I almost deleted this blog, as I have the other one that explains a lot. As a year has now passed since the tragic murder of my sweet brother, our family is doing our best to live with that loss and change in our lives. I know it must seem to a lot of people that JD's death consumed my life, and to be honest, it did. I do still have a family on this earth, and we did not only survive the last year, we actually did live a little. In fact, we may have done more living than we have our entire lives. For anyone who thinks we may have curled up into a ball and let 11/5 defeat us, I encourage them to see how we have not. It has not been pretty all of the time, and we are certainly not the same, but we are not defeated. You will probably be tired after you read this entire post. It has been a nice reminder to me while writing this that our lives are so full and blessed, despite the extreme circumstances we have been in during the last year.
In January, I "met" an incredible young lady named Jessica Hansen through the power of the internet who has now become a very dear friend. Her fiance', Patrick Zeigler, was shot in the head and in 3 other places on the same day, in the same room and by the same man that killed JD. Patrick and Jessica have been through more than anyone could explain in a sentence, a paragraph, a lifetime. You can read her amazing, intelligent words of inspiration and preservance here.
In fact as I type this today, Patrick and Jessica are "moving that bus" to reveal their new home provided by Extreme Makeover, Home Edition. I can not think of a more deserving couple. They have suffered and lost a tremendous amount in the last year, and our family is so thrilled that they are receiving a home to heal and live in.
In February, my baby turned 4. We celebrated at our great gym, The Cooper Fitness Center, complete with a bounce house, dozens of friends and the most incredible Barbie Rapunzel cake a girl could dream of.
Malia and I have made a tradition of also celebrating her birthday by taking a trip back to Altus, Oklahoma and attending the Miss Altus Pageant each year, as it falls close to her birthday. This has become a mommy-daughter trip that she absolutely cherishes, and so do I. The Miss Altus family has been an indescribable support and source of love for our family for over 10 years.
We also had record snows here in Dallas in February and March. We built a couple of JD snowmen and had a great time pretending we didn't live in a warm climate.
In March, we also made an emotional first trip down to Fort Hood, only a 3 hour drive from us. We visited the place that JD was murdered and started forming relationships with people that we now know as our "November fifth family." Although he's not in many pictures (because he was always taking them), Mitch was beside me every step of the way.
One of the my new November fifth family members also came up to Dallas in March, and we ran the Dallas Rock N Roll half marathon in honor of JD and the other victims of 11/5/09. Jeannette Jurroff, a first responder of the shooting, has become a dear friend to us. We saw her family and Mitch and the kids, but somehow missed both of my parents, who made a great effort to go downtown and look for us to run by. We caught up with them back at home. It was a great 13.1 mile journey and a healing experience.
We celebrated Easter again at our gym. They have great activities for the kids and we really feel blessed to be a part of it.
I attempted to plant vegetables this year. Sort of a "healing" garden, I guess. Mitch helped me construct a wire fence around the selected site in our back yard to keep the rabbits out (which didn't work. I think we attracted more rabbits by challenging them to break in). Here you see it started out promising. However, I grew bitter, inedible lettuce, burnt my cucumbers to a pickle-y crisp, grew ONE watermelon that I harvested too early out of excitement and couldn't eat it and a couple of peppers. The only thing I did manage to not kill was okra. Loads and loads and loads of okra. Mitch never complained once, however, about eating okra with every meal for 4 months. We felt like the Bubba Gump of okra preparers. Fried okra, okra soup, okra and tomatoes, steamed okra, sauteed okra, okra and squash...
I also was invited by another dear friend we have grown to love to a fun race called the Warrior Dash. It's not about being the best athlete, it's just about rolling in mud and sliding down hills and jumping over fire until you are covered with slime. It was a lot of fun. It was, to me, a very poignant demonstration of going through mud and fire and coming out okay on the other side.
In April, Mitch and I participated in the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon events. He ran the full marathon, I ran the half marathon. Running to honor victims of a terrorist attack has a new meaning to us now. I figured I had already ran a little in the previous months, and did not train much for it. Mitch, however, always the athlete, has really been getting in to these races and also participated in a triathlon this year. He does great.
May was a super busy month, as it always is for us. We had Mother's Day, Mitch's 35th birthday, Makai turned 6 and had a great Indiana Jones themed party at a gymnastics place. He graduated from an incredible Christian preschool that we have been so blessed by. Malia was the cutest ballerina on the planet at her recital. We took another trip down to Fort Hood to hang wreathes on the fence at the sight of the shooting where JD and 12 others were killed on 11/5/09. We were able to offer a $1000 JD Hunt Scholarship to an incredible young lady in Tipton, Oklahoma. I was honored to be asked to speak at the Plano, Texas Memorial Day ceremony and spoke of honoring our fallen heroes.
June marked one year that Mitch has been with Sleep Experts as the Vice President of Merchandising. The kids took swimming lessons early in the summer, and within a few weeks, they were both swimming independently on their own.
My mom's CAO (Casualty Assistance Officer), CWO Mark Kelsey, retired in July, and it was a sad but proud moment for many gold star families. He was thought to be one of the best in the nation at comforting and helping families who have lost loved ones in the military.
The summer was filled with swimming and skipping rocks in the creek for the kids. We all had great tans, even though we are sunscreen freaks.
We also had an emotional time as the Patriot Guard Riders and other patriots stood over JD's grave until he had a grave marker. We could not be more proud of the honor JD has earned, and the people who show that to him are incredible.
Jessica invited me along with Operation Homefront to meet Tim McGraw at his concert to discuss supporting victims of the 11/5/09 shooting. It was kind of nice to have some girl time with an incredible person who knows all the pain that I know and then some. It was quite an honor.
I also attended a T.A.P.S. (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors) grief seminar at Fort Hood this summer. It was very emotional and healing. I have met some incredible support through this program.
A lot of the summer was consumed with planning the biggest birthday celebration of life for JD ever. Tipton, Oklahoma, supported and helped make this happen in the most heart warming, emotional way. We were so blessed to have more people than I can even list come a very long way to show their love for JD. The First Cavalry Band from Fort Hood even graced the streets of Tipton in their uniforms in August to lead the most incredible parade ever. JD would have been 23 years old this year.
Mitch participated in his first triathlon - an Olympic. He swam in open water, biked and ran and we were so proud of him.
We ended the summer with a beautiful wedding on the beaches of Virginia. Mitch's sister got married at Fort Story, and it was absolutely gorgeous. She took us out on her and her new husband's boat, and we were surrounded by dolphins on a gorgeous August afternoon. It was quite a memory for us all.
August and September marked the start of a new school year for the kids. I turned 31, er, 21 again, on 9/14. Makai started kindergarten and has a great teacher. He lost his first tooth on the first day of kindergarten!! Malia started her last year at the preschool she loves so much. She got into the same class with the same teachers as Makai had last year, and we could not be happier about that.
Makai has since kept the tooth fairy very busy. He can rightfully sing "All I Want For Christmas is my Two Front Teeth"...
We had to say goodbye to Kitty, our precious family member of 14 years. She has been through a lot with us, and it is still very, very hard to deal with the fact that she is not with us anymore. But we know Uncle JD is taking good care of her.
October is always kind of fun. We love Halloween around here. Makai convinced Malia to play along with his new love for Harry Potter, so we had a Harry and an Hermoine. She didn't mind much - she loves her brother. Mitch and I decided to playfully dress as grapes. We went to a Halloween party, and we were the only adults dressed up. We also went to the Texas State Fair. An October tradition for us. Lots of fun.
Makai even wanted to carve a pumpkin to reflect our life-changing events.
In November, we went back down the roller coaster ride, as we attended the 1 year memorial events of the shooting. We went to 3 memorials in 1 day, ran a half marathon and did many other emotionally exhausting things. It is very nice to know that JD and the other heroes will never be forgotten, no matter how tired we are.
November also marked the end of the Article 32 hearing for Nidal Malik Hasan, the man accused of the 11/5/09 shooting. My dad came to McKinney to go to Makai's school for his Veteran's Day program. I was also asked to speak in Tipton, Oklahoma, at the unveiling of a stunning memorial built to honor JD and other Tipton Alumni veterans. It was an amazing Veteran's Day assembly in Tipton, as everything they do is. It was a sad, proud, exhausting November.
This December, Malia will play Mary at her preschool Christmas program. We find this really neat because Makai was chosen to play Joseph last year at the same preschool.
We have been to see Santa and given him our lists. The kids say he is the real Santa because his boots are real, not those black pleather shin guards that slip over your shoes to look like boots. Real boots = real Santa in our house. Malia has asked for a Barbie Rapunzel tower and other Barbies and Makai has asked for Harry Potter legos, a golden snitch (from Harry Potter) and a Power Wing scooter (scooter with a place for each foot instead of just one).
We've become quite a patriotic family (well, I have, and I drag everyone along with me). Now a proud member myself of the Patriot Guard Riders, I will never again take for granted the sacrifices our American heroes make for us. JD gave us so many gifts. One especially wonderful gift he has given to me is the pride and appreciation of living in a country he died defending.I decided to go a little less traditional for Christmas this year. Never losing sight of the reason for the season, I wanted to celebrate the Lord's birthday by thanking Him for setting an example of sacrifice that so many of His children have followed. Mitch gladly played along and helped me deck our halls with red, white and blue. We were proud to see a "Best Theme" sign in our yard yesterday from our neighborhood association. How wonderful that the Lord has spread His spirit of sacrifice to so many.
Please pray for healing for our son, Makai. He had a prolonged sickness that we could not figure out and we recently confirmed that it is mono. This is a long, draining virus, and he has had some really rough days with it so far. We want him to feel better soon and enjoy Christmas.Here's to a less exhausting, healing new year. May the Lord continue work miracles of healing. May He look after my brother in heaven. May He continue to bless our family and yours.
