B.J. was forever coming up with something to make us laugh. This time it was fighting with Marvin the Martian over his hat!
When B.J. was around 14 or 15 years old he was going to show us he could jump rope. You have to understand that because of all the health problems he had he use to not be able to get both feet off of the floor at the same time so to be able to jump rope was a big achievement. Well, he jumped and caught both of his feet with the rope and fell flat on his face! After we knew he was alright we laughed long and hard. We never did let him live that one down. It was just too funny!
B.J. got an early start singing specials at church from the time he was probably 6 years old. It paid off and when he turned 14 years old he joined the Praise and Worship Leadership and sang on the platform until he went to Heaven at the age of 19 1/2 years old. He absolutely loved to sing and he used his talent to worship the Lord.
These pictures were taken in March and May of 1999. B.J. had been in the hospital two different times for surgeries. Just look at the smile on my Buddy's face! B.J. was always so pleasant.
Just a few days before B.J. turned 15 years old he had to start having peritoneal dialysis. His nurse that was in charge of training him and his care was a Porto Rican lady name Carmen. Her English was fine but she didn't always know the right way to say things. One time she was talking about something (I can't remember what) and she said "White people do do that". Well B.J. and his cousin Daniel just lost it! They thought that was so funny! I kept trying to get them to stop but they just kept right on repeating it over and over...white people dodo that...white people dodo that and laughing like they didn't have good sense! Carmen could only shake her head and roll her eyes. I don't think she ever did figure out what they thought was so funny. Anyway, I was taking pictures and B.J. told me to take one of him in the bathroom cause "White people dodo that"! That crazy boy of mine, as you can see he went in the bathroom and poised by the toilet! B.J. was still with us for another 4 1/2 years and he would still out of the blue sometimes say in response to something that was said..."White people dodo that"! He's been gone for almost 5 years now and I can remember many times sinse he's been gone that someone in our family will right out of the blue say..."White people dodo that"! Oh that boy, what a memory to leave us! LOL
It didn't matter what difficulties life dealt B.J. he always kept a smile on his face and joy in his heart. These picture were taken on or around his 15th birthday that he spent in the hospital. That's just the way our son was. Give him Lemons and he would make that Lemonade and share it!
B.J. got a raft of his 15th birthday when he was in the hospital in Austin after having his surgery to start dialysis. His cousin Daniel was staying in the hospital with him and they decided to blow the raft up in his hospital room so they could set in it and pretend they were on the river. Those crazy boys! The nurses didn't say anything about it other than they thought it was funny. They figured it made B.J. feel better so they just let him do it.
B.J. did like Garfield but the reason I chose Garfield is because B.J. loved to sleep when he was young. I guess we all have a little bit of Garfield in us. The picture of him here he isn't really sleeping. If you look close you can see he has his fingers up his nose. He was always so silly!
When B.J. was in the hospital at the end of his Freshman year two of his friends Frank and Johnnie made him a necklace in school. It had his name on it and sports beads. It wasn't so much what teenage boys would wear but because his friends made it for him...B.J. wore it. I've always been so proud of him!
B.J. loved LEGOS when he was little.
Well...he loved playing with them all his life.
In March '00 B.J. got his first car. It was a little white Nissan Sentra. It's funny cause he didn't have his Drivers Lic. yet so he didn't even get to drive it. That was ok with Mom and Dad because we were a little (alright a lot) worried about him driving in case he had seizures again. Thank the Lord he never did! He was more than happy when he got his Lic. and got to start driving. Then it was watch out world here comes Mr.Cool! Not long after he got his drivers lic. he went out driving by himself and in a little while he called home and needed us to come help him get his car unstuck. When we got to him we found he had driven his car behind the Elementary School and bottomed out and couldn't get it unstuck. He said he was just driving around back there to see what all there was to see. The crazy boy...he decided that wasn't the place to take his little car!
