Cade Walker Carpenter

Wednesday night, our best friends, The Carpenter's , lost their 4 year old son, Cade unexpectedly.  This was a huge shock to all and has left everyone stunned and just devastated.  

The Carpenter's are some of our best friends and Cade and Gavin have been best buds for years.  We are heartbroken over losing Cade and are filled with sadness for Susie and Darrell.  We hate that this has happened to them.  We're sad that we're not there with them during this time.  It breaks my heart to know that I'm not there to help comfort, hug, or love on my best friend.  I'm just sad.  We all are.  

Last week before we left, I decided to take one last trip to Houston to visit The Carpenter family before heading back to Saudi.  I wanted to let Gavin have another chance to play with Cade and hang out before we left for a few months.  I keep thinking how grateful I am that we made it work and fit with our schedules because I will cherish that time forever.  Even though it was a short visit, and we were only together a few hours, there are tons of memories that we can hold on to.  

I don't have the words yet to express the heart ache we are experiencing.  

I keep trying to focus on the things that we will remember about Cade and the memories we have of him.  

Gavin loved Cade.  He was his best friend.  Gavin looked up to Cade.  Anything Cade did, Gavin wanted to do.  It's because of Cade that Gavin stopped sitting in a high chair at restaurants, started wearing his crocs without straps, enjoyed wearing sunglasses outside, likes to play with tools, isn't afraid of playground equipment, wants to wear Superman and Batman t-shirts, likes to wrestle, will sit in timeout without getting up from his spot, would stop crying when we dropped him off at the babysitter's house, always wants BIG toy trucks, willingly wore his Halloween costume, was Buzz for Halloween, started liking Woody (from Toy Story), prefers lace up tennis shoes instead of velcro ones, wants to brush his teeth, needs a gummy vitamin everyday, isn't scared of remote control toy cars, and decided he'd rather pee standing up then sitting down.  These are just a few of the many things that Gavin has watched Cade do or did with Cade and decided he wanted to be like him.  

Gavin also got his love for trains from Cade.  Cade got a train table a few years ago and every time we went to Cade's house, Gavin always wanted to play trains with him.  Even last week when we visited, Gavin was playing on that train table.  He loved it and he loved pushing the trains around the track with Cade.  They would race each others trains, they'd trade trains together, and you could always hear them laughing when their trains would crash into each other.  

These are just a few of the things we'll keep tucked in our hearts and will share with Gavin as he gets older.  We're grateful for the friendship these two boys had together and we will forever remember Cade and Gavin's time together as best buds.  

One of the things I will remember the most about Cade was how much he liked to smile.  The kid LOVED life.  He was always happy, always smiling, always loving those around him.  Cade cared about other's feelings.  He was always quick to apologize, or make sure you were okay if something happened.  Very sweet.  Very loving.  Very special!

Please keep Susie and Darrell and their family in your prayers.  This is such a difficult time for everyone.  We're believing that the Lord will provide them everything they need to get through this time.

Here are a few pictures of Cade and Gavin that I LOVE!  They always had fun together no matter what they were doing.  I posted all the pics I had of the two boys together on Facebook, too.