Gail

...she knew me better than i knew myself...she softened my heart...wiped my tears...listened to every detail i was willing to share...accepted me always where i was...was my number one fan at all sporting events...made me laugh harder than anyone...was one of the silliest people i knew...she instilled confidence...taught me to love ALL no matter the baggage...read every single novel aloud to me in high school...played endlessly with all of us...typed every paper i was ever assigned...was the softest place to land...forgave every wrong i ever did or said...rubbed my forehead as i went to sleep...held my hand when i needed it the most...celebrated all holidays to the fullest...her tolerance goes unmatched...she loved my mike like me...she sang...she danced...she prayed...her unconditional love for my father still occupies #1 on my most admirable list...she taught me to forgive and worry...cleaned every dirty anything the best...laughed so hard she wet her pants...she had at least 100 phrases that are still being used and credited as "Mom's" today...she was so proud of her children...absolutely loved being a grandmother...and my list goes on. most of all though, there was not a single moment of my life that i did not know of her love for me.

"So faith, hope, love abide, these three:

but the greatest of these is love."

~Corinthians 13:13

i miss you, mom.

january 17, 2006

NINE years ago today...

Photo by: David Leaser

Happy 9th Birdthday Cole!

You know what they say about the 3rd time, right?
Third time is a CHARM.
If you look up the meaning of the word charm, you will find this:
"the power of pleasing or attracting, as through personality or beauty"
Without a doubt this absolutely describes Cole to a T.

We are so thankful first and foremost to God for the gift of his life. We thank God, family, friends, and even so many we never met for sustaining us during his beginning days. Without the power of their prayers and a God who answers them, we know that Cole would not be with us today. And, we also know, especially now, that our lives would be "zest-less" without him...for in this boyhouse...

Cole IS the exclamation mark!

six years ago today....

almost seven years ago mike and i learned i was NOT in menopause. way to much information already i know, but truly an amusing, typical pfaff story. you see, i'd never had a hot flash in my LIFE. and, my mother went through "the change" in her forties...so naturally (thinking that must be hereditary), when my first ever hot flash flushed through my body...i knew. i knew several things actually. one: i was done. two: i was willing to do anything to be done with hot flashes. in one of my trillion "medical" calls to kar, she advised me perfectly. she doubted my own diagnosis ever so slightly because of my age, but honestly, was with me. before we hung up, she flippantly added, "hey kim, the first thing they will ask is if you have done a test." i cut her off adamantly telling her that there was no way i was pregnant. as always she listened, and then finished...do one first so you can say, "i've done a test and it was negative." i complied. plus, kim doesn't turn tests positive. with tod we spent a weeks worth of groceries on those tests...negative. same with craig, and cole. so that morning, i did what i had done so many times before, knowing the results already. all i can say is IF my reaction could have been caught on camera, mike and i would have won funniest home videos...except it would have been in a really sad kinda way. you see, that little test was GLOWING...like lights on a Christmas tree. a first. i knew something else that morning. God was laughing his butt off! He was cracking Himself right up while crumbling my OCD, well thought out, well organized, "plans" for the way our lives were gonna go. i was on my own road...and He threw me right back to Him. it was the only place for me..in those next seconds as i tried to find air...and it was the only place for us in the next 8 weeks of almost silence disbelief...as we tried to make sense of it all. shock is really an understatement. tod almost fell off the chair at the dinner table when we told him...and if we had THAT reaction on video we would be another 10K richer. His disgusted response was: "Do you have ANY idea how OLD I AM?" i still laugh...at 15 you DO think it's all about you...and he was a little slow with his math. He hadn't calculated that his parents would be almost SIXTY when the little tyke graduated from high school!

God had plans for us...this we knew because the Bible tells us so...but we didn't know, if you know what i mean. our fourth blessing would change all of us. first, telling family and friends. amazing response. perhaps because they felt such sympathy for my crying self...OR they were truly afraid of my mental state and went the LIVE STRONG route. either way, it worked. the support and prayers we received from family and friends was absolutely essential and life changing. dr. neal was next. without a doubt he would laugh right along with God. dr. neal loved, and continues to love, giving us a hard time. i started off our appointment with refusals. old age requires certain things that i refused to do...like stick needles through belly buttons...no, no, no. not then, not ever. thankfully, preganancies were all easy for the most part. i always had too much fluid and measured like i was having triplets but other than that they were, thank you God, easy. mike decided early on that he would have his way, finally, in not finding out the sex of the baby. so at each sonogram, which were plentiful due to the fluid issue, we had to explain that we did NOT want to know a thing. dr. neal did write what sex he thought i was carrying on a sheet of paper that he kept in my file...later gave to us...and we kept it hid in the drawer of our bedroom. if i remember correctly, i believe my sister-in-laws looked and knew but that's it. every single delivery nurse on the floor was in our room that morning as we got close to delivery...all because we were OLD, having our FOURTH, and didn't know the sex...

reed and dr. neal

it was the 4th of january, 4th induction, 4th birth...and our 4th son!

birth is one of the holiest of events...a time we truly felt God's powerful presence. the hospital stay was one of the best. the bonding between tod, craig, cole, and baby reed is a memory forever etched on this momma's heart. i remember tod begging us to call him in sick to Jesuit so he could stay with me at the hospital while mike was at work. All three of the boys were such a big help when we came home.

six years later...

Happy 6th Birthday Reeder Joe!

January

Happy New Year!

