Word on the Streets

12 days of Christmas auction. . .helping a family in need

So each Christmas we look for a family to help out. So does my sister's family. This year we didn't have to look very far. 
On Thanksgiving we heard on the news about this young husband and med student, John Jones, who got stuck while cave exploring. So many of us had been in those same caves while at university (and I actually turned around and went out because I was so incredibly freaked out by them!) It was just so tragic and sad to hear of this story. 1/2 of me was befuddled as to why a young father would be so seemingly careless but then 1/2 of me was reminded (from my own sister's experience of losing her 1 year old last year) that no one can or should judge what happened. It happened and was horrible and his wife is left to pull life together for her child and the one on the way. 
You can read more about his story here: http://news.aol.com/main/nc/article/john-j...stuck-in/786236

My sister felt it was a good opportunity to give back in some way all the kindness she was shown when her baby passed away. She has set up a huge 12 days of Christmas auction on her now very popular blog. All of the money earned from the auctions will be donated to Emily Jones, John's wife. She has a little girl and one on the way to support. Supporting my sister, Stephanie's auctions will be a way to help this young mom cope with life without her husband. 

My sister has something like 75 auctions running right now and over 50 people donating their items.
My photography friend Jenny M is one of those donating! Good on ya Jenny! Anyone living in OC or traveling to the OC coast this spring might wanna bid on her photo shoot. She rocks the camera!
You can go see my sister's blog here: http://adailyscoop.blogspot.com/

If you are a family who looks for something to do at Christmas to help others this might be something you'd be interested in. You can either donate or you can even bid on any of these donated items (maybe some good Christmas gifts to snatch up and help someone at the same time?). There are some cool things for auction--scroll down to see them ALL!

Just wanting to spread the word on this in case anyone was interested. 

Cheers, Lesli

sometimes he just melts me. . .

so much to catch up on and so many things to write. i sat down today with every intention of getting all caught up and something interrupted me. then we ran errands and coming back from them i noticed the neighbors trees all changing colors. its yellow all down my street. in most places around the country the fall colors are long gone but here in vegas we get them nearer to christmas! seeing this made me run and grab my camera and i asked if any little boy would let me take his photo. my morgan was quick to jump at the chance and he threw me one of these morgan faces. sometimes he just makes me melt into a puddle of motherly mess on the pavement with these looks--i cherish his dear face and personality. 

 

still have lots to get caught up on but not letting it keep me from living in the moment day to day. i want to enjoy december and not stress about having everything done by the end of the year that i had hoped to have done. life is too short for that.

dallas in november. . .

with my children off school for all of november we stole away to visit family in dallas, texas for eight days. it was a dream of a vacation. 100% of the time we spent with family that we don't get to see very often. we had dreamy weather--seriously, heavenly weather! we ate great food as always when the harris family gets together. and the cousins played together long and creatively each day. it was full of so much beauty in so many ways. 

one of the obvious beauties was the changing of the seasons. it was in your face and absolutely everywhere you went. i was in heaven!!! i have always missed the vancouver, b.c. fall seasons and being in vegas can leave one craving color changes. neither i nor my boys could not get enough of the fallen leaves. on each walk or trip to the park, the boys would return with a pile of "favorite leaves". 

there were so many homes that i coveted! from the street i longed to pack one up and taken it home to vegas for me and my little family of boys to call home. the charm and the quaint tree-lined streets with every home displaying something about it i had to have--a red door, lanterns in the front, wisteria draping the entry. i could just go back and do a photo tour of homes in the park cities of dallas.

for now i love the inside of my vegas home. it was "home" when i walked into it after the plane ride home from dallas. it may not have the "look" i want on the outside but i had the best feeling late last night sitting on my couch realizing how much this home boosts my spirit and comforts me. [it also helped that my husband had cleaned it meticulously before my arriving home! thanks, rod.]

a few homes and colors to enjoy: 

 

 

 

 

 

boo! from the fett boys. . .

i took jack and morgan to target to get star wars costumes. their lives used to be full of thomas the train (though they were never that for halloween). now it is all about star wars. so they chose to be jango and boba fett. and in their own explanation it was because they were like brothers but different. they explained on and on about how the fetts were sort of like twins but not. 

funny. i keep thinking they want to be different from each other but it ends up that they choose to be similar in so many ways. so we are the fett boys this year. and i have to say i do like those costumes. we are gonna get some serious mileage after halloween out of these. i can tell that already!

we had the missionaries show up at our door yesterday evening. they came to say hi and we invited them in for dinner and pumpkin carving. they were happy to join! they are such hard-working, pleasant young men. i love when they come! rod carved one pumpkin with jack and morgan into what else? a star wars clone figure. each missionary got his own pumpkin all to himself and was given free reign on the carving. they did such a great job! it is great to be a missionary and one of them showed just how much he likes his work by carving a missionary in his pumpkin--badge and all! it was a fun evening, spontaneous and casual fun. we lit them up and put them out for the evening.

the little things. . .

"enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." -robert brault.

 

 

  

 

three little things of tess. three little things from family and friends to brighten my week! thank you all who have shown such compassion. it has been a week so far full of noticing the little things that are missing and that have come to help fill the void. thank you for knowing. 

oh the colors of fall. . .

on the way home from the cabin we stopped to take some photos of the colors fall brings. i so miss the colors of the season. the quick trip to the cabin provided us with a wonderful display of color. now if i had only had my tripod and camera remote it would have been a fabulous family photo! 

whitehead ladies. . .

my mom and her sister got together with their aunt and her daughter--their cousin to have a weekend away at the cabin synchronizing their genealogy. it was fun to see them enjoy themselves so much and hear some of the stories. i'm so glad they did this and that i was able to meet up with them if only for a day and 1/2. watching them work made me realize how important record keeping is and recording things for posterity. i felt the chain links in our family from one generation to the next. 

