10*18*50

Last year was my Mom's 60th Birthday. We were fairly certain that it would be her last one and we wanted to make sure it was memorable; so, we threw her an incredible surprise party. It was so special! The word she used afterward was "honored". She felt so honored that her friends and family would come and celebrate her life while she was still around to enjoy it. Her best friends drove from Arizona to add to the surprise and it was an amazing night - one I will never forget.

Yesterday would have been her 61st Birthday; I can't even begin to describe how badly I miss her! She always made such a big deal of Holidays and Birthdays - really she just looked for any opportunity to get everyone together and make memories. I am so thankful that I was raised that way! I couldn't let her Birthday go by and not try to get as many siblings together as I could. I wish so badly that Misty and Skip and their families could have been with us, but I am hopeful that this will become a tradition on her Birthday to remember the incredible life that she lived.









We all met at the cemetery at 6:30, I couldn't believe that all the flowers were still there from her funeral, some of them were still very pretty! There were some fresh flowers too from friends that had been up that day to wish her a happy B-day.







I got to the cemetery a little early and actually looked around for the first time. I saw this statue of Christ and thought it was so beautiful so I wanted to get a picture of it. When I got up there I found this saying on the side and knew it was what I needed to see "NOT MY WILL BUT THINE BE DONE". I know that the Lord has a need for my Mom and is keeping her very busy.






After everyone was there we wrote down a memory on a piece of paper that Heidi had brought; on the front they said "In memory of Debby Adams, if you find this please consider making a donation to cancer research". We tied each piece of paper either a red balloon or a teal balloon. Red was her favorite color and teal is the color of the ovarian cancer ribbon. We all sang Happy Birthday and then let the balloons go.






The kids loved watching the balloons! We all thought it was pretty amazing the way they all stayed together, we figured that the whole bunch was going straight to her. I am so thankful that I will get to see my Mom again some day and I hope she knows how much she is loved and missed here.

Black Island Farms = Fall Fun!

We had such a fun weekend! It has been such a crazy week and a half with Rick gone on the hunt so I decided that we needed to go have some fun on Saturday. In Syracuse there is a pumpkin patch called Black Island Farms, it is a fully functioning farm but during Halloween they have a pumpkin patch, games and fun things for the kids to do. We opted out of the hayride since Karsen was with us and I didn't want to lug his carseat around the pumpkin patch.

Ryker had so much fun on the slides and all the games but I think his favorite part was picking out pumpkins. I told him to pick out one but he was just so cute I came home with four! Oh well, it was worth it!! I love being able to spend the time with my boys and make these memories! My friend Heidi came with her kids Kyron and Zoe and they all had so much fun together. Ryker keeps asking when he can play with them again.

In Loving Memory

I have written this post about 50 different times and erased it every time. Writing has always been therapy for me, I can usually express what I'm feeling better through my keyboard than in a conversation. Maybe it is all still to fresh, I'm not sure; but I need to remember what an amazing Mother I had and express my gratitude for all that she taught me!

I was thinking the other day of words that describe my Mom; here are just a few that I came up with: fighter, independent, loving, happy, Grandma, giving, nurturer, provider, faithful, and (of course) Mom!

She loved everyone she met, she wanted to help everyone and always put the care and comfort of others before her own care and comfort. She loved spending every minute she could with her children and grandchildren, and fought for every ounce of life that she could get! When she was diagnosed they told us she only had months to live - no one would have believed that after her diagnoses she would see her 4 youngest children get married, see 8 more grandchildren be born, travel to Australia and Oklahoma to pick up her 2 youngest sons from their missions. Cruise around Alaska, spend time with her high school friends, and continue to offer service for 9 more years!

As she got sicker the thing that hurt the most, for me personally, was that my boys wouldn't remember her, that Ryker would forget her. But I think they have a better understanding than I do. Whenever I catch Karsen smiling and laughing when no one is looking at him, I know it's my Mom that's making him so happy! The last couple months of her life I would say nightly prayers with Ryker and always made sure that he prayed for Grandma Debby to be at peace and know of our love for her. The other night we were saying prayers, without my prompting he said "Thank you so much for Grandma Debby and letting her live with Jesus. Tell her we love her." I'm so thankful my boys had her example and will continue to be watched over by her. I miss my Mom so much and my heart feels broken right now, but I'm so thankful that she is out of pain, back in her most perfect form and that I will get to see her again some day. I love you Mom!

Here are just a couple pictures of her that mean the world to me!