Bouncin' back

I'm so glad to hear that everything went well with Mark's surgery and that Grandpa is out of the hospital. I think it would be wise to structure our family hospital visits in a more orderly fashion. No overlapping health concerns. Allow at least 3 months between issues. Take a number and wait in line. This may be difficult for Steph and her kids who seem to be there more than most. I've also met my quota for the year. Also, I would appreciate some advanced notice. Who's next in line??
Honestly, though, you are all in my prayers and I love you tons!

Prayers for all...

In case anyone's checking the blog lately (sorry I haven't been posting much), I just want to tell everyone in NY that my prayers and thoughts are with you. I pray that you all feel peace and comfort through the Holy Ghost and the love of your family as we all wish we could be there with you right now. I love you all!

Uncle Mark, I also wanted to wish you luck on your surgery next week and we will be praying for you as well.

We Gabriels are a special breed...as I've grown older and seen more kinds of people and families out there, I realize that there really is no love quite like Lebanese love :) God Bless you all.

Easter Morning Surprises

Easter Morning Surprises!

The Peacock family had a rather exciting egg hunt this morning, along with the traditional candy filled eggs, the kids were told that there would also be some special eggs with messages about a new surprise for our family.

Here are some of the hints, let's see if you can guess a little better than they did :)

Rachel and JJ ,

Something wonderful is coming to our family

Follow the clues to find out the exciting news!

.…It’s better than a Puppy

….will love all of your hugs and attack of kisses

….will weigh about 8 lbs or so

….will laugh at your jokes

….coming to a crib near you in December

....your last clue is resting on Mommy and Daddy's bed

With this last clue, they went into our room and found this:

What we thought was so obvious became quite a puzzle! For the next 5 minutes, we had to spell it out in detail, that no, we weren't going to be getting a pet baby bunny or puppy. That this wasn't a new toy (Grandma Gabriel gave it for Christmas) and that in fact... Mommy was expecting. Once it had finally sunk in, a whirlwind of questions for most of the day came pouring out and it was really cute seeing how excited the kids were. JJ adopted the baby bunny as his own, gave it a name, started to feed it and even went straight to work potty training! Complete with washing hands afterwards. It was so funny, and cute. When it was time to go to church he wanted to bring it with us, but we somehow convinced him that "Baby Bunny" needed to take a nap.

Even as we write this, JJ has the bunny cuddled under his arm walking around the house. He's going to be a very good big brother!

Jen is very tired all of the time and bracing for the expected morning sickness. She hopes that it won't be as bad as the past but is preparing for the worst. Her short hair should make it a little easier to take care of, and she looks forward to continuing her regular walks. We feel good about her Dr. being right next to the hospital and only 2 exits away in Altamonte Springs. We are both very excited, and find that these planned pregnancies are so much easier to prepare for:)

Rachel also thought well of the news, at one point we were walking down the hallway and heard her explaining to JJ that new Babies come with rules, and you had to careful around them not to punch and kick (wow, shouldn't that be obvious?) apparently we need to re-visit the contention family night talk.

As for Dad? Well I couldn't sleep the night before we found out, I tossed and turned and it was really hard to sleep. I had a feeling that it would be a positive test, and I am sure I had some nerves at play. I think most of that comes from being out of Baby mode for 5 years! It must just be a Father's response, I'm reminded of my own Dad's reaction when he found out about me and Jon. White faced and woozy. But then this is #3 for us (instead numbers 7, 8). I am thrilled at the thought of being a new Daddy again! Each month that we were disappointed makes this month really that much more of a joy, added to the Joy we feel for our beautiful kiddos. Looking forward to some more funny moments like this one from JJ during a recent time out for saying the "shut up" bad word: Dad! I'm going to throw a Cow at you! haha priceless.