Since B.J. had kidney trouble there was no way he could ever join any of the armed services but he, like most young boys had his dreams of serving his country. Well one day he got this little coupon deal that you could send off and get some kind of free medallion from the army and he wanted one. So he sent it off and was happy when it came in. Well by doing that they had his name and address and guess who showed up on our door step to visit with him? You got it...an army recruiter! It was too funny! When the guy asked to talk with B.J. here he came out on our front porch hooked up to his dialysis exchange bags. For anyone that doesn't know what peritoneal dialysis is like...it has two bags...you connect the hose to the outlet hose on your abdomen and drain the old solution out (it's yellow and looks just like...well you know what your kidney's produce) and then you put the new solution in. So here goes B.J. connected to his bags out on the porch carrying the good solution that he's in the process of putting in him and dragging along his pee bag! You should have seen the look on that recruiters face! He asked B.J. what it was and he told him! He told B.J., I'm sorry but with you having kidney trouble we can't let you join the army. B.J. told him I know...I just wanted the free medallion! He came back in the house just grinning. He thought that was just too much fun! He definitely had a sense of humor all things considered. He never did get to join the army but he was always a soilder in the Lord's army and a good one too!
B.J. was hilarious when he would get on his knees and pretend to be a midget. He just kept us rolling all the time. He even got his little sister Sarah to join in the fun with him often. That boy of ours was an absolute nut and we loved him just the way he was.
B.J. had brittle bones because of all the health problems he had so he wasn't suppose to do anything that might cause him an injury. Riding a bike is one of the things he "was not" suppose to do as for as his doctors were concerned. But...we let him anyway because we wanted him to have as normal a life as possible. We did want him to be careful but we were not going to take his childhood away from him. Well, one day he came in the house and he was scratched up all over his body! That goofy kid had been riding his bike and pulling his little sister Kayla on an old race cart they had. They had been in the road but when he pulled into the yard her cart hit the sidewalk and came to an abrupt stop. Well the only place for B.J. to go was over the handle bars of his bike and into my rose bush! Like I said the poor kids was scrated up all over. Now you would think that that happening one time would be enough for anybody right? Not B.J. he ended up doing the very same thing again later! Oh that boy of ours, he sure did enjoy living!
As I've already said, B.J. kept us laughing all the time. He was always coming up with silly things and so many times we would tell him to stop cause we were already laughing so much. One of those many times he made the comment...Just call me Butter I'm on a Roll! Needless to say it just made us laugh more and from that point on I called him "Butter" often.
B.J. drew this funny little guy for his Dad when he was a teenager. His Dad has kept it and now it is framed and on display for all to see it when they are in our home.
That silly boy of ours. Sometimes we would leave him in charge of taking "care" of his two little sisters Kayla and Sarah. More than once he would talk Sarah into letting him and Kayla tie her up in a little chair of hers and tie her to a post that was in her room. Then he would tell her if she told on them he would do it again next time. She always told, he always got in trouble, and he always did it again! The nut!
B.J.'s cousin Daniel did a finger painting of B.J. He used the little picture that is seen here with it. I think he did a great job. B.J. loved it and kept it hanging on his wall. I've since framed it and will keep it always.
In July of 2000 the Make A Wish foundation gave B.J. his wish to go to King Mountain Ranch in Granby Colorado. Our whole family went for a week and his favorite cousin Daniel got to go with us. He got to be a cowboy for a week. They treated him like a king and he loved it!
When B.J. was probably 16 years old he called me into his bedroom one night and told me to listen what was being talked about on the radio. It was my daughter Amanda (B.J.'s older sister) age 17 and her boyfriend having a conversation. He said Mom I thought at first they were on the phone with the radio station for some kind of talk show but they aren't. For some reason their conversation is just coming over the radio. It was too funny, I told Amanda she better get off of the phone because B.J. was listening to everything they said and wouldn't it be terrible if others were hearing it too? It was funny because B.J. listened for 10 or 15 minutes before he said anything. I always told him I had to wonder if it was (brother watching out for sister) or (little brother hoping to find something to blackmail big sister with). All he would ever do is grin and say he didn't do anything wrong.
Those crazy cousins! Our girls talked B.J. and Daniel into dressing up and letting them take pictures. They took turns being the man and woman. We lost the film and never got the pictures developed until after B.J. went to Heaven so he never got to see them. I can just imagine what he must be thinking of his Mama putting these on here for everybody to see! Knowing B.J. he's just still laughing!
B.J. made this throw pillow when he was a Sophomore in High School. He was in a Home Ec. class and had to make something so this is what he decided on. I've slept with it ever since he's been gone.
