Life Changing Days

Hello to all!  Sorry, it’s been awhile.  Summer is so busy, trying to fit everything in and still spend some quiet time together.  I hope you all had a great summer and the school year got off to a good start for all. 

As I walked my dogs this morning, I had such a crazy sense of deja vu.  On  September 11th, 11 years ago I remember doing the same walk.  The sky was a vivid blue.  It was warm, sunny, a light breeze was blowing – one of those days in Minnesota that I don’t question living this far North.  I recall thinking “how can it be such a beautiful day  when all hell is breaking loose?”  I had already been glued to the tv and watched in horror as things only seemed to get worse and more and more people were dying.  Even at that moment, I didn’t comprehend the impact that day would have on me and the reat of the world.  I didn’t know how our lives would change from that one day.  I didn’t know that 11 years later when I walk into the mall(granted I shop at the Mall of America), that I would think about my security.  That going to the airport would require me to take off my shoes.  That America would fight their longest war and so many more would die. 

On a different note, I went through a time at the beginning of July this year.  It took me a while to figure it out.  I had a sort of sadness, not really sure where it was coming from.  After some time, I believe it was from the day Chris and I found out he had cancer.  I think up to that point in my life, I was pretty carefree.  I didn’t worry about things so much-I always believed everything would eventually work itself out.  The doctor telling us that Chris had cancer was the biggest shock of my life.  In that one moment, my whole life was turned upside down…I lost a sort of innocense.  I wouldn’t look at things the same way again. 

On the theme of life changing days, I also had a good reminder of a life changing day.  My sister had a baby girl in August.  Holding my neice for the first time I remembered holding my children for the first time.  How my life instantly changed with that new little life in my arms.  The instant grip my children had on my heart.  How I would do anything to keep them happy and safe.  I also have that memory when I photograph a wedding, the wonderous day when Chris and I married and how happy we were.  The happiness and love that we shared and how grand it was to find that special someone to share your life with. 

So another reminder today, and I know you’ve probaly seen a bunch on tv,internet, radio,etc..~ please send up a prayer to those who lost their lives 11 years ago, and those who have lost their lives since because of everything they did that day.  Also, to the families of these heros, time heals, but the memories remain. 

Love and Prayers to you all,

Karen

A New Member of the Family

Hello to all! A number of people have asked why I have not done a post for a while. Well, besides having baseball or karate almost every night, we added a new member to our family. Meet Dakota, our new husky puppy. He joined us in June after school let out. He’s shy until he gets to know you, then he’s totally hyper. The boys carry him around like a baby at times and spoil him rotton. His mask is his trade mark and is why my kids picked him. We still have Komis, so yes, 2 dogs and 2 boys- a house full of males.

We also spent most of last week at the lake,keeping cool and spending time with family. My kids started working on their waterskiing and did a lot of swimming. Jaxson finished up baseball and Brenden will be done next week. Then we have a little break before soccer starts. Jaxson and I still have karate also.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer and is keeping cool in the heat! I’ll try to post again soon!
Love and prayers,
Karen

Happy 45th Anniversary

Hi! Just a quick post tonight. I just wanted to wish my parents a Happy Anniversary-yes 45 years! That’s a long time. They are an amazing couple! I hope they had a great time at the bed and breakfast they went to.

On another quick note, my kids raised just over $1000 for the Bob Buckmeier Foundation for the 5K we did last month. Way to go boys!

Also, to all the dads out there, Happy Father’s Day! I hope you all have a wonderful day! June is a hard month around my house-my kids have a bit of a difficult time with Father’s Day, and then my birthday follows it. Chris always “snuck” out with the boys to do my birthday shopping and they always made kind of a boys day out of it. I know they miss that. So, it’s not always a very easy month for us. But Happy Father’s Day to you all-especially my dad! Love you!

Peace and Love,
Karen

The Baty 3–We made it!!!

Hello to everyone tonight! Just a quick post, as I’m trying to get two monkeys to be quiet and go to sleep. Thank you to everyone who came out and did the Get Your Rear in Gear walk/run on the 20th. The boys and I ran together this year. They got alot of encouragement from the other runners along the course. We ran it in about 33 minutes. Not bad for their first 5K! Thank you to everyone who sent a donation. If you still want to make a donation, it’s not too late.

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. We celebrated Jaxson’s birthday. Yes, my baby turned 8 years old. Wow. I swear yesterday I was changing his diaper and telling him gto leave the outlet plugs in! He had a great time and loved all his gifts.

Have a great week!

