Saying Goodbye to Jeremy

This is the most difficult post I’ve ever written.  And undoubtedly a shock to some whose last update about Jeremy was here on my blog, which was very sunny. 

Jeremy had a clot in his VAD earlier this week, but it disappeared and they were hoping that his body absorbed it.  But the clot had gone to his brain and caused a stroke early yesterday morning.  This led to bleeding, and the infamous Dr. Ben Carson stepped in to do emergency surgery to stop this bleeding.  Once the surgery was over, the blood thinner that Jeremy is on to keep the flow moving in the VAD had to be reduced so the bleeding in his brain could stop.  That ended up causing clots in the VAD, and thus a downward spiral began.  The bleeding in his brain is intense and he has suffered major brain damage.  The doctors told Scott and Amy that he would never be well enough to be on the transplant list, nor would he be able to achieve any kind of quality of life.  They have exhausted all avenues of help for Jeremy.  Care will be withdrawn later today.  I spoke with Amy this morning after reading the journal entry, and I can’t even describe the pain I heard.  The grief, the questions, the pain, the exhaustion…I just can’t wrap my mind around what she and Scott are going through. 

Please keep the Morse family in your prayers as they face this horrific day, and a future without Jeremy.  As you pray for comfort, don’t forget about all of the miracles that God has given them over the past 70 days, and what a gift that time with him really was. 

 UPDATE:

Jeremy passed away at 3:07pm this afternoon.  I was able to go to the hospital and be with Scott and Amy for a few minutes.  I can’t imagine the pain they felt tonight leaving that hospital without thier son.  Please pray for God’s peace and comfort to fall on them in a big way.

Stephen & Carmen’s Wedding

I have known Stephen since, forever, I guess.  He and Carmen dated back in high school, but they went their seperate ways, married other people and had families.  Both have found themselves single again, and ended up finding eachother again, and they tied the knot yesterday!  Carmen looked gorgeous, and Stephen most handsome (despite the 100 degree heat in a three piece suit).  Here they are after the ceremony:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a very intimate wedding, which I thought was lovely.  And the great thing about a small group is being able to get a photo of everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had some time to get some nice romantic shots after the ceremony.  This is one of my favorites:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a girl after my own heart…couldn’t wait to get into the chocolate cake!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you guys so much for having me!  Here’s to happily ever after…

 

Trent Graduates from Elementary School

YIkes!  How did THIS happen?  How did I get this old??  I have no idea…but he did it, and it is off to middle school in the fall.  Here he is accepting his certificate from Vice Principal Canedo and Principal Williams:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs. Williams has been a part of our lives for the past 5 years…she is so good at her job.  We will miss her!

Trent had some of his artwork selected to be used on the program for the ceremony (he didn’t even know til he saw it).  Graham was just having fun making an airlane out of it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at the joy during the recessional:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And he definitley had other things on his mind than taking photos once it was over…he just wanted to go home!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratualtions, pal.  We love you! 

 

Bella & Ellie

Our session at the beach was cut short by rain a few weeks ago and we nevere managed to get a shot of just the girls.  So we gave it another try this week.  These two were in a very giggly mood, and we got some great stuff:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How sweet are these two??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I love this one, too:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mom is going to have TOO much to choose from now!  🙂

 

 

Summertime, Summertime

AAhhh…its finally here.  The kids are almost finished school…it is almost real!  One of their favorite things about summer is watermelon.  Here is Graham with a watermelon grin (note the juice running down his arm):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is Trent chomping on a piece.  My second favorite thing about summer is freckles.  And we are in no shortage of those in this family…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Summer!

 

Matt & Mandi’s E Session

After being rained out twice before, when the clouds started rolling in on Tuesday, I hightailed it over to their house to get these photos taken.  It actually turned out to be perfect conditions…nice soft light, a little breeze…

They had this funky, old wheelbarrow in the back yard that I coaxed Mandi into sitting in…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we headed down to the beach and got some romantic stuff:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After they got up out of the sand, I instructed them to not wipe off, and grabbed this one.   I think this is my favorite one:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much for taking such good direction and being willing to get dirty and have fun.  Hope you had as much fun as I did!

 

 

 

The Wilking Girls

I met the Wilking girls at Piney Orchard on Tuesday.  Caroline’s 5th birthday is coming up, so we needed to capture her at this momentous milestone.  Here is the birthday girl:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are all the girls together…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kate has a little case of Mommyitis, but we got some great smiles out of her (this one makes me want to laugh out loud, too):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are the sisters goofing around:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much, girls…I had a great time!