Travels and tears

My heart is breaking for the Avaritt family as they mourn the loss of dear Brother Kenneth. He was a special guy and will be missed by so many! When I think of him, I will always remember his deep voice, his twinkling eyes, his “Hello, Sugar”, and his HUGE heart. As a child, he seemed like a somewhat intimidating man; but as I grew to know him more personally, I realized what a sweetie he was. He had a strong love for God which directed everything he did and had a deep love for people and a committed desire to serve. He also had genuine humility. I sure loved that man, as many of you did, and the world just won’t be the same without him. However, I know that he is better off now. The last few years have been very hard on him, and now he can rest from the pain and sorrow that he had to endure. Our loss, his gain!

We enjoyed our short trip to Paris last week. Stephen and Mandy had a company party to attend, so we stayed with the boys. We spent the whole evening camping and battling coyotes! We would hike through the Grand Canyon looking for “tails” (we had brought the boys a book from there that identified different animals living in the Canyon by their tails). We would gather firewood from the bathroom and hallway and then cook marshmallows over the fire. But the most fun was when a couple of us would hide (either in the closet or under blankets) while the other two chased off those pesky coyotes! You would not believe how many of those critters they had in their house! Ha ha!

We were a little concerned about how the boys would do at bedtime, because they (Jessie in particular) do NOT like to go to bed when company is around. I guess we had worn them out, though, because after reading a couple of books to them, they crawled in bed and went to sleep, and we never heard a peep out of them! When Stephen and Mandy made it home, Dennis and I were dozing on the couch. Those boys had worn us out, too!

After a little more playtime Friday morning, we went out to each lunch with them before heading back homeward. We stopped at Sheila’s to visit with her and Nam on the way. Sheila cooked us supper and then we went driving around looking at Christmas lights. We found this one house that was amazing! It had lights choreographed to music that you tuned into on the car radio. We sat and watched the lights for a LONG time…through four or five songs. It was so fun to watch Nam, who was mesmerized by the whole thing. After each song, we would all clap and cheer! Nam finally started getting sleeping in the dark car, so we went back to their apartment and played some more until his bedtime. He did really good again! He gave us hugs, told us he loved us and then bid us goodbye as he saw us to the door. I think he got a bit teary a little later on and had to call us to get cheered up again. If he had his way, the four of us would all live together in the same house. It is so hard for him to wait patiently for our visits! I have to admit to getting a little teary-eyed myself. That little fella has sure wound his way into our hearts. I think I miss him as much as he misses us when we are apart!

We had brought gifts from Stephen and Mandy and Daddy and Bobbie for Nam, plus I’d brought him a pair of overalls that I’d ordered for him. As soon as he saw the overalls, he started stripping down to put them on. He LOVED being dressed like Grandad! He would put on Dennis' hat and say that he was Grandad! Then he opened Stephen and Mandy’s gift and found some PJ Mask pajamas (as well as some other neat goodies). He was super excited about that, too, and couldn’t wait to put them on! Then he opened the Mickey and Minnie Mouse that “Memaw and Papaw” had sent. He would hug them and call them “Baby Granny” and “Baby Grandad”. It was quite an exciting evening!

In some ways it is hard believe that Nam has been with us a whole month. In other ways, it feels like he has always been with us. He still has his struggles, and he is a 4-year-old boy (with all THAT entails), but he is one of the sweetest little guys I've ever known. Sheila really hit the jackpot with this kid! Even though we felt like we could "read" his personality from his early pictures, we didn't know what he was actually going to be like. But the pictures really did accurately portray his character. He is sweet, mischievous, fun-loving and sensitive...all the things that we could see in his face from the beginning. Our family has really been blessed by having him join it!

Janette D. is coming to spend the night tonight, so she can ride with us to Benton tomorrow. We want to leave fairly early, so we’ll have time to check into our rooms before the visitation tomorrow evening. We will stay until after the funeral Wednesday and then head back home. I have court on Thursday morning, and then Sheila and Nam are coming over to spend Thursday night with us. So this week is pretty full!

I’m looking forward to seeing many of you this week, even though the occasion will be a sad one. Praying for safe travels for all who will be on the road!