So much has occurred since the last post, and I, as always, did a horrible job of catching those moments on camera. Partly because the flash on the wonderful camera that was gifted to us a few years back by Dad decided to not work! Lame excuse, I know. Christmas vacation, for the Mustangs in the family, was fast and way too short...8 days! It was, however, a great time with family. We worshipped, baked, sang, ate, opened gifts, and slept in! Our Christmas Eve service was absolutely PERFECT. Cole played the part of Joseph, and Reed played the part of the angel Gabriel. They both were perfectly cast. During rehersal, Reed did, though, give us a little scare...while taking a quick restroom break he told Dad he had to hurry back to the manger scene. When Mike asked why, he told him, "I've got to tell Mary, "You're CUUUUTTTEE."" Yikes. Thankfully he chose not to share. :) We do have it on video...and I will get that loaded sometime. I just need to learn how.

January is filled with celebration for the Pfaff pfamily. We have 10 birthdays (+ 4 friends birthdays), 2 Happy Heaven Days, and one anniversary! Milestones this year...Tod will turn 21 in March, and Craig-o will be SWEET 16!! We have so much to be thankful for.

I vow to be better in 2011...with everything.

Tradition....

View from the road.

The house for the weekend.

Rental car license plate....

Let the drinking, and other things, begin....

Pfaff's CA home

6men total...but 4 brothers....

the beach...

This picture brought tears to my eyes...I will never forget the day that Tod held Eric for the first time seventeen years ago. He was three.

Best friends...even today.

Heaven on earth...to the pfaff want-a-bes.

Pre-game

Paul and Eric

like father, like son

The group of older men (aka US pfaffs) in the above pictures are the most loyal WANT-A-BE s I have ever met. Their blood runs blue and yellow, and, ironically, they are all bear-like... some teddy, some grizzly. If the clock could be wound back, ALL would, entrance willing, attend UCLA. You see, it all began in the mid to late 50's when Dad attended, rode CREW for, and graduated from UCLA. Little did he know, that years later his own children, none of which carried on the Bruin attendance tradition, would be celebrating, supporting, watching, gathering, and attending as many UCLA events as time and money will allow. This passion and love has been passed down to the wives, children, and even the families of the THEMS. Fifteen years ago they began a tradition of attending one UCLA football game together. Then children were born, and rules had to be made... (grizzly bears). It was decided that children must be 16 years old to attend this annual event. And, considering the activities involved, it's probably a good thing. Don't want to frighten those precious Children of God too early.

This year marked the

third trip to the Rose Bowl,

second year to see a UCLA vs. usc game, and the

first year for Eric and Tod attending together.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

What a fantastic day we had today! It was a first for four of us. Mike, Cole, Reed, and I went out to Kadee Trees in Greenville, Tx...about 80 miles from Dallas...to pick out, cut, and haul home our first real Christmas tree. Since Tod's birth, and his poor family genes of allergies and asthma, we have not ever ventured out to buy REAL. This year I decided to take the question to the expert, Dr. Wasserman. Dr. Wasserman is a pediatric allergist/immunologist who has seen Tod since he was 3, and Craig, Cole, and Reed since birth! Absolutely the most amazing doctor in Dallas! In fact, he has been ranked one of the best in the Dallas for many years. I emailed him last week regarding Tod's moldy apartment and his lung's response to the mold (that he is allergic to) and decided to throw in the REAL Christmas tree question. Well, I learned from him that cutting a tree down FRESH eliminates mold issues! So, off to Kadee farms we go! We rode out to the acres and acres of trees in a hay wagon carrying a saw! What a job! I fell in LOVE with so many. The ONE was 10 feet...so onward we searched. An hour later, we found the second ONE. Mike, Cole, and Reed helped cut it down. The guys at Kadee then take your tree to a vibrating machine to shake all the dead pines to the ground. It is then measured (8 feet!) and shoved, and boy do I mean shoved, through this hexagon looking deal to be bound up tightly! Mike then carried it to the big GREEN MACHINE...and for the first time, our GREEN MACHINE carried home our first REAL Christmas tree.

Oh, and where were Craig and Tod? Craig was on the couch, and Tod was sound asleep after having spent BLACK FRIDAY shopping with Gemina and Kharis from 2:30 AM until noon.

edward....but more importantly, God

Edward....amazing. For those of you who don't know me well, I don't read. I remember in high school my mom bribing me with money for each book I read. It worked. I read 8 that summer. Since then? Nothin'. Until this past summer. Teaching eleven year olds was the beginning of my exposure to the Twilight Series. Then, it was the talk at work. Anticipation of upcoming movies...werewolves, vampires...PLEASE. Nothing I would EVER read. Never. My mother always taught me...never say never. Brittney talked me into just trying Twilight. So, I caved and began...and oh my, I am still grieving that there is not YET another book. Due to the lack of reading over the years which caused the lack of vocabulary growth as a student/and now adult, I can't even effectively put into words what Edward provokes in this reader. His protection, love, and desire for Bella goes unmatched. After finishing these novels, the relationship that Stephanie Meyer so brilliantly created caused me to evaluate the most important relationship in my life~my relationship with God. And, I wonder, if that is not just the way that God feels about us and our hearts? No matter where we are in this life...He's there...quietly awaiting our desire to reach out to Him. He desires to have all of our hearts. He wants nothing more than to pull us closer to Him....deep within his protective arms....promises of everlasting love and life.