Love and prayers,
Karen

The Baty 3 Do the 5K

Hello to you all! I know it’s been a while. Keeping too busy with both kids playing baseball, Jaxson doing karate and Halo classes finishing up. We seem to have something every night. I’m shooting out a quick note that this weekend the boys and I are doing the a 5K to raise money for families with cancer. We are running the Get Your Rear in Gear race, but are also raising money for the Bob Buckmeier Foundation. Bob was a close friend of the family and died of cancer. His family started the foundation and the money goes directly to the families with cancer. They gave us a grant when we needed it and we want to help other families who are going through what we went through. If you want to check out their website, go to sprint for a cure and see what it’s all about. If possible, I’m asking that the donations be sent to our house as the boys would like to give the donation to the Buckmeier Family in June when we go to see them. It means alot to the kids. Please make the check out to the Bob Buckmeier Foundation. We won’t be going until mid-Jund, so no big rush.

On another note, Happy Belated Mother’s Day to all those mothers out there!!! I super special one to my mom who has always been the best!!!!! I hope you all had a wonderful day!

Time to get the kids dinner!

Peace and Love,

Karen

Happy Easter

Happy Easter a little late! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! The boys and I, along with my sister, Sarah and her husband, Pete went to the Harlem Globetrotters game on Friday night. The humor was right up Jaxson and Brenden’s alley! Bodily functions and generel silliness. They had a great time! We went to my parents house on Saturday and then to my Uncle Doug and Aunt Chris’s house on Sunday to join the Stratton clan for the big feast. The kids had two diffent egg hunts-yes, I know–totally spoilled . We also got a lovely treat. At Christmas time, I gave my Aunt Mary some of Chris’s clothes to make some quilts for the boys and myself. She completed the quilts, along with a matching pillow case for each of us. They are beautiful!

Jaxson’s has the Minnesota Twins logo on it and is green. Brenden’s is blue with the Vikings logo and mine is red. She did a wonderful job! The boys have slept with them every night. The quilts are about the size of a twin comforter. Thank you so much Aunt Mary!!!

So, our luck ran out last weekend. We have been mostly healthy since the end of October last year. Jaxson came down with a cold last weekend and has proceeded to give it to me and Brenden. How nice of him to share. So, tonight we’ve just been hanging out doing homework and resting up. The boys start baseball the end of this month. The juggling act will start up again. Two nights each of baseball, two nights of karate for Jaxson and myself and Halo at church on Wednesdays. Yeah-not enough days in the week! I still struggle with being a single parent. Over the kids spring break, we split them up and my parents had one boy the first part of the week and we switched on Wednesday and then they had the other boy. It was nice to get the one-on-one time with them. I almost never get that anymore.

Time to get the kids to bed! Have a great week!

Peace and Love,

Karen

The End of the Day

Yes, I know. Two nights in a row. Pretty crazy,huh? We made it through the day. We were very busy, but it helped keep our minds occupied. I first want to thank everyone who sent us thoughts and prayers, special emails and comments on the blog. I know Chris is on everyones mind today. Tonight, I met the kids after school. Brenden had an open house for a young scholars camp this summer. Then we zipped over to Outback Steakhouse to meet Chris’s dad and stepmom and my niece,Caylee for dinner. Jaxson, of course, ate too much bread and drank rootbeer.(see lettes from Heaven post if you’ve forgotten what that means). After that, back we zipped to school for Brenden’s music concert, where my sisters and brother-in-laws and another niece, Adrianna enjoyed the concert. Then home for homework and popsicles. So, tonight the boys are having a campout in my room. I’ve probably got more stuffed animals and blankets in my room right now then any of you have in your house! But it’s cozy and warm. We did our prayers, sending Chris up his nightly hug and kiss and an extra “we miss you!” Hopefully, we will all get some good sleep as I’m sure tomorrow night will involve soccer and basketball after school.
I think we did pretty good today, all things considered. Brenden asked me last night if I would wake up crying today. I told “no, I don’t think so.” I had my crying jag last night. That’s sometimes a by-product of writing this blog. But it’s therapeutic for me. I also read through the many comments left on the blog on the day Chris died. It was beautiful how many people responded and the wonderful things they wrote about Chris. It’s something to show the kids again down the road, a tribute to what a terrific person their father was.
I would also like to sent out a big Happy Birthday to my friend, Angie! Also, a really belated Happy Birthday from last year! You’ve been a great friend and I hope your day was wonderful. Have fun this weekend! Also, Happy Birthday to Pat! I didn’t get your email until after the party. I hope your day was beautiful!
Well, I’m drained. Time to finish up a few things and get to bed. My kids are excited to wear shorts to school tomorrow. I hope everyone had a good day! I know it sometimes hurts to remember, but memories are to be treasured.