[left to right: marjorie willis holland, betty whitehead willis, ann bunker harris, loretta bunker derrick]

[left to right: lesli harris streets, ann b. harris, loretta b. derrick, jimmy holland [marji's son], betty whitehead willis, marjoire willis holland, erin holland [marji's daughter].

the day after when timing was everything. . .

timing is everything. it always is. this was the right time for tess to go. the snow hadn't fallen at the cabin just yet. arnie was working on our property with his backhoe and other large machinery which made it easy to dig the hole and bury her. it also made it possible to put the biggest boulder ever over her gravesite so in the summer months the children can climb on it and we can go out and sun ourselves on it! my parents were already at the cabin for the week and that same day my mom had her sister, loretta, their aunt betty willis and her daughter marjoire coming up to do genealogy. since we were only up for thursday and back on friday i was grateful to have been there to be able to see my mom's family. the two days were full of stories and fun. 

my cousin robert is the best craftsman. he is also a dog lover. i asked him on wednesday morning to build me a box for tess. i wanted it organic and simple. i knew he would come up with something wonderful but it was short notice and i just needed something--whatever he had time to do. 

when we picked up the box from him he told me that it is modeled after a hope chest that my grandfather morgan w. harris handmade for my grandmother mary deschamps harris. my grandfather's chest sits in their room at the farm house. robert used it as a model to build the box for tess. it was so meaningful. robert could not have done something better than he did for me--he knew i would appreciate the history and meaning. he's good like that. it is why i called him in the first place. having him build it would have been meaning enough but for him to have its shape stem from the generation of our family who built their lives around livestock and animals---made it all the more meaningful. 

i had a gold ring with an "L" engraved on it years ago when i was single. since i bought tessa when i was single and in grad school i decided to tie the ring around her neck. jack and morgan talked about her much of the way up to the cabin and drew pictures to put in the box with her. my mom even had prepared a note for her when i got to the cabin. so we all placed our items in with her and discussed with jack and morgan the concept of the spirit separating from the body and resurrection when Christ comes again. it was a vivid lesson and i think they got it. but they really wanted to see her before she went in the ground. she looked just the same--like she was sleeping.

they wanted to help me wrap her up in the blanket [one i had made for her when we were first married and living in vancouver] and they wanted to help me put the lid on. then they asked if they could decorate the top of it. i thought is was a great idea and we all got crayons and got busy. they each drew hearts and wanted to spell out her name and theirs. i know it was helpful to them. they have always had her around and i know they will miss her. my mom drew evergreen trees and the river that runs along the cabin. my dad and rod took her when we were done and the backhoe made finishing the job so fast and easy. i was sad but relieved. relieved that she went quickly. relieved that the timing was just right to have these things take place the way they did. as we set the boulder in place the sun was just setting. it was peaceful and right. 

[follow up: jack has since had a few moments when i can tell he misses her. he spelled out her name in legos the other day and came to show me. he also wants a "tessa" story for bedtime nightly. though morgan showed he loved her when she was here, he has yet to show much longing for her now that she is absent. he says a few little reminders but to my surprise it has been mostly jack who has been the most outward at showing signs of thinking of her.]

 

 

 

 

 

gone tonight. . .

she had a great day and then a difficult early evening. a seizure let us know it was time to put her down. it was a quiet ride to the vet's office after hours but it was peaceful and private. tomorrow we take her to the cabin to bury her in a coffin handmade by my remarkable cousin robert, a fellow dog-lover. my parents are there preparing her a perfect spot. 

i've been preparing for this night all week. never really knew how it would actually play out but it happened so perfectly for who she was and who rod and i are! thank goodness for a sweet neighbor who will take my children in a second when there is a need so i could attend to my girl. 

i am ready to be not so weepy. i am ready to be not worried about her every minute. 

but i am not quite ready to be home alone when the boys are at school...nope. not just yet. good thing that is next week...i'll think about that then. 11 years old and brought me so much comfort that though i am sad i could not imagine having done those 11 years without her. 

to the cabin tomorrow. can't wait to see the colors of the changing seasons. isn't it perfect that it is fall? yep. just the perfect season.

p.s. 

The boys saw everything tonight at home but my neighbor took them when we went to the vet. They have been fine with it and had lots of questions but tonight Jack wanted me to tell them a "Tessa" story before bed. So I did and he helped me finish it off with her dying and her spirit when to live with Heavenly Father and Rosie (my mom's dalmation). [He was telling me what to say at the end since I was trying to hold back some tears.] That was when I knew I was grateful that they are six and can understand it simply enough to know that death is not the end. 

I was thinking yesterday as I took my last photos of her that I am so glad I learned a little about photography. Thanks Buff, for encouraging me to take from Wendy.

slow days of not our normal selves. . .

i am not the only one around our house who has been not feeling great [lousy sinus/allergy issues]. tessa too has really not been her spunky self. except i am sure to recover and she...well, one day at a time is where we are at this point. kidneys don't last forever. only the spirit within does. i'm so glad she's ours.