Jen just remembered some cute things JJ said last week, turning the keyboard over to her:

Mommy, is there a baby in your tummy? He asked me this randomly two times in the last two weeks. Either he is really close to the spirit, or he is showing sympathy for the small lump over my waist that is growing. This morning the portacrib was up in our room from my friend's baby that used it yesterday while I was doing hair. He said "Is that ours?" Yes I said, you used to sleep in it. He said "Why is it here?" I was telling him how the baby that came over yesterday took a nap in it while he was outside playing. That prompted a strong," When are we going to have a baby of our own?!" It felt good to finally be able to tell them soon after that when we were planning on doing our little easter egg hunt mystery we thought up to tell the kids in a creative way....so creative that they didn't really get it. It was funny. We've had all sorts of questions since then, so that has been interesting and fun. I'll keep you all updated on my progress, and please pray for me. I hope everything will be ok. I feel that it will, but extra prayers are never a bad thing! I also want to thank Dave for being so caring and sweet. He brought me some tests and flowers at like 6am last week. The flowers were to ease the disappointment in case the tests were negative again, or to congratulate us if it was positive too I guess! Either way the roses are beautiful and I was happy not to be disappointed again! Also kudos to him for the 2 yummy dinners he helped make this weekend and the trips to the store. I have been so tired all the time and have had other symptoms as well that I was pretty sure what was going on. So on to the next adventure in life! My brain is too tired I can't think of anything totally clever or funny to describe my feelings. Just enjoying the lack of morning sickness so far, but I bet it is around the corner. Love to all, HAPPY EASTER!

Here is Jen at about 5 weeks:

Lake Mary Easter Egg Hunt

We had fun at our city's second annual easter egg hunt. They had three different hunts for different age groups. We got some great pictures. Hope the Peacocks still had their hunt, and know they truly do miss us, but not the trama of seeing Dave in a yellow bunny suit.

Autism Awareness Month

April is autism awareness month. I've been working on a song for years about it, and worked on it recently. Just thought I would share it from a mother's point of view how it can feel....but am SO happy JJ has had so much help, and we count our blessings everyday for it could have been much worse from the start. We are happy and well. JJ is doing great and even starting to read. Love to all! Jen


Common Thing

He doesn’t say much does he
He doesn’t play much with other kids does he
Well I never caught on to that so early on
At 2 years old a little bit shy seems normal to me

So we took him for a free evaluation
And they asked all sorts of questions
Thanks for bringing him today
I guess there is no easy way to say
We’ve found a few delays

CHORUS:
You never know it’s such a common thing
So much information and confusion that it brings
Is there no feeling just the fate of silent prison
Well if they can almost duplicate a whole person
Can’t we cut through the confusion of autism

Now every day a little bus comes up over that hill
We walk down the stairs and I say a little prayer
Those deep brown eyes
And that blank stare
I hear them I swear sayin’
Never doubt me, or what I can be

But what happened to taking walks and toy trucks
And lookin’ in our eyes
Now I’m always on the phone feeling so alone
Just tryin’ to find out why
Our money’s spent before the next month’s rent
And the cost of therapy is so high

CHORUS

My baby, he’s so young
Do you think maybe I did something wrong
No recognition, no hesitation in the face of danger
How on earth do I swallow all of my anger
Can we find out what it’s all about
Oh God hear our prayers for all those families out there

Old Pictures...

Here's some pictures that Cindy attached in a recent email:

Above is the whole family in 1964.

Memories of Pam...

I was so thankful to Grace for asking her grandpa about Pamela, because it brought so many wonderful responses from those who knew Pam best. After reading them, I wished so much that I could have known her in this life, but I know that we all will be able to be with her again. I hope that when that time comes, that she will be proud of me and how I've lived. When Kathryn was born, I thought about her and my other grandparents that perhaps they gave her a little pep talk before she came. Because of all of your words and memories, I feel closer to her and hope that you all do, too. Here are the remarks as well as some pictures. Enjoy!

Ed, Jr.:

Pamela was born a minute or two after my brother Mark was born - they were TTWWIINNSS!!!! GGPa Ed and GGMa Irene had no idea they were having twins, but it turned out to be a wonderful surprise!!!

Pamela was a very outgoing, thoughtful and friendly to everyone, which made her a popular girl. She is also very beautiful, with a head of thick curly hair, as you can see from the attached photo of Mark and Pam. Sometimes her hair was twice as long as in that picture! Pamela was attending Brigham Young University when Stephanie was born. How she loved to come to our basement apartment and play with her!!! Pamela was called home to Heavenly Father when she died in a snowmobile accident while visiting Soda Springs Idaho, with her roommates's family. It was a very sad time for all of us. What got us through it was the knowledge that our family has been sealed for time and all eternity in the Logan, Utah temple of our Lord Jesus Christ. Pam was buried in Greenwich, NY not far from the farm where we had our family reunion last June, 2008. Her cemetery headstone is inscribed with one of her favorite sayings: I AM NOT AFRAID OF TOMORROW, FOR I HAVE SEEN YESTERDAY, AND I LOVE TODAY.