Peace and Love to all,

Karen

A Year Gone By

Good evening to all! I hope you all got out to enjoy the beautiful day! I believe Chris had a conversation with God and said, “This might be a tough week for my family. Do you think we could give them some sunshine to make it a little easier on them?” And God says, “but Chris, they do live in Minnesota and it is tournament time. I usually throw a blizzard at them at this time of year!” But Chris has always been persistant. ” How about this year you just switch things up a little bit. Let’s give them a week of 70 degree temperatures and give them a break! While we’re at it, how about an 80’s hair band reunion? Let’s have Poison, Whitesnake, Def Lepperd, Motley Crue,…….”
Well, at least I haven’t seen any ads for any Ratt, Winger or Warrent. But the nice weather has seemed to put everyone in a good mood.

I’ve gone back and forth on what to post this week. Yes, tomorrow is the first anniversary of the day Chris passed away. The past month has been difficult for us. Even though the boys don’t remember specific dates(other than the day he died), it’s amazing how their sub-conscious seemed to hone in on the time when Chris started taking a turn for the worse. Jaxson has been having horrible nightmares. Brenden has been clinging to me. Neither of the boys really wants to be alone at anytime. They’ve both been moody at times. We’re working through it and they are doing fine. I’m just happy for the good weather because we’ve been able to go outside and play basketball and soccer. It helps keep their minds off things.

The past year has obviously been a year of healing and adjustments. I’m amazed at how far we’ve come. At the same time, I still struggle with both. As I am going through the healing process, I battle the job of being a single parent. I’m sure sometimes Chris looks down from Heaven and just shakes his head. After he died, it seemed we were in shock for a long time. Our minds just didn’t seem to quite accept he was gone. I felt a sort of numb for a long time. I feel like it was about last September or October before the shock finally wore off. We’ve been on a grief rollercoaster since then. But with the grief and pain, we are healing.
We have had some wonderful times in the past year. Our family trip to Colorado the boys still talk about. They want to go back to the mountains. They had fun in Texas. Going up to the North Shore last fall and playing football with their uncles and hiking with their aunts was enjoyed by all. Doing a Baty waterpark getaway was a treat for them. We have kept them busy!
That being said, of course they miss their father. They still talk about playing good guys-bad guys with him. They talk about how he was so good at video games. They remember how much he liked to listen to music. It’s also hard now because of the things they are forgetting.
So, I’m ending this post as I’m getting tired and my sentence structure is surely suffering. Send up a “hello” to Chris, as I know we will all be thinking of him tomorrow. We miss him and send our love to him. The boys and I send up a hug and a kiss to him every night with our prayers.

God Bless to all!

Karen, Brenden & Jaxson

Quick Update

Just a quick update and “Thank you”! Our dog responded to the antibiotics and seems to be doing better. He is still on medeicine and will hopefully keep doing well. Without a number of tests, the vet doesn’t know exactly what he has/had. So thank you for your prayers and well wishes. It was nice this morning as I was brushing my teeth, to hear Jaxson playing with Komis.(even though Jaxson was suppose to be getting ready for school)! Thank you for your prayers and well-wishes. We really appreciate them!

On a different note, we spent much of last weekend watching Brenden play in his first basketball tournament. His team won the tournament! Brenden was so excited and happy. He had the biggest smile on his face. I was so happy for him. But as happy as I was, my heart was sad that Chris wasn’t there to be a part of the event. It’s times like those that I really feel the hole that Chris left in our lives. He would have been so proud of Brenden. Brenden did a great job on defense and scored a basket in the last 30 seconds. We then hit the Dairy Queen and had our celebratory ice cream. He told me had a great day.

I wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day! Give everyone a hug for me! The boys and I will be sending many hugs and kisses up to heaven!

xoxoxo,
Karen

Womans Best Friend

Greetings. I know I said I was going to blog about lessons learned, but that one will have to wait. Today we learned that our dog is very ill. He was walking kind of strange and I thought he may have hurt himself on some ice or walking on the stairs. I took him in and they did some blood work and found his liver numbers to be off the chart. The vet is running some tests, but things don’t look good. Despite how healthy he looks, she thinks he will probably rapidly decline, although we’re not sure exactly what he has. So, once again, I had to sit down with my children and tell them that someone is dying. Brenden’s doing ok, he and the dog aren’t super close. Jaxson is very upset. He said, “but them we’ll be down to only 3 of us in our house.” I’m, of course, very upset too. Komis has got me through a very difficult year. He’s been my walking/running companion for almost 12 years. Even as I sit and cry because I found out he’s so sick, he sits next to me and tries to comfort me. There’s a sense of security I have when he’s near(for those of you who don’t know, he’s a 60 pound husky.) He is protective of me and the children, but not to the point he growls or bits others. Although, I’m pretty sure he would bite if he felt we were being threatened.
So, I’m asking for some prayers today to heal a dog who holds a special place in our hearts. Or at least a prayer for a little boys whose heart probably be greiving again shortly. Jaxson is currnetly even asking me if it’s ok to touch the dog-he’s so afraid to hurt him. I know it’s just a dog to some, but he’s a part of our family and means alot to us.

Love and Prayers,
Karen