New Beginnings.. Part 2

Oops!  And wifi goof...
21 weeks ago I could not say that I'm thankful for change!
I'm thankful for change!  Yes I said it!!!!
I know who my true friends are ( friends that never leave you) and I know who aren't.  My friends who prayed daily for us, gave to us and was just here to sit, is ten and hold us ..my friends that will never leave us..
I'm also thankful that change meant new Beginnings, new friends that would cross our paths and new journeys..  The boys and I have had a great month with new changes andBeginnings   and I'm so thankful their is sunshine in our life's today..the boys are happy and loving dinner time.  Thank you special someone!!!

And last of all I think today I can truly say Thank you for that text we received 21 weeks ago, memories will last a lifetime and the past 22 years of memories is all we have of that journey. You did something I would never be strong enough to do on my own but it's a end to a end to a new beginning. I've let it go and looking forward to a fresh new beginning with or without a mate.. I'm blessed with 5 beautiful babies and 7 beautiful Grans.
If their is one thing I've learn from the past 22 years is you will never survive in this world 1st you must have God in you life and until you love yourself and love to live with yourself...
God is good, he has never left me and never will......
Psalms 37:3 Trust in The Lord
Psalms 37:4 Delight thyself also in The Lord and he shall give you the desires of thine heart..
Preacher gave these verses to me years ago and they have never left me...Dr. Richard Cordell

New Beginnings....

Yes it's been a year!!!!!
A year full of  bumps in the road....
I don't even know where to start but to where I left off.  We had just left Kyle at Faulkner to begin his college/ Football career. I will have to say, it torn my heart apart to let he go and then even harder to watch he play in a very different pond... His years at PCS was Golden, he was awesome!  Now to move up to where the team was full of Golden boys, it never crossed my mind at the PCS vs HA game that it would be the last time to watch him run the ball.....

Football for Kyle was a High School love and at a College level it was a choice of his dream of being a Orthopedic Surgeon over playing ball. My heart was crushed and after much prayer and pleading to re-think his decision he was finished with sports...and now for the next 9 years he will be preparing for his dream which will lead him to the Mission Field, what mother could not be proud of this ????

Kamren finished his second year at PCS, playing Football, Basketball and Track which would lead him to a broken back ( weights) and 12 weeks if rehab.

ENTER the big TORNADO!!!!
Spring Break while the boys and I were out of town our life's would be forever changed..21 weeks ago I could not say what I'm about to say.  21 weeks we were devastated didn't know what to expected or which way to turn.. We have always sorta done our thing, just the boys and I but this was permanent ..
Fast forward 21 weeks later... We are great!!!!  God is Good!!!!
We have moved on, we choose not to look back, we are a family, we are at peace and we choose not to hate or hold grudges, it is what it is.. We know in time God will send us not a replacement but someone to love us and someone for us to love. Life is full of disappointments  and adjustments and we are adjusting ...one day at a time..

Talk about Change!!!!!!
Kyle is in his  last year at Wallace and loving it.. He has become the man of the house ...not!!!!  Lol... I still do all the work around here but back in December when he called saying he was finished with Football and I couldn't understand how he could just lay the sport down he loved so much .. god had a plan, God knew last December Kamren and I would need  him home for us.. In everything we've been through Kyle has always been right here to listen and hold me up.. Kyle is a sweetheart with his mothers heart, I know God has great plans for him.  I love you son!  You will always be the great at anything you do, I've loved every minute of watching you play sports and now watching you become a man...

Kamren is now at Carver and loving it... He is loving his time at Northview on the side line with the Cougars.. He loves his coaches and can't wait to play ball next year.

Change ???
 I fought change with every fiber of my being but knowing in the back of my mind God had a plan, I just didn't see it or know it yet. I have ask Hid many times why???? Why are we alone????  Why is he not playing ball???? Why is he changing schools???? Why am I alone???? And the answers are now clear..  I didn't get the answer immediately but 3 months later I knew why Kyle was home... Less than 2 weeks I knew why Kamren switched schools... As for me being alone????  Still don't know that one..  I'm told that the things that doesn't kill you will make you stronger.... Well I really don't feel the need to be any stronger.. I can do anything that needs to be done around here but God didn't make me to be alone.. I think I was given this time to find myself, my real self, not the one a man tried to shape to his expectations, I have found peace in my heart, peace with my boys, peace in this home and slowing my blacken heart is trying to tick again.. Tears, tears and more tears have been shed over the last 21 weeks but they are turning from bitterness/ hate to happiness. Yes Happiness!!! The sun is trying to shine here and it's a good feeling...it a feeling I've not felt, the boys have not felt in years our home is smiling but not without a very dark bumpy journey.
Have we made it through???  I'm not sure but we are smiling and it's a good feeling...

Without God and friends we would have struggle. There has not been a day we had to face without God our friends and family!  I'm even more thankful for the new friends G do put in our path through this journey

A new Season.....

Kamren, Kyle and room mate Timmy....after the scrimmage game.

Well, it has been over a year since I have posted....
Lots of things have happened and now many changes....Kyle turned 19 and graduated PCS, was recruited by Faulkner University, was Lifeguard at the Dothan Country Club, went to the Dominica Republic on his Senior class mission trip, cruised to the Bahamas, took his 1st online college course, went Parasailing and now his college years began on August 1st with his move to Faulkner....
 He began with what is called "hell week" we know it as Fall Camp and made it through and came out a man, playing in his 1st Collegiate scrimmage game yesterday wearing a new #19 (that will take some getting use to)... He has a new home that he shares with 3 guys ( not mom, dad and brother) a new mom "Mrs. Annette that truly loves all our babies and he has many new dads (coach Boren, Coleman, Barker)...and lots of brothers (his football team)....as I left him yesterday after his game no one could have prepared me for the emptyness I would face will I arrived back in Dothan....no truck in the driveway, no Brooke and Kyle hanging out watching movies, doing homework, needing food or worrying about his everyday needs and no Good night mom "I  love you!....
Kyle had been my bf for some 19 years, watching him grow and always playing ball somewhere.....yes its a new season in our life....and the ties had to be cut but a mothers love can never be cut and you learn to be mom that prays like you've never prayed before....I love you son and I'm very proud of the man you've become, .looking forward to seeing what God has for you next...just watching from a distance...