B.J.'s Dad and I bought B.J. an Uncle Henry pocket knife when he was 16 years old. It was the first nice knife he ever owned. The summer after he got it he was out with the boys from our church on a fishing trip. While they were there some of the boys started chasing armadillos and trying to catch them by throwing a towel on them. While they were there they saw a deer close by and B.J. started chasing it. That silly boy of ours knew he couldn't run fast enough to throw his towel over the deer so he threw his knife at it. Needless to say the deer got away and B.J.'s knife was lost and gone forever. We never let him live that one down. So the moral of the story is...never go deer hunting with a pocket knife...it doesn't work so well.
I remember one time we went camping and B.J.'s cousin Daniel went with us. They decided they were big boys and were going to get their own camp site off a little ways from ours. They got everything set up and were having a good time when all of a sudden they heard some kind of cat make an awful noise. They came running to tell us and were saying it was a bob cat. Daniel was scared and B.J. was trying really hard to show us he wasn't scared at all. Daniel wanted to move their tent to our camp site but B.J. didn't want to. They finally moved it a little closer and I think both of them were glad but B.J. kept saying he didn't want to. We always laughed at them and would tell them all they heard was a house cat but they kept insisting it was a big cat of some kind. We never did let them live that one down.
B.J. and his Dad love TAZ! And one of B.J.'s favorite saying was Wazzup?!!
For the longest B.J. wanted one of those talking fish. We finally got him one and he loved it. He liked to move it from one place to another so it would catch people off gaurd and scare them when it started talking.
When we would have corndogs for a meal I would always ask B.J. how many he wanted. He would always tell me he wanted one. I would then tell him that one wasn't enough so he would say he wanted three. Then I would tell him that three was too many. By that time he would be frustrated and say if you're going to fix me two anyway why do you ask me everytime? LOL I would always laugh at him and tell him I was "trying" to teach him something and he just wasn't learning. We did this every time we had corndogs and it became something that was just expected to happen and it did!
One evening B.J. and his friend Henry were out riding bikes and he came home and brought me this really pretty flower called a periwinkle. He told me he found it and pulled it up by the roots so I could plant it and let it grow. It didn't have a bit of dirt left on the roots. I asked him if he stole it from someones flower bed and he said no...it had been growing out of a crack between the sidewalk and the street. I said B.J. it's not going to live because you pulled it up and didn't leave the dirt on the roots so it's going to shock it and it'll die. He just said oh Ma...you can get it to live. Well I planted it in a little flower pot and it lived! It made a good size plant and bloomed lots and lots of blooms. He just said...I knew you could make it grow. I loved that plant, and I love my Buddy that gave it to me.
Remember I started calling B.J. "Butter"? Well one night I told him good night "Butter" and he said night "Syrup" It caught me by surprise but I loved it! From that time on it was how we said good night every night. We were like "Syrup" and "Butter", we were just meant to go together!
The Youth from our Church was always making Peanut Brittle for a fundraiser. B.J. was always there to help. It's never quiet the same now with him not there.
The biggest picture here was taken in Feb.'03 after B.J. graduated from High School in May of '02. The other pictures are some of his Senior pictures. I think my Buddy was so handsome!
B.J. had 3 friends that he counted as his best. One was his cousin Daniel. Then there was Henry and Poncho. But I can't leave out his little sister Kayla. Her and B.J. were more than just brother and sister...they were very close friends as well that did almost everything together.
What a special young man our B.J. is. We miss him more with each day that passes. Oh what a day it will be when we get to spend forever with him!
B.J. had to work extra hard to get through school. He missed so many days and had so many health problems to work around. But... OUR BUDDY DID IT AND WE WERE AND STILL ARE SO VERY PROUD OF HIM!
It was so funny, B.J.'s Dad threw a tennis ball at B.J. just after he got his diploma and was coming off of the football field. B.J. just smiled and kept right on walking like nothing happened. He didn't go back for the ball until after everything was over.
B.J. use to help me with children's church at our church and I made him and my other kids stick horses to ride. B.J.'s was made out of a mop and he named it Prince. Several years later he was helping someone else with children's church and out came Prince for him to ride. He was 18 years old at the time! LOL Well I think it could only happen to B.J. That mop horse bucked him off and hurt his leg! Actually he tripped himself while prancing around on Prince. Anyway we picked on him all the time telling him that he was the only person we have ever known that had gotten bucked off of a stick horse! As usual he took it in stride. Poor B.J., it took going to Heaven to get his leg healed because it never did heal here during the year and a half that he was still here.
Just more pictures of our wonderful son...
