The Birthday that isn't Celebrated

We make a big deal out of birthdays in our family. Parties, special dinners, gifts, the usual stuff.
But every year, there is one birthday that is not celebrated. Because there is someone missing from our family.
My husband, John, had a son 11 years ago. His name was also Johnathon. We call him Baby JW. He was born October 18th, 1998. But he passed away on November 9th, 1998.
Baby JW was a preemie, and unfortunately he was not strong enough to survive. You can read his whole story here, or click on the "Baby JW" tag on the bottom of this post to read all of my posts about him.
This weekend we visited his grave. We left gifts and said prayers.
I wish I could somehow take away some of John's pain. All I can do is support John, support the March for Babies, and help him keep his memory alive.
This is our song for Baby JW...it gives me chills every time I hear it.

If you'd like to make a donation for the March for Babies, please click here.

Meatless/Meat Free Monday

Did anyone else participate in Meatless/Meat Free Monday today? Sometimes I almost skip it, but I really feel pulled to do this once a week (at least).

So today, we did breakfast again. Scrambled eggs & bagels. Yum! Last week I didn't post, but I made a delicious potato soup in the crock pot...actually John did all the prep work and I just finished it up.

It's so easy to skip meat one day a week. There are tons of great recipes available, or you can just do something familiar like breakfast. My kids really enjoy it.

If you are interested in linking in, I can start doing a McKlinky on this. Try it - you might like it! =)

Weekend Wrap-Up 11.1.09

How was everyone's Halloween Weekend? Ours was great!

John had to work on Friday night, which really bummed me out. He would've had a blast trick-or-treating with us. As it was, my MIL and her sister came and trick-or-treated with myself, Andrew and Elayna. The older 2 kids helped out at their Dad's church's Fall Festival, which we all went to after Trick-or-Treating. The kids had a great time and got a decent amount of candy, but not an insane amount. We all saw lots of our friends and just really enjoyed ourselves. Then Andrew went home with MIL and the big kids went to a church youth party. Elayna and I went home and crashed!

On Saturday, we went to my parents' house to watch the Florida vs. Georgia game. I cooked - chili and rice krispy treats. The game was great (Go Gators!) and we had a nice time visiting with my parents. The kids did a little Trick-or-Treating in my parents' neighborhood. Elayna spent the night with them, so we went home with only the big kids.

Sunday morning we went to church. Then I made a big pot of spaghetti and meatballs for a late lunch/early dinner. The little kids came home and we basically vegged out. My mom bought Elayna her own Snuggie! It's pink and it's so freaking cute. She and I curled up in our Snuggies together tonight. Love it!

Now I'm back at work, enjoying a pretty calm night. There's a ridiculous amount of Halloween candy here, some of which was brought in by me! Every year, I let the kids keep a little and the rest comes to work with me.

So, it was a great fall weekend. Fun, football, family, food! The weather has been unseasonably warm, but the temps are dropping now. I feel fulfilled, refilled, recharged. Ready to take on anything!