I see many of Pam's good traits in my daughters and their children. Someday when we each have to leave this earth, we will get to hug her again.

Cindy:

Pam was fun loving. She loved to sew, loved being fashionable, dressing up, music and dancing. She loved her friends and her friends loved her. She also was very close to her twin. Her missionary work was shared freely and she was taking a missionary prep class before she died. I truly believe she was using her class information as soon as she crossed the veil, especially with our middle eastern ancestors and family there. She was always a very positive influence on everyone and her YW leaders loved her because she loved and respected them.When no one else would say prayers and or participate in the youth group and really treated the leaders poorly, she stood up for them and confidently shared her love of the Savior, and her love of all people. She was beautiful on the inside as well as the outside. She was a hard act to follow when it came to socializing. She really enjoyed BYU and she & Karen were also very close. I remember her rubbing my back and further back, changing her diapers.

Mark:

It was great being Aunt Pam's twin brother. I learned a lot from her. When we were very young, I was the selfish one and would want whatever she had and she was the smart non-confrontational twin who just handed over whatever it was I was wining about to shut me up. I guess you could say I had something to do with (not intentionally) teaching her her good people skills!

As we got older, she would avoid an argument by simply walking away and sometimes saying that if I wanted to discuss things maturely, then she'd talk. She was also very practical and would simply state her position in a kind manner (unless I really needed it "right between the eyes" so to speak). One of those kind times was when I was long faced and sulking on our way home from early AM seminary after I found out that a girl in our ward turned me down for a youth invitational dance for a more handsome, debonair, and older young man: you're other great uncle---Lincoln! It wasn't so bad that it was Lincoln but I had to deal with the rejection. Aunt Pamela looked at me in the car and said, "Mark, you've got Liz written all over your face. Please don't put yourself through any added stress or sadness about something you can't control."

Another less friendly practical advise moment I'll always remember as a great leaning moment from my twin, was when I decided to stay out at Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) after graduating and touring the U.S. with our Rick's performing group. I wanted to make money there and live in Idaho until I had to come home and leave on my mission. I wrote my parents and the family and told them that the Berry's lived out there (friend's from Foxboro Ward) and I could have them act as guardians or help me out if I needed, while out there. I got this almost scathing letter like slapping me upside the head trying to talk sense into my unthinking skull. She basically said something like: "what right do you have to take this time away from your parents and us your family in not spending this precious time helping you get ready for your mission?? And by the way, no one can take the place of your parents or family. To me, this seems like a selfish think to do and I am asking you to rethink this (in other words get on your way home)."

Then she softened it up at the end telling me she loved me. How could I not see the error in my judgement? We also had a lot of fun together and she at times, believe it or not, as good as she really was and obedient, had some of her own rebellious streaks-nothing serious; just small stuff. The other wonderful character trait she had was that she was a loyal and true friend who treated her friends so well. Actually, everyone who met Pamela loved her. However, not at the expense of standing up for true principles like honesty, integrity, and moral cleanliness nor would she allow anyone to walk over her. She was that wonderful twin sister that allowed me my space and freedom of choice, yet in her own way told me "where to get off" (my train). I owe her a lot. She was a good dancer, crafty artsy type doing painting and decoupage, etc.

I had to cry when I read your Ed's remarks because it brought up good memories and the joy of the promise of being an eternal family (all of us). That's the sweet that off-sets the severity of the bitter and sting of the death/passing of a loved one or friend. Pam's character was something I would hold up as a measuring stick, at times, to others to help me judge properly for myself whether in choosing friends or in general. I also see so much of her in my and Robyn's own children especially our daughter Annaliese. Her vibrant, radiant personality, loyalty to friends, practical yet positive outlook on everything, has lighted our family and home. Pamela was told in a blessing that she would throughout her "life", be a help and great influence on the youth. And I can see her influence in may of her extended family as well.