Monday's Heroes

I am sorry but this will a blog without a picture. I don't have any of this weeks heroes.

A couple of years after we moved into our house in Ephraim, a wonderful family by the name of Kilts moved in next door. They have to be hands down the best next door neighbors we have ever had in our whole lives. We all bonded with Katie immediately and in truth our families just became extensions of each other - even though Jeff and Katie's oldest was 6 and our girls were all teenagers at the time. Katie and Jeff had 3 boys when they moved next door, Joshua, Zack and Sam. Sam is the one that became the closest to our family. He just wandered in whenever he felt like. We all loved having Sam around. I think all of the girls had baths interrupted by Sam (he would just come in and sit and visit with them - he was 2 & 3-years-old by the way). Heather worked the night shift at a nursing home and if no one was home, Sam would open her door and wake her up, trying to get her play with him. The thing is that Heather is not the person to awaken. But with Sam, she was always sweet - even if he woke her up. A couple of times I went up there and he was in bed with her, asleep.

Sam would quickly get dressed on Sunday mornings and then come over to our house before Church. He would play with our toys while we were getting dressed. The first couple of times he did this - we were not even aware he was there. Katie called to see if we knew where he was because she couldn't find him at home. He just came in, found the toys in the hallway and sat down to play. After that it just pretty much became his habit.

One weekend, Jeff and Katie were gone. Our daughters were spending the night at the Kilts home. About 4:00 in the morning Sam came over and woke me up. He told me there were strange people in his Mom's bed and asked if he could get in bed with me. I could blog about Sam for hours. But tomorrow is Jacob's birthday. I think he will be 11. It just seems unbelievable to me that he is that old. We were so excited to have him become part of our extended family. Jacob is my special one. I have pictures of Sam and Jacob up still from just after we moved here. That has been almost 7 years but they are my special boys and always will be.

Finally in June of 2002 Emilianne was born and that made the Kilts family complete. We were all thrilled. I miss the Kilts. Since we have left Ephraim, they have left too. As life happens we lose track of each other. But these unbelievable people will always be my heroes. They made a big difference in our lives when we needed them. They have been a true blessing to each of us.