You are still my best friend Thomas

Keaton loved climbing into the bucket

Keaton in his train shirt

Deqlan very proudly modelling his train shirt from Grandpa and Nanna

How beautiful is this train? I really have a new appreciation for them since they have become one of Deqlans great loves

Such a cool photo i thought ( yes this one is yours my love) The train just leaving the station , steam, hooters and all!

Dad, Nanna, Deqlan and I waiting for the train to leave at 1330

Our family with our new family members, the trains!

Enjoying the wheels with Nanna

Deqlan was in his element - hope you can see the smile on his face!He was beaming!

The wheels were fascinating - actually the entire train was..

Deqlan carefully studying each wheel, each joint, each axel

Guess where we went on Sunday? Nanna did a bit of investigating a while ago on where we could find a real steam train.She found a company called Friends of the Rail in Pretoria , and we were lucky enough to be able to go and check it all out this past Sunday

Now we know that Deqlan doesnt like confined spaces, strangers, noise and not being able to escape a situation he is not happy in - so we decided to take him for a little taste of the train experience before taking him on a 2 and a half hour journey that we wont be able to get off , if our soldier decides he wants off!

Deqlan had a little nap in the car and when he woke up - i wish you could have seen his face - we were parked right next to a real life size steam train. He had the biggest smile ever. He ran up and down the train about 100 hundred times - studying each detail - he continued to look at Dad, Nanna and i smiling as if to say , 'are you seeing what im seeing?' " yes, my boy! I know its a real train!" we were so happy for Deqlan. We let him run up and down and enjoy each moment and then decided to try and take him to the actual steam train departing that afternoon.

We wanted to see his face when he saw the steam and smelt the coal and heared the whistles and sirens. Deqlan was not impressed. We tried to explain to him that we were taking him to see something even better then the train that was standing still on the tracks! a real moving, working train! Deqlan was not having it. He thought we were taking him away from his new best friend and wasnt interested in the real deal - he continued to remain upset because we took him away from the first train. No matter what we tried to highlite on the working train for him - he cried and wanted to get back to the old train. So off we went...

On the way back a beautiful, shiny, flickering windmill caught Deqlans eye , and thats were we stayed for a while - enjoying his windmill blowing in the breeze! Dad got Deqlan real rail road buttons and Nanns got the boys a beautiful train t shirt each - to beautiful. We thought we would just sit and wait until the actual train left and that would surely catch Deqlans eye.

While we waited ,we noticed a kids birthday party on the train ! What a cool idea! A little friend bought a present in a Thomas gift bag! Bad idea! Well, for Deqlan to see it, it wouldnt get to the intended recipient if Deqlan had caught a glimpse of it! Nanna and Dad really did a great job in blocking the view of the Thomas bag and the party continued Thomas bags and all.

We heard the train was getting ready to move - so we picked Deqlan up to take him to the front of the train, to give it one more try...the conductor pulled the horn and blew steam especially for Deqlan to enjoy - but sadly he didnt - he wanted to go back to the original train..we watched the train leave and imagined ourselves on it some time very soon in the future!

We will definitely be taking Deqlan back again to his good old friend that stands still on the rail line and perhaps a longer sleep will allow Deqlan to entertain the idea of watching the real deal!

Deqlan loved looking at the brochure though afterwards and continues to cherish and love and adore all things to do with the rail road, especially his best buddy Thomas...although, Deqlans tastes have started changing the last few days again, to .....CARS! Especially Toyota's - but thats a whole nother story for another post!

Sleep tight, God Bless, please continue the prayer for our soldier to remain NED always - please pray for all our friends around the world, the angels in heaven and their families who miss them, please pray for the cure

Lots of love

Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD