Gracie's Unbirthday

Gracie's party was next. Her party ideas were pretty simple as well. Besides swimming with her friends, Grace had but one request. A food fight. We built a party around this event. It started with a white elephant gift exchange. We served a pizza dinner and played some games inside. Then Cori went out with the big kids to life guard the swimming pool and Jeffery and I stayed inside to prepare the food fight plates. Jello, mashed potatoes, pudding, whipped cream and sprinkles...

Everything was came off without a hitch until the food fight started. The big kids had a blast, but this is when Jeffery uncharacteristically separated himself from the group and ended up in the pool unattended. It was the beginning of the biggest nightmare and the biggest miracle our family has ever experienced.

We felt badly that Gracie's last hurrah with her friends ended this way. But nothing speaks higher of the friends she has in Texas (and the parents of these friends) than their reaction to the tragic emergency that was suddenly upon us all.

As Cori performed rescue breathing, and I talked on the phone with the 911 dispatcher, this group of kids stood in a circle and prayed. They had been taught by good parents how to talk to God and ask for help and they ALL did it. A couple of moms had decided to come back early to watch the end of the party. We were so grateful we were there. They called all the other parents and Gracie's friends were quickly with their families again. These families were kind supporters over the next week as we waited and prayed at Jeffery's bedside.

Eden's Unbirthday

We knew we would be leaving for India before anyone would have a chance to celebrate their birthdays with their Texas friends. So each of the kids got to plan an unbirthday party. Eden was first. I love planning parties with Eden. She knows exactly what she wants and is always 100% content with the outcome. Eden's requests:

- an outer space craft
- lots of swimming
- pizza and fruit and cupcakes
- pink lemonade

We made it a mommy playdate sort of event. And rather than doing presents, I set up a table with all the toys I was getting ready to donate to Goodwill. Friends were invited to bring a toy for donation and take a "new" toy home if they found something they liked.

4th of July in San Antonio

My mom is a Texas native. This has, of course, been a source of great pride for her all of her life. It has also been a source of pride for her offspring as we have been raised to understand that the only way to get into heaven is by either being a Texan, or by being closely associated to one.

It was our good fortune that mom had a High School reunion over the Fourth of July weekend. We made a little mini family reunion of sorts of the event. We enjoyed the festivities at the Alamo. We cruised the Riverwalk. We played at the small amusement park next door to the Marriott where we stayed. We enjoyed a steamy afternoon chatting with her friends from days gone by. The only thing missing from the trip was Sara and Kevin.

vball camp

Gracie's love for volleyball was still burning bright as we headed into summer. I knew that we wouldn't be around for enough of a season to make it worth signing up. I also knew that her access to this sport would be significantly less if not nonexistent once we got to India. Fortunately, I found a week long camp she was able to attend. Coach Stacie was completely fabulous. Grace dialed in her overhand serve through the course of the week and coach extended a very special and flattering offer to our girl. Stacie coaches an 10U league team. She said that Gracie's skills would need a little catching up but based on what she saw in camp, she would like to play Grace up a year onto her team if we were interested. Grace was teary eyed as I thanked coach for the offer and then explained that we would be moving. We began realizing how much we would be leaving behind, but we were grateful the camp was such a happy experience for Grace.