty and rude to my friends...it shows 'em I love 'em!
12. I want to be able to allow my wife to stay at home.
13. I want a baby.
14. I love quality hugs.
15. I like that everyone has the potential to be my friend...they just have to allow it.
16. I wish I could do high school all over again.
17. I wish I was better with my student loan money - sorry baby :)
18. I desire to live near my friends and family forever.
19. I have lived in Southern California my entire life.
20. I ask people too many questions.
21. I am whiter than anyone I know...except my wife.
22. I have bad fashion sense.
23. I should weigh 600 pounds, based on the way I eat.
24. I set "Reminders" on my phone all day long so I don't forget to do stuff.
25. I thrive on meeting my wife's needs.

More Disneyland

Here are a few pictures from our outing with the Cordes. Sorry David, the lack of evidence of your presence was not intentional.

Stuck on Space Mountain

Yesterday we went to Disneyland with the Cordes family. We had a great time hanging out with Delaney and taking turns on the grown-up rides. We took Delaney on the Buzz Lightyear ride and the Winne the Pooh ride. One of the highlights of the evening was getting stuck on Space Mountain. We were coming near the end of the ride when our car suddenly stopped and all the lights came on. Kevin and I were in the front row and had a pretty good view of the room. After about 10 minutes the crew gave us a push start and we finished the little bit of track with the lights on. They let us go again so we could have a better experience. It was all quite interesting.

I'll post more pictures of our outing later.

New Year's Eve Bowling

A little tired of the giant party scene, we went bowling for New Year's Eve. Two years ago, we went bowling with Kevin's Upland friends (as I refer to them). The odd thing is none of them live in Upland any more. We had such a good time we decided to do it again. This year we met in the middle in San Dimas.

Here are some pictures from 2006/2007.

And here we are two years later 2008/2009.

Toys

I think the boys need more toys to occupy themselves during the day. If you can't tell, these are the puppy pads we lay down for the dogs to pee on each morning. Needless to say, there was a lot of pee on the floor.

I gave them each a tennis ball at lunch. We'll see if that helps.

Puppy Proofing

We cleared out our downstairs bedroom for the boys to hang out in during the day. It's cold in the early morning and the boys aren't licensed yet, so the tiled bedroom was perfect. We put down the puppy pads, and for the most part they are peeing in that general area (I mop daily). They have their bed, water, their toys and one of us comes home during lunch.

Today at lunch, however, Kevin found the boys have pulled the closet door forward and squeezed into the closet. When we tiled the downstairs, the floor was lower than the carpet and we hadn't ever put the doors on to a track on the ground.

This was the item they turned into a chew toy.

We are still learning how much puppy proofing we need to do.

Exhausted

Puppies are not easy. We love them to death, and miss them while we are gone, but they are quite the handful. The have tiny little bladders that don't hold much, and sharp little teeth that feel like needles. We started our routine yesterday when I went back to work. They wake us up about 6:00, go outside, eat breakfast, poop, play real hard, and are back down for a nap around 6:45. Then Kevin and I get ready for work, and we are out the door by 7:30. Yesterday went really well. Last night, however, they were up more than normal and we were exhausted this morning. The break was hard, too. Even though we didn't have to work, we didn't really get to sleep in.

We have to remember they are only 8 weeks old. They are very smart and are already learning their names and commands such as come, sit, and of course, no. Yesterday, Charlie climbed over the gate, we assume by using his brother as a stool. They take their medicine well, and are learning to climb the stairs.

Here are some pictures of us; worn out and tired.