Aly is Moving on….but are we really?

June 21

Actually today is kidney day. 6 years ago Mark donated his kidney to a young man who is thriving to this day. We don’t really celebrate this (like with a party and cake etc) but we do acknowledge it! It’s important. Mark struggled with the donation (volunteering to go into surgery) but felt called to do it and thank goodness he did! It should make you all think about organ donation. You can’t take it with you (well you can, but its doesn’t work when you die) so why not give it away so that someone else can live a more full life?

Okay….so the basketball tournament that Mark played in last year….with a bunch of high schoolers…and won…is giving their proceeds to us to do with as we please. We are choosing to sponsor as many kids as as possible to attend basketball camp in Newaygo’s youth camp or (if needed) the high school basketball camp. They will name the trophy after Mark this year. How cool is this? I love that people loved Mark and that he influenced so many. He really liked that tournament and I pesronally love that the trophy was this cool glass rectangle that won’t take up huge space in our home!! I just found his shirt in the truck (yes we need to clean our cars more often). I will sport this at the tournament if I can go. If you love to play …..participate on July 9th!! click here to sign u

On Sunday I felt like I concurred the world. I brought all the cupcake holders to church from Aly’s party, I remembered my Bible, I wrote AND delivered a check, AND I got to church early!! No worries though, I totally forgot something else though. It evened out. 🙂

Today I packed a bag to go to Petoskey to see a friend and look at a property she purchased. I planned to spend the night initially but wanted to play it by ear. I felt a bit bad that some of my kids were home and I went off on my own today but then I realized that I never even packed my packed bag. I drove up there in my workout clothes…planning to change and I had no bag with me! Yikes. So much for getting, or thinking, I was getting organized :). A quick trip to Marshalls made me legit to go to lunch and I decided I would go home for the night. But first a stop at the Barrel Back for a snack and cider to enjoy more conversation and the view of the water.

Aly had a fabulous party! I spent alot of time in the garage from January to June. Some days felt really productive and some days felt like we got no where. I had tons of totes to go through and I went through them all. I donated and gave a way many items and then I went thorugh the totes again! I had to grow grass and we had to go through all of our photos but…we did it! I had a ton of help of course, one cannot do this alone. I had many friends at different times in the garage with me either doing heavy lifting or just encouraging me to finish that last box or go through one more! I had help with the lawn, mowing when Hatcher couldn’t, power washing, and even just stick picking upping and weed pulling. By Friday night I felt really ready. The house was clean, the garage was clean and decorated, the yard was clean and the tent was up. By 9pm the tables were set up too. All I had to do saturday was chairs and table clothes with center pieces and a few other minor things.

Saturday morning we got up early squirrely and headed to the Ionia airport to run/walk the Mark Linsley Memorial 5k. Lots of people were there and some of the SMAT people told me the line created to sign up and to eat were very surprising! We almost doubled the number of runners from last year! It started with 2 float planes (friends of Mark) circling the start line and then a tribute to Mark and a prayer. I’ve never started a 5k with tears but there are first times for everything. Mark had many family members there on the Linsley side and there were a large handful of Kent City cross country kids as well as church family and friends. It was my slowest 5k to date but I didn’t care. I ran it with Karson while the other kids went their desired pace as well. We did end up staying for pancakes but the bolted out of there to finish getting ready for the party.

The party was a success as I stated already. There were many people coming and going from 5-8 and beyond and we have plenty of food and desserts and beverages so everyone was content I believe. I saw cornhold beanbags being tossed all night and I saw alot of people I never got to go talk to. I had to socialize for two which I have never had to do before. Mark was so good at chatting it up and talking to people and I had to kind of do that for the both of us. We all know that Mark is the life of the party. He always got people involved and talking and he was just alot of fun. Parties are just more fun with Mark. I only had a couple moments of sadness but the rest of it was quite a blur and I don’t even remember some people being there! It went really fast. Thank you all for coming and for being so generous to Aly and to our family.

*****

—-Having problems with photos again!!!—

*****

We spent Father’s Day with ourselves at Karson’s cottage he is fixing up. We ate together and then helped prime and patch drywall. He really wants to move in this weekend so I have since been there twice to keep working and am actually on my way soon (wednesday). I’m excited to help them get in so I am enjoying it. The kids didn’t really think that was the best way to spend the day. I hope they are movedp- in soon and that we will have many fun afternoons together on the lake soon. Father’s Day was blah. Fatherless. I didn’t even go see my own.

I feel a sense of relief now with all the “big things” done. I feel like I can breathe a bit better and relax a little more. Felicity is settled in her new apartment and we see her alot. In fact, I’m about to go get her so she can do laundry. She has put in a ton of applications and I and confident she can find a job that works for her and baby in the next week or so. Pray she can store up enough milk so that she can leave baby for a half day or more. She’s really nervous to leave her and I don’t blame her but she has to at some point. She needs to work. She has been able to get more assistance and I just see this getting better and better but right now she just has to work through the hard. Kiyah is getting chubby! She is the cutest thing. I mean, she really is beautiful!!