Gideon's Good-Bye

Message written to Craig from Gideon the day he moved out:

"This story will have been different without u, Danielle and levi in my life. Tnks for makin me family and mentoring me. God will use u to change lives in India just like you did mine. When levi grows up remember to tell him I was here and we were buddis. I will miss u guys but yal will always be in my heart."

~Gideon Oji (June 16, 2011)



Gideon graduated from high school on Saturday, June 11th
We were very proud of him!
and this Fall he will begin college at Lees McRae to play basketball

Our delight for Gideon's future does not take away the sadness to see him go.
Gideon is truly one of a kind, and I'm not sure we will ever meet someone like him again.
I have never seen a teenage boy love a newborn and then an infant as MUCH as Gideon loves Levi
There are many things we will miss about Gideon, here are just a few:

- His famous one liner "OH WOW!"... we will probably carry this on in his absence
- Hearing this grown lad singing Celine Dion from his room:)
- Watching him play with our son and chant his name: "Levi, Levi"
- Finding Gideon watching Deadliest Catch for hours (and then confess that he would NEVER be a fisherman like that since it's so dangerous- haha)
- Talking through life, friends, decisions, school, etc....
-Taking pictures of his prom and graduation
-Him always wearing his small Mickey Mouse shirt- who knew - right?
- Trying to teach Gideon the value of being ON TIME- ha (Key word: TRYING)
- Laughing together OFTEN

We had a great time when we took Gideon out to eat on one of his last nights here-
We spent dinner reminiscing of his time with our family over the past year....
It was a sweet way to end our time together.

Gideon's request upon leaving was:
"Tell Levi about me, Tell him we were buddies, Make sure he doesn't forget me"
Our response:
"You better believe we will"

It goes without saying, but we are going to THOROUGHLY MISS this guy!