"Charity should begin at home, but should not stay there." Phillip Brooks

Passing the torch of charitable activism to the next generation...

Dear Levi...

I can't tell you how many things this year I wish you could have done with us,  or the things I wanted to show you. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to hold you close or hear your laugh. I can't tell you how broken I feel without you here.

I learned so much from being your mama. And by God's grace, I am learning still,

A couple of current photos of my DS#1.

As a reader, I always thought that the ending was the goal. And it is. But it never occurred to me that it was the well-written middle that actually got me there as inevitably as a cart on a roller coaster track.

If only life had someone writing me out of my "swampy middles."

Love. Faith. Family. These values will be forever intertwined in my mind. And each one, while grand in theme, can really only be made tangible through individual choices, small acts carried out in small ways each and every day. They are built or destroyed one day at a time.

I already recorded too few memories of our short time with Levi on film. Now, while those memories are still as fresh as possible, I intend to scrapbook them all, and some that don't have pictures, too.

One of the ways our loved ones chose to bless us in our grieving was to give us money to take a family holiday. We were already planning to take a quick weekend trip so that Jason and the boys could run in the Spartan Race in Westlock this past Saturday. Normally, we would combine that with a weekend stay at relative's, since they are only another two hours away.

But, in light of recent events, we decided to take advantage of our "time away" option and stayed at West Edmonton Mall for three nights in the Fantasyland Hotel following the race.

Levi's eulogy was the most difficult thing I have ever had to write. Not because I didn't know what I wanted to say, because I did.

Sharing Levi's eulogy was the most difficult thing that Jason has ever had to do. But he did.

God gave us both the strength to share the story of this precious little man with those at his funeral yesterday. For those that were unable to attend, I am posting it here.

Anyone that knows Levi knows that he LOVES trucks.