Last Photos of Maxwell

 

Roxie turned 13 yesterday.  She loves the felt crown I made her, blue & green with lace around the rim.  (Max asked for a purple and bubble gum pink felt crown for his birthday next week so I took his head measurement and wrote in permanent marker his name next on my measuring tape...  He also put in his request for Pad Thai and chocolate cake with pistachio pudding frosting.  He wanted to take Roxie & Sam to the baseball game, so we were going to eat at 5 so they would be on time to the game.)  We celebrated at 2:00 pm since Grandpa John was leaving for fishing trip to Canada that afternoon.

The rest of the story is that early this morning Grandma Sandy rang the front door bell with the chief of police and a detective to tell us the bad news about our son.  No foul play, is the official investigation, apparent suicide.  Grandpa cut short his dream fishing trip.  Max's memorial service will be on his birthday, Friday the 25th, 7 pm at the LDS Church, Level Rd.  We will wear purple and bubble gum pink instead of black.  We will sing, remember him, miss him.  And eat birthday cake with everyone who comes to grieve with us.

12 Ways of Christmas: "Submit" Day 4

"Submit Symbol: Shepherds
Humble: to make meek and teachable. Humility includes recognizing our dependence upon God and desiring to submit to his will. (Guide to the Scriptures)
Ideas: Quote from CS Lewis: “Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes: submit with every fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not
given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and, with Him, everything else.”

Shepherd in center square, old Noah's Ark fabric I bought years ago, made this block 10 years or so...old UFO.

I saw this tree pin idea on the clever Purl Bee blog, and thought they would make good teacher gifts, a little tree lapel pin, simple felt shapes. Roxie learned how to make them quickly. She is a good example of being humble, eager to learn, submissive as a child, in a sweet, not intimidated way.

That's her in the Christmas Street parade today, waving to the crowds!

My three children left at home! Do you recognize Suzu? She is not photobombing this photo, she is giving her siblings hugs! Yeah for high school student service clubs that include dressing up for the parades!