Remembering...

Last night late I started the search for some pictures of Greg, Chris and Katie with their dad. Today is the eighth anniversary of Denny's death and each year I let the kids know I am thinking of them and praying for them as they process that loss. I put together a few pictures, scanned them and sent them off via email.

Today Pete and I are clearing the family room and kitchen as we prepare to get new flooring installed. Yes, the last person in the world to have kitchen carpeting (me) is giving it up. In the sorting melee, I got bogged down in looking through another big case filled with more old pictures. We literally have thousands of pictures. I am so thankful for our nice digital camera where everything is conveniently stored on the computer. Just looking through a gillion pictures is tiring but I really loved it. I found one of Laurie at about six or seven standing next to a pair of twin dolls, a boy doll and girl doll, just what Katie is carrying. Sort of sweet I think.

But even better than losing myself in pictures, I found another little treasure. For Christmas 1997, I gave Laurie a book called Growing Little Women: Capturing Teachable Moments with Your Daughter. Okay, the title is dated but the neat thing is that she and I completed this mom-daughter bible study back all those years when Laurie was 13. It took an hour for me to go through the whole book, smiling at some of our answers, getting teary at others. What was such a great little surprise gift was her lip imprint on one page and an " I heart Mommy" on the next.

I think Laurie sent me a kiss today.