CHASE Day at Sunshine School

Whew! What a weekend we had!!

It was such a wonderful blend of celebrating our son, blessing others (and receiving blessings from that too!), and just enjoying being a family.

So many of you joined us in honoring others, and we truly appreciate that. We have LOVED hearing your stories. It means more than we could ever express.

We began our CHASE Day events on Thursday, as we celebrated with Sunshine School a day early. Since Kendyll is a creature of habit to the highest extent, she decided that we would bring donuts and coffee for the teachers EXACTLY like we did last year. So, that's the way we started. :) And, Kendyll and Carlie were great hostesses of that little party.

From there, WE were blessed by the entire Sunshine School bringing breakfast cereal for the homeless shelter in Dallas that many of our friends work with every week.

The piles were overflowing during morning carpool and we were so excited to watch it multiply!

During the day, I got sweet texts from teachers there, showing me pictures of the children celebrating Chase Day in chapel. Even to see his name on everything just makes me SO proud.

And, it's always the most precious thing to me to see children giving, and grasping (oftentimes easier than adults do!) what it means to be Jesus to others. It melts my heart.

One of the biggest blessings of CHASE Day was getting to be a part of delivering the cereal the next morning.

The people at the shelter are amazing and sweet and grateful and loving. And, we were blown away by what they did to honor Chase.

They had set up a whole table full of stuffed animals, with candles in the middle to remember our baby boy. (You can kind of see it in this picture...)

They also wanted each of the children there to pick an animal to take, and---this is the kicker----they officially made September 30th a permanently commemorated day--"Chase Day"--on their calendar! It blew me away. And, truly, we were MUCH more blessed than they were by our time there.

And, if I even tried to sum up what these four ladies (and so many others at Sunshine School) mean to me, I couldn't do it. They were the minds behind all of this, and have blessed my life in so many ways. It is an honor to call them friend, and to be able to serve alongside them.

Thank you, Amy, Marla, Krista, Jolie, and Rebekah...along with all the other teachers and students and parents of Sunshine School for being a significant part of our CHASE Day blessings this year.

And, as if that wasn't enough, we got more surprises when we picked Abby Kate up from school! Mrs. Marla, her amazing teacher, made a frame with a sweet poem and all her classmates' thumbprint art of angels holding balloons.

The poem, in case you can't see it well on these pictures, says this:

Escape

How happy are balloons

That finally get away?

Escaped from little hands

That tried to make them stay

Where do they go, I wonder?

With no map to guide them

To Heaven I would guess

Where little angels ride them!

How perfect is that? (And would you believe it was written by Jeff Foxworthy? So funny!)

So, Mrs. Marla's class gave this sweet gift to Abby Kate, along with a bouquet of balloons. From the minute we got in the car, she made sure everyone knew that these were her special gifts from her friends in class.

This was a really important thing for her. She got her own celebration for Chase, and I loved watching her plan out how she wanted to send him the balloons.

She wrote on each one, and asked if she could "talk to him" before she sent them.

Sometimes I can't handle her PRECIOUSNESS! She told him that she loved him and to have fun with the balloons and that he is her brother forever. :)

This sweet girl---and her love for her brother...

There have been many moments lately where I am blown away by what she understands about her little Chase. She was really so small when he died. But, she probably talks about him more than anyone. :) Here are a couple of stories I don't want to forget.

The other day, she asked if she could just look at his picture for a while "so she could remember him better". So she took a frame we have of me holding Chase, and a singing card we received (Sarah, all three girls LOVE the Beauty Will Rise card you sent!!) and played the song that means so much to us, while staring at his picture. I couldn't even breathe, it was so sweet.

Then, on CHASE Day, we were eating as a family, and a dad was there with his one year old son, sitting next to us. On our way out, we talked to the little boy and told the father how CUTE his son was. Abby Kate, after hearing that he had just turned one, said "He's just a little bit smaller than our baby brother. He is two today." My heart stopped, because this dad looked confused about why we were all there without our two year old son, on his birthday especially! But, we all just smiled and patted Abby Kate lovingly on the head, and walked out.

I love that she wants to tell the world about him. I love that she wants to stare at his little face. I love that having a brother in heaven doesn't make her sad. It makes her happy. :) I love that she sends balloons and love to him. And, I love that she goes to a school where she AND her baby brother are celebrated and loved too. :)

Thank you Sunshine School for all you have done to make CHASE Day so special for us. We appreciate you all so much!!