LOL = Luke + Olivia + Lily (that's how I have them in my phone)
Together Pete and I have six kids, we are basically the Brady Bunch, but the graduation of all three of our ‘littles’ Friday night marks more than just a milestone in their journey, it’s significant because we did what we came to do…
When I met Peter we were both single parents, each raising 3 children alone. His wife had passed away and my husband of seventeen years had skipped out on us. Pete and I connected on so many levels but mainly we were parents of children that had experienced much loss and heartache at an early age. Our relationship blossomed and we began to make plans to marry and combine our families, It took three years and lots of prayer, strategic planning and dumb luck to put the vision for our family into motion. This was a massive undertaking and we didn’t take any detail of the transition lightly.
A little over five years ago we finally married, settled our ‘big’ kids into their colleges and/or work situations, sold our homes, picked up our three ‘little’ kids and moved to Taylor, TX. Our goal was for a fresh start, to immerse our children in a healing journey to give them some normalcy, to get them to this point, ready to leave our home as strong, confident, and we’ll adjusted young adults.
There were so many moving parts, everything was hard, we missed our friends and families back home. We missed Peter as he was gone for work a lot that first year, I missed my job, Peter missed his Military community, we missed our ‘big’ kids, I missed my parents. We met a boy named Tyler Cobb who filled a void and gave us hope, he had to leave us us too soon. We hunkered down together through Covid and found out what we were really made of. This experiment was way more challenging than anyone could ever have prepared us for, there was a lot of heartache but there was a lot of really, really good stuff too.
So here we are…not at the finish line but definitely a milestone for us as a family, a goal achieved perhaps? The reward is in the hugs, the vulnerability, knowing they have a safe place, the laughs, the silliness, their growth, their faith, their self awareness. We are one now, bonded together at our core and it’s still hard some days. Today I am filled with gratitude for all the people who supported us and still support us, believed in
us and even befriended us when we were the new kids on the block. We are a most certainly proof that God has a bigger plan
Please enjoy some photos, a few blasts from the past. We love you Lil’ O, LilyBugs and Chapo
Comments