Happy Birthday Taylor!!!!

Wow… Yesterday was just awesome!  What a great day.  God is so good.  Thank you to all who said a prayer for us!  I definitely felt “…the peace of God, which passes all understanding…” (Philippians 4:7) yesterday as we celebrated the birthday of my baby brother, Taylor Ryan Carr, who passed away on September 20, 2012.  He would have been having a blast if he was there with us!  

Not only did God give us a beautiful day with sunshine and a warmer temperature, but he gave us tons of family and friends to surround ourselves with to remember the life of someone we all loved very much!!  

There were about 70 people in our group, TEAM T.CARR!!  We started the day off participating in the COLOR DASH!!!!  It’s a 5k race where you wear as much white as possible because throughout the run at different points you get different colors of powder paint thrown at you!!  It was way fun!  

 Everyone in our little family was there to celebrate.  We had Audrey and Hannah in the stroller and whenever we came to a point where we would get hit with color, we just threw a white sheet over the top of them.  Roen was having a great time!  He walked most of the way, only needing a piggy back or shoulder ride occasionally.  Audrey got out of the stroller and thought she would run for a little bit like everyone else.  I think she thought she was running reeeally fast, too! ;]  Hannah got sick of sitting, so she was carried for the last mile of the race.  

At one point we passed by the cemetery, right near Taylor’s resting place.  So we all made plans in advance to meet there.  My dad said a prayer and then all the children released birthday balloons into the air!  This was attached to the balloons!  I hope someone finds one someday, somewhere and lets my family know!  That would be so cool!

Everyone was having such a great time, laughing, playing, and throwing paint at each other!  What an awesome way to spend the day!  At one point I was looking down to put my number sticker on me.  Just as I bent down, Derek threw a big handful of paint at me and I got it right in the face, and in my mouth!!!! Mmmm, sure was tasty! :P

After the race, we all headed to the park where we would have some food and share some great memories!  Dad and Loretta invited the woman who did Grandma Cleo’s funeral to share with us.  She showed some illustrations about loss which I thought were very fitting.  She laid three large terra cotta pots on a few tables and then asked people to smash them with a hammer, signifying how we feel broken after the death of a loved one.  Then she handed out rolls of duct tape and told us to put them back together.  It takes a lot of time, a lot of patience, and a lot of help.  Also, when you put it back together, it’s never the same as it was in the beginning.  I was very thankful that she shared that we can only find real peace and healing through God!!  Amen!!

My dad shared some really great memories.  It was so much fun to hear these stories, some of them for the first time.  He thought he was up there boring everyone, but I could have listened all day!  

I shared a song that I had written months ago about my brother.  It’s called “Taylor” and it’s to the tune of the Taylor Swift song, “Ronan,” about a little boy who died of cancer.  I did it without background music.  I originally wanted to sing it right there for everyone, but even  the thought of it would bring me to tears.  The first time I sang it for Derek I couldn’t even get through it.  So we recorded it onto a CD and played it.  I was pretty embarrassed because I don’t like hearing my voice recorded, and I haven’t sang solo in front of a crowd since I was in 5^th grade.  The thought of singing in front of anyone but my little family is a big fear of mine!  Also, I had to make a disclaimer that I DO NOT by any means think I am a wonderful singer!!!!  This was just a special way for me to express some very deep feelings that I needed to get out.  

We all ate cake and ice cream and then released some more balloons.  The table tops were decorated with little flower pots, painted white with a picture of Taylor on the front.  Everyone got to take one home.  Roen and Audrey each got one with a photo of them with Taylor.  Hannah got one too, a photo of Taylor being silly.  Sadly, there will never be any photos of Taylor and Hannah together as she was born 4 days after he passed away.  

I’m just so thankful to God that this turned out to be such a wonderful day.  I’m so thankful for the peace that He alone has given me in light of a very, very awful life experience.  I’m so thankful that He carries me when the days are too hard.  I’m thankful that He gives healing to broken hearts.  I’m thankful that Dad and Loretta are looking to Christ for their comfort and for their salvation.  It’s amazing to see good come out of something so bad.  I praise God for it all.  

Now… enjoy these awesome photos, and go hug your little brother, if you have one!!!!! :-D