Kamren will be turning 13 in October and before I blink I will saying bye to him...
My how time flyies......
 He will begin his 2nd year at PCS and his 1st year of Football for PCS...he will be every bit as good as his brother and we will begin a new season with him....
Things are different here at the Eriksen home , it is the 3 of us now and it will takesome getting use to but as I know all to well with 4 older babies, time heals....
Yes, God gives us Seasons and this is just another season in my life...

Happy 12th Birthday Kamren....

* Happy 18th Birthday Kyle!!!!

Wow!!!!!
Were does the time go?
I can remember like it was yesterday, walking up and down the street on 708 Canterbury drive trying to hurry my baby into the world. Mother, Daddy, Matthew, Meleah, Chris and Gretchen were all just sitting watching my every move. I think it was somewhere around 10pm I thought I would get a hot bath just to relax and before I knew it, I was in hard labor...Everything I did just made the pain worse. I had made my mind up to have a water delivery so I made my way to the back porch deck to the Hot Tub to try and get so relief, much to my surprise, no sooner did I hit the water and out swam my little Ky Ky...This was the Mid-Wife's 1st Water Birth and she was not a happy camper, not knowing what to expect, she jumps into the water to help and looses her Cell and Pager...At 11:05, July 13th 1994 our little calm Jungle Book looking Mogwi..Kyle Leif Eriksen came into out family and has been  a Blessing to us.

We have been around the world in his journeys, made many friends and many memories. everyday was a dress-up day for Kyle. One day he was Davy Crockett, the next Peter Pan. And Boy, did he ever love Monkey's!!!! I think we have been to every Zoo in the world... Then on to sports and that is a lifetime story in its self.

Kyle is #4 but it does'nt get any easier to let them grow up. I remember when he turned 16 and I followed him for weeks to make sure he made all the right turns and stops.

As I am writing this post I can't believe I now am faced with the fact he will be leaving us next year for college.. As a parent you go from Joy to saddness....

I love you Kyle and will treasure all the many memories and the sweet times we've had with you.. You are a Mother's dream, the perfect child in many ways and yes you are at the top of the ladder right there beside your brother( They say that Matt is my pick..lol).... Don't let me down...lol

Happy Birthday and many more!!!!! I can't wait to see what God has waiting for you !!!!

* Happy Father's Day !!!!!!!

 Where do I begin?
My Dad is the Best!!!!  If he or I died today this is how I would remember my Dad.. I thank God daily for my Christian Dad.. When we were small and still at home, each night we had devotion and prayer before going to bed, we prayed before each meal, he was and still is a Deacon in the church, S.S. Teacher, Bus Driver, Children's Church Leader, Was the Leader of the Bible Bowl Team and many, many more hats in the church.... At home he was a hard worker, he worked full time in the Coal Mines, many nights when we told him bye as we were going we would pray that God would bring him back home to us as there were many times we would get the call he had been hurt and was in the hospital. Rocks have fallen on him, he has been electrocuted and badly burned and many other close calls but God has always given him back to us. Around the home he has a love for his garden, each time I go home, I always bring home fresh produce from his garden, Blueberries from his trees, he loves being outside. One of the most close to my heart things that always make me smile is when I come down the stairs to see him in his chair reading the Bible. My Dad loves the Lord and he loves his family. I thank God for all the sweet memories this man has given me and for always giving us the promise he would never leave us. I never in all the years I lived at home and even now had any fear of the word DIVORCE, that was never heard in our home,, Why?????  He put God 1st, Family 2nd, Church and then the needs to carry on a home life for us.  I think you can ask anyone that knows my Dad and they will say the same. Each time I leave my Dad, I know there is a chance he will be gone from this earth, and I tell him bye knowing this in my heart, but I have peace in knowing my dad will be sitting in Heaven with God, receiving  his crown loaded in stars for all his hard work done here on this earth. ..Happy Father's Day Daddy!!!!.....  I Love You!

 Happy Father's Day to the Father of "the Eriksen boys"

I have spent quite some time looking for some newer pic but I must have put them on a hard drive. Kirk loves his boys and here are a few of the earlier times. In the last ???? how many years?? most of his time with these two have been spent playing/coaching ball. It is so scary to see how much your children grow up to become just like the parent. Both boys have their dads genes but Kamren looks and acts like Kirk gave birth to him without me..lol...These pics make me smile to think of the good times when they were smaller but tears thinking about how quickly the time has flown and Kyle is about to be off at College. When I look at my boys with all the Love I have for them, how can I not Love this man?  Happy Father's Day!!!!!

And Happy Father's Day to my son!!!!  Matthew......
There is a war going on at the Eriksen Home over "Matthew" .... Kyle and Kamren are quickly to tell me that "we know Matt is you favorite.... If you know Matthew he is just easy to Love, always smiling, loves everyone, he wants everyone just to be together and have fun,, if left up to Matt we would all just have fun all day and never work or worry about tomorrow.... He is the sweetest Dad.."much like my dad" and loves his wife and his sweet babies...He is a precious son and has always respected his mom... He would never in a million years say something to hurt me... I love you Matt and Happy Father's Day!!!!  You make your mom proud!!!!