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 JSteensen
Member
Team Member
Joined: Feb 2004  AZ, USA
 
 Posts: 3375 Feedback: 100% (9) |
Posted: 1/20/2011 11:07:44 PM
THE IMAGE ABOVE IS A PAID ADVERTISEMENT Landon Jude March 16th, 2009 - Came to Earth December 26th, 2010 - Returned to Heaven  We are gathered here this morning to honor the memory of Landon Jude
Bruder, a wonderful son and a joy in our lives. In this difficult time,
his mother and I have been astounded by the outpouring of love and
support by our family, friends and our community, which has helped to
ease some of the pain of this tragedy. Landon, or LJ as we all
knew and loved him, was an amazing little boy. He had a way of bringing
joy to a room and a laugh from all the occupants with his antics,
weather it was his insatiable appetite, or me getting tackled to the
floor because he wanted to play horsey. Behind me are a couple of
the items that we came to know as his absolutely favorite toys that
always brought about the most entertaining engagement with those he
loved. * LJ’s ducky, which his aunt Madel gave him before he was
born, was an instant hit. He would hold his ducky and cuddle with it,
clutching it to his chest and petting its head. He showed a fiery temper
early on, refusing to touch his ducky after it was washed, and pushing
it away. * LJ’s dinosaurs here were a recent acquisition. He was
very protective of his dinosaurs, and loved to play with them by chasing
the other dinosaurs around, the most placid vegetarian becoming the
most ferocious carnivore. He would often watch the children’s show
"Dinosaur Train” and then spend his evenings chasing his mother, his
brother, and I with a powerful "RAR!” * LJ’s shoes were the only
piece of clothing that he actually liked. He frequently turned up his
nose at clothing, the polar opposite behavior of his brother, but woe
upon the person who removed his shoes. He would grab them out of your
hand and toss them, with a faint glare at the offending individual. *
LJ’s sippy cup was an item of great importance to LJ. He never was far
from his sippy cup, and often times would drain it two or three times in
a sitting before going off to play. * LJ’s Christmas picture
shows the anticipation of being surrounded by gifts that he wasn’t quite
able to open yet – this picture was taken one week before Christmas. * LJ’s most notable feature was his big blue eyes, which just gleamed with the promise of a bright future. I
have a few recent memories of LJ that I would like to share. The first
was on Halloween of this year. LJ’s mom and I were trying so hard to get
him to walk. He had a hard time with it, and really didn’t see the
point of walking when mom or dad would just carry him around. Finally,
on Halloween, in his dinosaur costume, with his little dinosaur tail
wagging behind him, we would set him about 6-10 steps in front of the
front door. His big brother would run up to the door, and LJ would see
the candy, and take those few teetering steps up to the door, and thrust
his candy bag out awaiting his reward. We had found the secret to
getting him to walk – free candy! Another time, his mother and I
got the opportunity for some alone time with him, and decided to take
him to the mall playground. He loved the playground. It was indoors,
warm, and giant to our little man, filled with the promises of
exploration. He would demand in his little way that I place him on the
slide, and I was hard pressed to make it around the other side to catch
him before he made it to the bottom. Every time he would go down the
slide, he would have his unique giant crooked grin, with his two front
teeth that were obviously oversized for his mouth and an amazing laugh,
which his mother always coyly observed (with a little bit of pity for
LJ) was the same as my laugh. As LJ started to talk, he would
frequently come to me out of everyone in the house, especially when he
was having a hard time expressing his want for an item that was placed
out of his reach. He would babble in the language that was comprised of
familiar syllables, but not quite English, with a sing-song
"Daaaaaad-deeeee” prefacing each sentence. He would quickly grow
frustrated as I struggled to understand his words, and grab my hand and
lead me to the item, and I would point to an item in the vicinity, and
he would either smile or frown at the item I was pointing at, quickly
leading me to figure out what he wanted. Cheerios were his
favorite food when he was just thinking about autonomous movement. We
"baited” him into crawling, by sitting him about two lengths away from
it. The first time, he cheated by sitting a little too close, flopping
down, and reaaaaaching as far as he could, and grabbing his prize
by the fistful. Soon we caught on, and scotched him back just a little
farther, and even sooner he struggled on wobbly hands and knees to the
small pile of cheerios, sat next to them, and munched happily, a great
smile of content spreading across his cherubic features. While we
are feeling sad and lost during this difficult time – we find ourselves
being quiet at night to keep from waking him, and expect him to knock
on the door to his room in his way that he would let us know he was up
and awake for the day - we know that LJ is with our Heavenly Father, and
so we are not sad for LJ, but for us and his brother Christian who
cannot have his best friend physically by his side as he grows. We will sorely miss our little dinosaur. - Written by John Steensen and delivered at LJ's memorial service. |
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Posted: 1/20/2011 11:10:13 PM
[Last Edit: 1/20/2011 11:12:30 PM by MP0117]
What a beautiful boy. God rest his sweet little soul. |
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Posted: 1/21/2011 1:32:07 AM
[Last Edit: 1/21/2011 1:33:40 AM by FightingMajor]
Originally Posted By MP0117:
What a beautiful boy. God rest his sweet little soul. I saw this thread while looking at the memorial for Dilligaf. The above is worth repeating. Yes, he's a great looking kid. Anyway, beautiful eulogy John. Again, sorry for your loss. |
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Schlange
Order of the Templar Ignarus Fossor
Team Member
Joined: Feb 2008 PA, USA
Posts: 6536 Feedback: 100% (3) Link To This Post |
Posted: 1/21/2011 9:04:10 AM
RIP little guy.
