Drawing from Drew

We’ve been in our new home in Illinois for just over a month now. As we Becker’s tend to do, we haven’t taken anything very slow. Molly now has been in school for three weeks? In the middle of the 4th. And Josh has been successfully making the commute every day in towards the city…

I was really dreading the goodbye, the actual leaving, of our house in Austin. It was a home that held so many memories, good and bad, awful and truly magical. Moving week came though, and as things began to change and be packed up, each day it felt less and less like the home I…

Two falls ago, during the radiation portion of Drew’s treatment, we were home a lot more than we’d been the whole year. There was one afternoon I took my kids and their friend to the park. I remember watching them run to the playground, the littlest one, my Drew, was lagging behind. I took out…

As the seasons transition from one to another, the Becker family finds itself at the brink of a transition too. Hormel, the company which my husband works for, has several plants and owns companies in locations away from Austin. We’ve always been aware that there may be opportunities within the company that would take us…

Molly and I love breakfast. We’ve been having eggs every way you can name practically since she’s been eating solid foods. Regular scrambled, fried, eggs-in-a-hole… Our mutual favorite is a new way I saw on Rachel Rae–add a little water to the pan and cover while they cook, leaving you with a soft, maybe pouched…

It was recently fair week in Austin. With Molly in school, we had to really make the most of our visits. We saw the animals, rode the rides, ate some treats, climbed on the farm equipment, saw a show in the grandstand–it was a busy week! It was a difficult one too. I’ve come to…

Molly and her friend were sitting at the edge of the pool during the mandatory pool break time. The water was so still in this deep, smaller pool under the diving boards and climbing wall. “Look!” her friend pointed at the waves on the surface of the water. You could see the broad waves spanning…

The summer has been rolling on! It seems we’ve been going from thing to thing, and having a great time doing it! We’ve been having so much fun, and Molly has just been so cute to me. Oh! I could just eat her up. Celebrating the fourth, as we cruise around doing errands, when we…

Schools been out for almost 2 weeks now. And I’ve started out keeping fairly close to what I intended to do–make the most of each day. Be grateful. Choose joy. Loosen up my schedules and expectations. Be present with Molly.  We’ve already made a visit to Ames while Josh was traveling for work to see…

So apparently in the last five years, I’ve gotten behind on my personal health checkups. And once I did the eye exam–we all know how that turned out!–I decided to get the other ones caught up before school was out also. After tomorrow, in the last few weeks I’ve seen the ophthalmologist, dentist, dermatologist, gynecologist…

Last week, as the weather is FINALLY starting to turn warm, I went through Molly’s clothes. It’s something many moms are doing this time of year–going through drawers and closets. Sorting out the too small stuff, and bringing out the next season’s wares. I gathered all the out-grown Molly clothes that are taking over the…

I had been noticing that things were blurry for a little while. I’d be ordering from a menu at a fast food place or coffee shop, or find myself squinting to read street signs and would think to myself, I bet that should be clearer than this. Josh kept telling me to go to the…

Spring is finally here. It was just over two weeks ago that we had 9 inches of snow. But the grass is finally starting to turn green, the trees and bushes are beginning to bud, we finally can open the windows, and enjoy the warm sunshine on our deck. It’s been great for Molly to…

Our loss, will be a part of everything we do, everything we experience, for a while if not our whole lives. Because we’ll never stop loving Drew, we’ll never stop missing him. But I think as I begin to expect the sadness, get better at acknowledging it and incorporating it in to my experiences without…

We continue to be busy working on our upcoming fundraiser for our nonprofit, Warrior Wagons, INC. And we are seeing such success already with local business sponsors, products/services donated for the event, and individuals contributing silent auction baskets and volunteering to help. It’s amazing, really. I honestly didn’t expect to have this much support, for…

After getting back on my feet following our vacations, I feel like we’ve been running ever since! I need to get back to writing here, I can tell my feelings/thoughts are building up. I have 3 unfinished posts because I can’t seem to get a big enough amount of time to work on them! So…

We just returned home from another amazing trip, this time to the luxe Punta Mita, Mexico.  I feel so obnoxious and like I should apologize for such extravagant vacations back to back–but we really didn’t plan it!  They both kind of fell into our laps, and we are so very, very grateful. Josh earned the…

We recently had the opportunity to go to Hawaii with my family. My Dad had business in Honolulu, and took my siblings and my family along. We also spent a few days before the workshop he was speaking at in Kauai, sight seeing. It was a trip we’d been looking forward too all winter. It…

Molly has been doing so well in Kindergarten. She loves the bus, taking her lunch, her friends and teachers. We’ve been working with flashcards at home first with the alphabet last fall, then with the sounds, and now with sight words and sounding out three to four letter words. This week after I picked her…

As the first anniversary of Drew’s passing passed, I took time to remember. The week, the day. To remember him and all that died that day, January 19th, 2017. And although it wasn’t pleasant, it didn’t feel good, I’m glad I did. It felt right to pause, and to go “back there”. To hold his…