Washington Moments...

The reason we went to WA was for my precious nephew, Tristan's, services. Although it was a heartbreaking experience it was also filled with an odd amount of joy in knowing how truly in love with the Lord T was and how happy he must be to be with Him. My brother gave the eulogy for his son and ended with such a sweet tribute to T who is a super huge fan of super heroes and a super big mommy's boy. Jr. said (as best as I can remember) "Tristan is my hero and I will spend the rest of my life trying to be more like him. Loving his mom and loving his God." I thought that was super sweet and I too feel like Tristan is a real hero. He wanted to live his life in ministry to the Lord and never wavered through this whole battle... if his cancer and even death would bring people to know and love Jesus he said over and over again he was willing and wanted to do it! What an amazing boy! What a privelage to have known him and had the special title of being his Aunt!

Here is the beautiful baby of Tristan's family... at least for a few more months until J'onn arrives. This is Presley and she was so funny and so not in love with me... whatever! She avoided me at all costs until I would pull out my camera and then she would come close and start posing.

Here is Adrian III (Tristan's best friend and big brother), Austin (my cousin OJ's oldest son), Clara (T's sister), Hailey (T's oldest sister) and my goofy Adia.

This is Adia and Clara. Avery was so jealous when she saw this picture! BTW... Clara is truly a Howell and never ever runs out of things to say. She is so funny and so noisy!

Here is our families first experience with Miracles... Madeline (Goosey... because she is a silly goose) wasn't supposed to make it past a few days and now she is a beautiful 7 year old MONSTER. She looks so cute with her short hair cut and so much older. For some reason her favorite thing to do is fight (ummm.... maybe having 2 big brothers caused that problem) and so if you want her to like you all you have to do is be really dramatic and make her feel like she is truly beating you up. Adia being such a drama queen did a great job!

Here is my skinny sister Tammy and I loving on our teddy bear for a nephew (kind of) Austin. He has turned into the sweetest, handsomest and funnest 16 year old ever! Rumor has it he get's into a bit of trouble at home but we don't believe it! I'm so glad I was able to spend some time with him and his dad.

Here's DJ the new big brother! Can I please have those big blue eyes?

And here is the sweet baby brother Gavin Tristan Miller! He is such a sweet baby and Tammy and I had several spats over who should get to hold him and who he seemed to like the most.

Then he pooped on her and let her know in no uncertain terms that his devotion is to his Aunt Amy! BTW... 5 kids later I have never seen projectile poo. What a talent! And if that was his way of picking Tammy as the favorite then she can have him.

Kaden seems to think he is as cute as I think. This mirror was a highlight of the trip for him.

The circumstances of our trip were obviously not what we wanted but I am glad I was able to see my family and be with them as we all lost a special relationship to an amazing little boy and were able to lean on each other through the pain of saying good bye. Tristan wouldn't have wanted us to all sit around being sad and I think he would love to know that we tried our best to bring some giggles to his siblings who miss him so dearly already!

Thank you again to all of you who have been lifting us all up in prayer. I'm sure for his family the healing process will be a long one and your continued prayers for all of them are so appreciated!