Calling an Audible.

It has been a few days since I have written in my blog. Well many things happen in our lives that we may or may not ever be prepared for. As most of you reading this are well aware Stephen's loss is something that we were not prepared for. I was remembering the day Stephen was born and as with Anthony and Alex I was able to take the boys up to the nursery because they all were born by C section. I remember vividly bringing each boy upstairs, looking into their eyes wondering what they are thinking about this great big very bright world they are in. You begin at that time starting to think what will they grow up to be, what will be their likes and passions. Some times things don't go as planned and as a any quarterback has to do you have to call an audible. You need to change the play at the line of scrimmage, change on the fly. Well our family has had to this, all the plans we had that involved Stephen changed on November 29, 2011. We had to start making new plans that did not include our Stephen. He will never be forgotten and to that end one of the items you never think you have to do is plan your child's funeral. But you adapt and call an audible, you change your plan. Everything you had out on the horizon changes, and you come up with a new plan. We ordered Stephens grave marker last week and hopefully it will be there for his birthday on May 7th but most likely it will be in place by Memorial Day. We purchased him a bench, a bench where everyone can go out an sit with Stephen and talk sports or whatever you want to talk to him about.
We are continuing to find our new normal and what our plan is going to be as we move through live without Stephen. Even though we know his spirit will surround us but our family will continue to find it's way. We all know that we will most likely continue to call audibles for months and years to come because everything just continues to seem a bit out of whack.
To compound our being out of whack my position was eliminated on February 1st so I have had to call an audible and change up my  plans. But my faith is strong and I am confident in my abilities that this will only be a minor set back. So I continue to step up to the line of scrimmage and if I can execute the play I will. However, if I need to call an audible I am prepared to do that also.
I know God does not give you anything you cannot handle and we will continue to press forward.

God Bless,

Mike

Time Passes!

Just a short little update as the last few days have been a little tough for our family.

As I sit here looking at the calendar flipping to a new page, what I always feared is coming to pass. Days since you left us have turned to weeks and now weeks have turned to months. It has been 2 months since Stephen has left us and we miss him so much every day. I thought of Stephen on Sunday not only because it was the 2 month anniversary of his passing but the NHL All Star Game was on as well as the NFL Pro Bowl. I know he would have been watching both of these events. For the past few days I cannot stop thinking of Stephen and Darla, Anthony, Alex and I miss him here at the house. We feel his presence surround us every day.
We took another big step as we ordered Stephens grave marker on Monday. Although it was a very emotional time we are very proud of what we ordered for Stephen..I know he would really like it as we ordered a bench for him. It will be a place that anyone can go to sit and reflect and have a chat with Stephen.
Time is passing and we are getting on with our daily lives but there is not a time that I to not think of Stephen and the mark he left on this world.
In the upcoming weeks I will share the chapters from his student portfolio with you.