Time.  It is amazing how quickly time passes you by.  I thought I was here, on-site, last Saturday.  It turns out it was two weeks ago! 

Hours progress into days, days into weeks, weeks into months, months into years and so on.  It is the events during this time that mark where you are, how you are doing, where you've been and hopefully show you where you want to go or at least the direction you are heading in.  If you pay attention to the signs along the way, over time you can see how events shaped your life or the end of it. 

We hope that when you remember Mason's life you are reminded of love, laughter, energy, kindness, athleticism and a pure joy and quality of life.  A lot of time, when people remember someone who has passed away, we often remember how that person died and the events that led up to their demise.  We forget that they lived and loved and dreamed before they died.  Perhaps we can be more present minded and remember how they lived, their legacy left behind that we can emulate and carry forward. 

Mason's zest for life reminds me of a beautiful Golden Retreiver on a soccer field with the sun shining warmly and brightly, chasing a soccer ball, in full stretched out sprint across the entire length of the field with a huge smile on his face.  I also see this happening again, again and again.  

I miss you "girl" and hope each and everyday that we meet in my dreams.  I love you forever, to the moon and back and stretched out across all of the stars.  Thanks for reading...here's to life.  Love, Lori

P. S.  Happy Birthday, Ali!  (02/21/86)  

The opening song of this website is by a band named 'Shinedown' and in it it says ..."by the way, I made it through the day."  We think that, a lot.  Sometimes we say "Whew!" and are glad the day is over.  Sometimes we thank God the day is over and sometimes we thank God for the day.

It is still hard to kick yourself in the pants to get moving.  Getting out of bed is still the hardest and I don't know why because it isn't like we are sleeping or even resting for that matter!

I read this incredible book,  'The Shack' about 4 months after Mason died and understood the words but I didn't truly grasp the meaning until recently.   In this book,  there is a father who's daughter died and he speaks about the great darkness.  The great darkness is a place where sadness sits and I suppose it just sits and hibernates until someone or something jars it awake and you are faced with with this overwhelming grief.  And you become consumed in this massive wave of emotion that is so deep and raw and painful.  You hurt all over again, your head aches, stomach aches, muscles tremor, lungs gasp for air at the memory of the sudden loss of your child, our son, who along with his sister and brother were the center of your universe.   I often wonder why God allows this grief to be repeated over and over and over again, not only with my family but there are millions of families, moms and dads who are experiencing such loss.  I don't understand.

When your child dies it doesn't just break your heart or leave a hole it in where they used to live, but your entire soul down to your core, your center shifts and it can become so far out of alignment that your lose you way, your direction or your inner connection.  Until....it wakes up. I do believe that the light will shine in us again, maybe in a different color or hue or maybe we will shine brighter. Maybe we will even see a rainbow.

I know Mason wouldn't want us feeling this way and he would want to make it better for us and he has by leaving us with Teagan. He is alive in her and boy is he ever!  There is a lot of his bouncing spirit in this little angel!

By the way, if you haven't read 'The Shack", do so.  It has different meanings for each person who reads it but we all walk away with hope.  Thanks for reading and keeping us going...Love, Lori

We had a few blogs that had to be deleted because apparently I wrote in chinese, webease, some sort of ease that turned out to be anything but legible.  I guess something got lost in translation and posting of our site.

As I sat down to write tonight, I was feeling sorry for myself, my family and Mason's friends who truly loved him and lost, but mostly, sorry for myself.  I guess a part me always feels sorry for myself just a bit everyday, but most days I try to push this away and count my blessings.  I thank Mason everyday for the gift he gave us in Teagan.  We also are very thankful for Keri for her choice to keep us close to her and Teagan for becoming a part of our family.  We have experienced such love, joy and hope that we thought was lost and are truly grateful for this phase in our lives, except we are missing a key link, Mason.

I thank God for the time we had with Mason for Mason taught us that happily bouncing through life spreading joy to everyone you meet and doing good, even while giving someone a hard time with a smile, is doing God's work and left a legacy.  Tonight I give thanks.

Thanks for reading....love, Lori