Happy 2nd Birthday Eva Grace!!!

Happy birthday Eva Grace!  I cannot believe my little girl is 2.  Time surely does fly.  I remember like yesterday the moment I saw her for the very first time.  Rob brought her over to me and it was so surreal to finally have her here.  She is so much fun.  She’s talking up a storm and it cracks me up with the things she says.  She’s definitely growing into her own personality.  It’s also hard to believe that another year has started.  2009 seemed to go by so fast.  I had a good time at a friend’s annual New Year’s Eve party.  This year it was a 70’s theme and the costumes were hilarious!  January 24th we added a new member to our family.  My brother, Aaron, and his wife, Shelly, welcomed a baby boy Cole Robert.  He is an absolute doll and his big sister, Megan, is very proud! :)  Of course my girls couldn't wait to see him and Eva wanted to hold him all the time.  She's such a good helper! :)  The end of December a reporter from The Washington Post flew up and wrote an article about me and this blog.  I didn’t expect for the story to be so huge.  Before I knew it, the story was in different newspapers all over the country!  It was even in the Stars and Stripes newspaper which is a military paper.  A classmate from highschool is in Iraq and saw it on the front page.  He mailed home at least 20 copies for me to hand out to family and friends.  J  I also have been contacted by the BBC in London and have done 3 live TV interviews with them over the phone and other news stations around the country.  I’m not quite sure how this blog became so huge.  However, I do know that it makes me extremely proud to have as many followers as I do.  Although there are some “anti-war/soldier/Americans” still in America, this proves to me how many Americans (and even those in different countries) truly love America and support our troops.  I have no doubt that Rob lost his life for a good cause (and he also believed in the cause) but also knowing how many Americans truly support our troops, helps make this more bearable.  And the support I have received from this blog over the past 16 months since Rob’s injury and subsequent death, has kept me moving forward.  The support has been phenomenal.  God has blessed me over and over.  I truly pray that my blog has reached someone in a similar situation and has helped them.  In the beginning, my intentions for the blog were to show Rob how much he improved and to share this story with our girls someday.  But now, seeing how many people are interested in my story, I hope to bring comfort and hope to others.