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Reservoir_Dog
Sheepdog
Team Member
Joined: May 2007 TN, USA
Posts: 1598 Feedback: 100% (1) Link To This Post |
Posted: 1/21/2011 12:44:28 PM
A wonderful tribute to your son.
I am very sorry for your loss. My deepest condolences to you and your family. |
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rob78
Professional Hobbyist
Team Member
Joined: Mar 2005 TN, USA
Posts: 16574 Feedback: 100% (13) Link To This Post |
Posted: 1/21/2011 1:01:48 PM
Beautiful boy J.
Again, I know word offer little comfort, but i'll pray for you and your family. |
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TheMechanic48
Team Member
Team Member
Joined: Oct 2006 LA, USA
Posts: 13090 Feedback: 100% (230) Link To This Post |
Posted: 1/21/2011 6:08:08 PM
Nice looking boy. So sorry for your loss.
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Posted: 1/17/2012 9:17:06 AM
Sorry for your loss, I will not say it's dusty in here... I have a tears going down my face, Beautiful tribute to a beautiful little man.
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JSteensen
Member
Team Member
Joined: Feb 2004 AZ, USA
Posts: 5207 Feedback: 100% (9) Link To This Post |
Posted: 3/16/2012 10:13:51 PM
Happy birthday, LJ. You would have been 3 today. We miss you so much and would give anything to have you here with us to celebrate your birthday.
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CSM
The Original Angsty Owl
Team Member
Joined: Jun 2004 CO, USA
Posts: 11531 Feedback: 100% (7) Link To This Post |
Posted: 3/16/2012 10:23:04 PM
Wow.
Thanks for writing that. It must be amazingly tough, but I pray for you guys.  (sniff) |
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Posted: 12/25/2012 12:28:08 AM
JSteensen, your family, and Landon Jude are in our thoughts and prayers.
Merry Christmas. |
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Schlange
Defessi, iratus, et amara
Team Member
Joined: Feb 2008 PA, USA
Posts: 22660 Feedback: 100% (3) Link To This Post |
Posted: 12/25/2012 7:55:57 PM
Originally Posted By HAUK3:
JSteensen, your family, and Landon Jude are in our thoughts and prayers. Merry Christmas. |
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JSteensen
Member
Team Member
Joined: Feb 2004 AZ, USA
Posts: 6612 Feedback: 100% (9) Link To This Post |
Posted: 12/25/2012 10:07:09 PM
[Last Edit: 12/25/2012 10:07:56 PM by JSteensen]
Merry Christmas LJ. Today would have been your 4th Christmas, but we were so blessed to get two with you.
You would have been an amazing big brother to Tommy, who is a month and a half old. He has a bit of a cold and cough which has your mom and I on pins and needles. I just tucked your big brother in bed, very happy with his new presents and would give anything to get to tuck you in one more time. I love you LJ, and not a day goes by that my heart isn't heavy missing you - your stocking is still hung up on the fireplace. EDIT: Thank you all for your well wishes and for thinking of our family and my son. He is gone...but its good to know that some outside the family haven't forgotten him. |
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jtb0311
Member
Team Member
Joined: Sep 2007 TN, USA
Posts: 2791 Feedback: 100% (3) Link To This Post |
Posted: 1/3/2013 9:27:25 PM
Godspeed.
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Posted: 1/3/2013 9:35:12 PM
This brings a tear to my eye every time I see it, and think of my 15 month old daughter. I cannot even imagine.
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Posted: 1/3/2013 9:50:16 PM
prayers to the family
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