Merrill and Roberta Simon and Family

Malachi Isaiah-Jacob Simon 10-22-90 to 07-29-97 How does a family ever really have to say goodbye to a child? How do they watch the suffering from something as painful as liver cancer? How do they move on from that place in their lives, the place that hurts so deep in places you never knew you could hurt? I am not really sure, but I know that God plays a huge part in that painful recovery. We loved Malachi more than life itself. He was a part of what made Me Roberta. When he died a part of me died also. Today we celebrate his life. We celebrate that in his passing, we have indeed become a stronger family. We enjoy his memory and all that he brought to this family. We find joy that his siblings that never really knew him, now know him. We take great pride that he chose us to be his family and allowed us to help him though his toughest days. He taught us to be strong and to cling to the fact that one day we will see him again. Yes, he was ripped from us at such a young age, but his l...

This is a very busy day for us as a family. It is always a day of happiness and a day that requires reflection. If you have been following our blog for any length of time, you already know about today. This is Jesse's birthday. This year he is now a 20 year old. He is out making new friends at Wild Island. I know that he is having the time of his life. We love to go to Wild Island, but is is a rather costly outing so we do not get to do it all that often. Jesse will have his birthday party once Jericho gets out of the hospital. July 10 is also Sandy's birthday. She was my daddy's wife for nearly 20 years before he died almost two years ago. I need to remember to go and send her an e-card. But the biggest thing for me is that July 10, 23 years ago, my mama died. It is hard to believe that mama has been gone so very long. I think about her often. I miss her really badly sometimes. She was the strongest person that I have ever met in my entire life. She had a strong belief and...

We have been through a lot this past week. Merrill and I took the children to family camp. It is a beautiful place way out in the middle of nowhere, NV. It is called Cowboys Rest. You can google it :o) Anyway, Jericho got really sick. I mean the poor little guy was so sick we took him to ER in Elko. As luck would have it, he was still very sick. So when we got home, we had him directly admitted to Carson Tahoe. I was thinking we were finally on the right trail here. Nope. They had him transferred to Reno's Renown. Here were are, Thursday, and he has had a ton of procedures and then today he finally had a double surgery. He had a fundoplication and a g-button put in. All in all he is doing well. Now, why are we blessed. To be honest, no matter what I write, I will forget someone or something, so I ask in advance for forgiveness. We are blessed because so many people stand by our family and believe in our family. While we were gone, Shelley took on the task of putting tile in our dow...

Yes, that is what Merrill called yesterday, Our "Baskin Robbins Anniversary" We celebrated our 31st anniversary. It is hard to believe that we have been married that long. Our life together has sure been filled with ups and downs, but we have always been committed to each other and I can say that our love for each other has never wavered. It has grown and matured, just like the two of us. It is fun to reflect on our life together. Where we have been, where we are and where we hope to go. I honestly feel that our life together has been nothing short of amazing. I loved the fact that we have been really rather stable as far as a couple. We have lived in this very house for nearly 20 years. It is a wonderful feeling for us that all of our children have lived in this home. It is really our roots that we have given to them. It is our hope and our dream that this will always be their home, the place they remember and the place they love to come back to with their families. Yesterd...