One time I made this silly horse head to use in children's church. Two people got under a light blue sheet and one person held the head while the other one was the tail. One time B.J. and his little sister got under it and went walking down the sidewalk down our street. All the football boys were outside practicing and lots of people drove by. It was so funny watching them. I stood out in the yard and laughed at them. It was so fun!
About a year before B.J. went to Heaven he was up in our attic helping his Dad do some work. Well, his Dad lost his footing and fell through the ceiling in our bedroom and was caught hanging there. When it happened B.J. threw down the hammer he was using and hurried and made his way to his Dad to help him before he ended up dropping the rest of the way through and getting hurt even more. All things said and done the hammer was forgotten about but there were times later that his Dad wondered where his hammer was. About 2 years after B.J. went to Heaven Bobby was back up in the attic and found his hammer. Oh the special memories that came flooding back of a Father and Son working together and of a Son that loved his Dad and hurried to help him when he needed him to.
B.J. and his brother and sisters always loved each other. Oh there were times they fussed and argued like all brothers and sisters do but the love was always there and was always quick to be shown to each other.
One of Sarah's favorite memories is the time spent with B.J. when he would make cheese fries for her and Kayla and himself and they would spend time together talking or playing something like monopoly.
B.J. made this Yellow Rose for me out of play dough when he was a teenager.
Some of the meanings of the Yellow Rose is...Joy, Gladness, Friendship, Delight, I Care, Promise of a New Beginning, and Remember Me
B.J. brought much Joy into the lives of all that knew him. He was filled with Gladness and it always showed in his life. He was a Friend to everyone and to me he was my Best Buddy. He was a Delight to my heart and always will be. He Cared about everyone and he wasn't afraid to show it. Since going to Heaven he has the Promise of a New Beginning and there is no way that I or anyone else that knew him could ever forget him. He will be loved and Remembered forever.
There is so many different things in life that has memories of B.J. tied up in them. Here are just a few!
That nutty son of mine...One time the dentist office called to set up a teeth cleaning appointment for B.J. Well B.J. was the one that answered the phone and the lady thought it was me and called him by my name (Cindy). He just kept right on talking to her as if he was me and never let her know any different. He thought it was big fun letting her believe he was me. I told him well Buddy, it's because I have a deep voice...not because you have a feminine one. He didn't care either way, he just thought it was funny! We did sound so much alike on the phone, people always got us confused.
B.J. loved the 4th of July. He liked to buy fireworks and pop them for his sisters and he loved to go camping too.
B.J. started working at SNT with his Dad in July of "02 right after he graduated from High School. He worked with him for the next year and a half until he went to Heaven. He was always a good worker...a son his Dad was always so proud of!
Oh B.J.'s Glitter Bug! It was awful and he loved it! Of course he didn't call it his Glitter Bug but I did. You could see that boy coming a mile away! It was 4 different shades of boat paint orange that glittered. Definitely one of a kind just like B.J.
The last Christmas program B.J. was in at our Church in Dec.2002 he was and angel. I thought he looked awsome! I'm so glad I got a picture of him. I know we don't die and become angels but we will be saints in robes of white when we reach Heaven and this picture helps me see it in my minds eye. I had a dream one time of B.J. about 21/2 years after he left and he was dressed in white. What a wonderful site he was to see!
B.J. loved to listen to Kirk Franklin's songs. I remember his last Christmas with us in '02 that was all he would tell us he wanted for Christmas was this CD...whatcha lookin 4. He could have just bought it himself but he didn't. I will forever remember the look on his face when he opened it. You would have thought we gave him the best gift ever. He was so funny and so easy to please. We have that Christmas recorded on video...I'm so glad we do. Little did we know it was the last Christmas we would have with B.J.
B.J. never ate very much candy but when he did he liked Hersheys Milk Chocolate Bars!
B.J. had always wanted a little brother and in December of 2001 little Johnathan was brought into our lives and then in March of 2003 he officially became B.J.'s long awaited little brother. Of course he was already his little brother from the beginning but in Marh is when it became leagal through addoption.
One time B.J. was holding Johnathan and together they were half laying half sitting in a laundry basket and I heard him ask Johnathan...What do you call a boy in a basket? Then he gave him the answer...a basket case! LOL He was a basket case and we loved him just the way he was!
B.J. loved to go camping on the Colorado River. He use to go hicking up in the cliffs and see just how many gray hairs he could put on his Mama's head! He would get so high up we would have to us binoculers to find him up there. Scary!