My 'baby' turned 6!

Well, it officially hit me this week. I knew the day was coming, but Wednesday, it finally sunk in, I guess.
Austin turned 6 on Wed. and I am so proud of him, but it does tug at my heart. He is attending summer school, which in our district is all 'just for fun' not for making up/catching up. He is so excited to FINALLY get to ride the bus. It helps that his summer driver is a very dear friend of mine and she has a daughter in Adi's class so he knows her very well. His teacher is the one who took my place after Aaron was born so he is in my old classroom, which he knew well from when I was there 3 school years ago. He is one of the oldest ones in the class, I purposely held him out knowing from experience that it is better.
However, my emotions are torn. In 12 years, I have never not had one of my kiddos home with me. Yes, I do daycare so I will still have 4 babes to care for, but not one is of my flesh and blood. This wouldn't bother me so much, I don't think, if I wasn't battling the infertility issue. If we would have conceived like we have in the past, I would have a babe in arms, even maybe a toddler. Does any of this make sense? No, it doesn't! I should be thankful for what I do have, I AM grateful for what I do have...........3 beautiful children!! But, my heart still yearns for one more.
Tuesday, he had a few friends over to play. They were so funny! They were so cute! After he opened his first gift, I said, "What do you tell Korbin for the present?" and he said, "Thank you Korbin!" Korbin replied, "You're so welcome, Austin." (He's a cousin who just turned 5 and will be in kindygarten with him next year.) Then, after opening Braden's gift, I said, "What do you tell Braden for the present?" and he said, "Thank you Braden!" Braden replied, "No problem." (He's a preschool friend who will just be turning 5 next month but his mama has decided to keep him out another year) The other little guy received his "Thank You!", and said, "You're welcome." (He is 3 weeks older than Austin and will be in kindygarten with him as well.)
How sweet is that! They were like sooooooo cool about it!
They played in the sprinkler with the water guns.
We had pizza....then we made homemade ice cream and had cupcakes. He just haaaad to call his Uncle Loulie and Grumpy (gpa) to come up for dessert. He made it clear that it was a 'boys only-NO girls allowed' party, but we'd send gma some ice cream back to her.
They played with the new toys, and so did Uncle Loulie and Grumpy.
They went down to the shop and played around the equipment, in and out of the backhoes and dozers.
I believe the afternoon/evening was a success. We got the boys home an hour later than we had planned.
Wednesday, all was well. He got to go to work with Dad! No better way to spend his big day!

It's so nice to live in a small town where everyone knows most everyone. I know all these families, their past generations and their backgrounds, and Joe went to school with the one's gpa and the one's dad. I just love the little town!
I love my little Austin more than life itself. Yeah, there are days when I threaten to send him to the moon, but I'm sure they'd tire of his wanting to play in the dirt all day long and would send him back. He is a special little guy who has healed ALOT of people's hearts, and he doesn't even know it. My good friend was going through some emotional issues when I had him and he was a special gift to her at the time of his birth. He certainly filled a void in my heart after just losing Adam. He has a great uncle who lost his son a year ago January to a massive heart attack, and Unc has just taken to him just as if he was his own. Unc often calls and asks how 'The Boy' is. I believe God has big plans for Austin. I will just continue to pray that Austin's heart will be open to hear Him.
I love my Bubs!!
(I hope you enjoy listening to some of his favorite songs!)

Food For Thought............

"As surely as I scoop my babies up in my arms and love on them while they are crying, He draws near to us in our times of need. And as loudly as I am cheering my girl on from the stands, whether it be words of encouragement or praise, He cheers louder."

Thank you Miss Emily.

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep.....

Let's try this again...

The small gray bus is no more.......

Wednesday, on the way home from Garden City, 12 miles from home after a 7 hour drive, travelling on a road that I've been on many a times, I ran a stop sign on a major highway and collided with a pickup. I'm still not sure why I didn't see the sign, it has been there for the 13 years I've been here, it is a sneeky one at the top of a hill, but yet still, I knew it was coming up and just have nooooooo idea how I missed it. Everyone keeps saying, "You were probably getting tired", but honestly, I wasn't. I remember thinking that the stop sign should be coming up soon, then I was at the highway, I remember thinking well maybe I'll make it through without meeting anyone, then BAM!!
But let me first say, we are BLESSED!!!! I talked to the kiddos again today, telling them that I'm so sorry and asked for their forgiveness. I shared with them that with God, there is no 'luck', but pure blessings and grace. Everybody keeps saying how lucky we were and I say we are truly blessed!!A tenth of a second sooner or later would have been severely a different outcome. We pretty much met front corner to front corner. The tenth of a second would have made us hit either on their driver's side or my passenger side. OOOOOOh! I don't even want to think about it. I have to keep telling myself to be grateful, not to worry about what coulda been.
Here are the photos of the van. It is amazing that noone was hurt worse than they were. The couple in the pickup were treated with moderate injuries and released. Man, did that take a load off of my guilt. They were not wearing seatbelts, which just proves once again that we were blessed.
Adi sprained her right ankle, has a sore waist from the lap belt, a sore neck from the seatbelt....and a seltblet burn on her neck, and a bruised knee. AMAZING GRACE!!! She has a softball tournament in Branson this weekend, she rode along with another team member but will be unable to play. There was no way I could make it, I'm so sad to miss it.

Audra was taken by ambulance out of concern for her back and stomach. She took the full force on her lapbelt and has a seatbelt burn across her belly. They did sonograms, xrays, and a catscan to make sure there was no damage to the upper part of her stomach. She's just sore. AMAZING GRACE!!! She played a little bit in a ballgame thursday night and is supposed to play in a tourney tomorrow, but hopefully it will get rained out. (i've never imagined myself saying that i hope it'd rain)

Austin was sleeping so didn't have the time to tense up, and all that he got was a gooseegg on his right forehead. AMAZING GRACE!!! He practiced tball thursday night and it's just another day to him.

I'm sore, really sore, really really really sore, but just sprains and bruises. I sprained my right ankle, knocked my right inside knee on something, I'm sore from my right hip up and across my chest to my left shoulder/neck, and I sprained my left wrist. My ribs and sternum are what I'm fighting the most. Without your core, you're pretty much immobilized.
Just wanted to let you all know that we are getting by, day by day. Not much more than getting out of bed, getting to the chair, doing some picking up, laying down for naps, getting back up to the chair, going to bed. SOOOOOOOOO much stacking up to do, I'll just get the list started.

Thank you for your prayers and calls and notes and meals and offers of vehicles, and....and...and...............Love! You'll never know how much it means to us! We are humbled to have such beautiful family and true friends in our lives.

Ok, it's getting sappy and weepy around here, I better quit before I ruin the keyboard.

LOTS OF LOVE,
The Etcheson's