Today we celebrated a well done dentist appointment with French fries at Wendy’s.  We paid for the father and daughter behind us in the drive thru, and left a card with This site on it so they’d know it was done in her memory ❤️❤️

Today, while driving down an alley in town, I approached a woman who appeared to be in distress. When I stopped my car and opened the window, she told me that she needed to go to a mental health facility in town because she was feeling overwhelmed and "fed up". She was unable to call for an appointment because her phone was out of minutes.
I told her that I'd drive her there and to get in. On our way, she vented that she felt used and unappreciated by her boyfriend and family. I listened until we arrived at her counselor's office. She thanked me and gave me a huge, tight hug.
We made plans for me to pick her up after I went to the grocery store and put gas in my car. After a short search for her with the help of a staff member of the facility, she came out of her counselor's with a grin on her face. She was relieved to have been able to talk with her. Her counselor was giving her a ride home. So, she gave me another long, tight hug, blessed me, and said she hoped we would cross paths again.

Miss you and all the stories. shaking your head and "ohhh Donna" I pray for your family daily and hold them dear to my heart. love you 

I drove up to the Salvation Army donation drop-off intending to donate three boxes of inherited antique books and several vintage board games. In front of my van was a young man pulling out donations from the back of his car. On a whim, I decided to ask him if he wanted to look at the books before I donated them to the Salvation. He gladly walked to the back of my van, searched through the boxes and chose two boxes.. He was thrilled. He said he loved antique books and was starting to build his collection. I also gave him a couple of the board games, which brought him smiles.
Before I got in my van, it occured to me that I could give these items in Marinah's name. When I explained that, on Marinah's birthday, her friends and family do random acts of kindness in her name, he looked puzzled. None-the-less, I'm happy to know that, although  Marinah no longer physically walks this Earth, she still creates happiness.

These two always loved each other so much.  Marinah looked up to her big sister.  They were so adorable!

Blurry but a perfect representation of the three of them and how they were through the years.  Marinah loved to torment Sam.

Michael was leaving for a deployment the next day so I took a bunch of photos of each child with him, etc so he would have a copy and the children would too. Love this one.

This photo tells quite the story.  Michael and I were waiting on the kids outside the ride.  At one point Nikayla called us and said Marinah wanted to get out of line and not ride the ride, then she decided to stay and ride it.  She ended up riding it but she kept screaming "We're all going to die" and was totally freaking out the whole time.  Nikayla was so over it all while Marinah continued to scream and cry on the ride but was still trying to comfort her in this photo.  Sammy was just being Sammy and enjoying the ride.  We purchased this photo just because the whole situation was so hilarious.  Nikayla could probably tell this story much better.

When I first got the news of my neice passing, I was devastated and my heart begain to weep...

My thoughts immediately ran to my memories of my loved one.
I cried all the more harder because I thought that I had been distant at times from my family, living in Ohio off and on and didn't have a picture of Unkie with his neice. Last night I found some of my family photos that I had burned to disk years back...

I wept again, at first because the pictures reminded me of what we've all lost and that hurts so bad but my heart was also greatful that I found pictures of you and I and more.

Love you always Marinah! You are always going to be in our hearts and when we hold you again in Heaven our hearts will be whole again.

From middle school math class, singing till the teacher seperared us then singing louder because the teacher should've thought her decision through to the last time I saw you and we went shopping for your Olive Garden uniform and all the stories Inbetween that are too inappropriate to tell, I'll miss them all. I'll miss everything but I'll see it all in the world around me, like when I went to the beach the night you passed away I could see you in the stars, and when I did my photoshoot i could see you in the sky, the day of your funeral the sunset reminded me of your love, and I will always have you. So will I miss you? Always. Will I forget you? Never. Everyday will hold a piece of you and that's an amazing thing to do for someone. I love you Marinah.

While I did not know Marinah personally, I feel like I know her through her dad.  I remember when she did was modeling how proud Mike was of her and her accomplishments.  He sat on the bridge at work and we talked for hours it seemed about how her photographs were breath taking and she really had a talent for it. He would always say "She has such an outgoing personality and  giving heart, but would not hesitate to correct you if you were wrong" Mike would show off her pictures and you could just see the proud papa gleaming.  Marinah was a head turner for sure, her long legs, big bright smile and eyes you could get lost in.  True and natural beauty.