48 Hours of Summer

I know this picture isn't clear but can you feel the joy?

Scott and his buddies at the park.

 Football!

Doesn't this picture look like summer?

 Macker's got game.

Swooosh!!

  Jump rope.

Limbo.

Today our friends invited us to the Brookfield zoo. She had free passes for us. How could we say no? The animals were amazing.

Macker, Shay, June and Jack.

Dolphins.

Picnic. So thankful for the fun day!

 

Sam loves the slide.

We're bracing for 4 inches of snow tomorrow....

Park in January

Please Pray

I'd like to ask you to pray for a "friend" of mine. I really like her and I've actually never met her in real life. Isn't that crazy?  Today Leanne is having her baby. Would you join me?

Playing

The weather his been unreal and we are loving every minute of it. Scotty and his buddy, Wyatt played inside for a while.

Then they realized it was pretty nice out.

So they played football until the bus arrived.

Can you see the ball?

 

It's almost spring, right?

Update

The funeral was beautiful. Scott did a great job. On the way back to Chicago we stopped by the Williams and spent the night.  Fun.

Uncle Lloyd

Scott, the kids and I are leaving for the funeral of my dear cousin, known as Uncle Lloyd to those of us that loved him.  Scott is honored that my cousin Karla asked him to sing. I thought I would post the link to the song and also share the eulogy that my mom is going to read.

The Criddles Loved Lloyd Foust

I am Lloyd’s Aunt Betty.

Photo summer 2011 with cousin Teddy

No one can think of Lloyd without thinking of his beloved Buckeyes. He grew up in Ohio, graduated from high school and at the age of 17 he enlisted in the Marine Corp. Lloyd served two tours of duty in Vietnam. He loved his mom, Frances, and his 7 sisters. He could never get back to them and his beloved state often enough. He recounted many stories his time with his Ohio relatives and he often brought back homemade apple cider to share with us.

It was 25 years ago when Lloyd came in to our lives. Initially we were all concerned about this 39 year old man and my young 24 year old niece. They met while working for the Thomas Carnival Company. Our concerns were quickly dismissed. What a kind, hardworking and loving man who has been a blessing to our whole family since the very beginning.

His commitment to his immediate and extended family is one that we all should seek to emulate. Every Friday night Lloyd and Karla went to dinner with Letha and Don, Karla’s parents. They had a very close and loving relationship I’m not sure can be said for too many in-laws.

Lloyd was always wonderful to me, Gary, our daughters and their families. They respected and thought very highly of him. I’d say he was their favorite relative but there are some others in the room who might have hurt feelings so I won’t J

And Lloyd really could do anything - remodel, repair, build, decorate, landscape and the list goes on. He redid their entire home from the brick fire pit, the koi pond, the swing set and my favorite the beautiful three season porch. My husband Gary said that when he thinks of Lloyd he thinks of him as always being a giver who would never ask for or expect anything in return. He even came to our house to build at electric fence in our backyard to keep the deer out.

One of our family’s favorite things was the famous, extravagant Christmas lights Lloyd decorated their home and lane with each year. Chad came this year to put them up.

He excelled at a very difficult and intensive job – driving big trucks across the county. For Zephyr trucking he drove three million accident-free miles.

A highlight of his life was Kassie’s adoption. Of course we never got tired of hearing about how beautiful she was and how talented she was. J I’d like to share what Kassie wrote on Facebook on Monday afternoon "Today at 10:15 a.m. I lost the ONLY man who has stuck by side, supported me, never gave up on me, and LOVED me UNCONDITIONALLY. I had the BEST DAD anyone could ever ask for and would give anything to have him back, but I know God does these things for a reason. I was, still am, and always WILL be a DADDYS GIRL

♥ May you no longer be in anymore pain Daddy rest in peace and give Grandma Francis a hug♥"

When the opportunity came to adopt Kassie’s 2 little half brothers, Cameron & Colton, Lloyd and Karla fought a long and extensive battle to bring them home . Another love of Lloyd’s life was his grandson, Kaj. He would say "Whose little boy are you?" and Kaj would answer "Papa’s boy". By all his effort at work and around their beautiful acreage, Lloyd cared for all of them.

Pastor Don Feuerhauk, had a big impact on Lloyd’s life and his attendance and baptism at Fredsville

Lloyd fought until the end to "not die with cancer but to live with cancer".

Lloyd and Karla celebrated their 24^th wedding anniversary just 3 days before he passed away. In Karla’s own words "he went straight from my arms to God’s arms".

We love you Lloyd!

Fun

Sam can't stand to be away from Scott when he gets home from work. He stood at the door and screamed, so Scoot let him BBQ. Brrrr!

We had some sweet friends over to play and dance.  Nice face, Juner...

We Love Tom

Father and son.

Out to Chicago pizza. 

Tom is the handiest man. He can fix everything. Lucky for him, we always have broken things at our house. I had a huge list for him. He did everything plus more... (I told you, we love Tom)

New light in laundry room, it actually works.

Since Sam has been home he and Sissy have been sharing a room but.... Sam is not the best sleeper. (Understatement) So Amelia decided that she would like to sleep in the basement guest room.  She likes sleeping down there but it's didn't have a closet or anything.  Grandpa Tom to the rescue. He went to Lowe's and bought a closet for Sissy then he came home and put it all together. Now Sissy has all of her things in her new room. I can't tell you how thankful I am!!!

For Christmas Grandpa Tom surprised all the kids with a Build-A-Bear.

They were soooo happy!

We were all sad for him to go so made him promise come again. SOON!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Williams family arrived on Saturday afternoon to spend the holiday weekend together! Sissy and Luker!

We started the weekend with a dance party.

 

Sweet moves Juner!

 

Sissy looked out the back door she thought she saw someone.....

YES!! The Kings flew in from Phoenix to surprise the Williams and celebrate New Year's!!

 

Robyn cried and we all hugged each other!

The buddies!

Let the fun begin!

Pizza dinner!

Crazy faces!

Love!

Crazy!

Sweet smile, Luker....

Happy!

Light saber wars!

Lance killing the bear. (nice face)

My sweetheart!

We all went to church together. Scott helped lead worship and it was special to have our friends there. After church we came home for lunch and more playing.

We finished the evening with a theatrical performance.

And some worship songs.

The Kings flew back to the sunshine and we already miss them. So thankful for the special time together. FYI... we love visitors so if any of you are interested in surprising us, please do.