Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Monday, January 24, 2011

With Christ

My father-in-law passed away last Sunday, January 16, 2011 at 7:33pm.  Mike, Miriam, and their mother were by his side as he slipped out of this world into the presence of His Lord.

He leaves behind a son who didn't get to have one last conversation with him before slipping into a coma, yet who is left with the firmest impression that his dad loved Jesus, served Him passionately, and is undoubtedly singing his heart out to Him now.

He leaves behind a daughter who didn't  get to be walked down the aisle by her Daddy, but who left her life in CA to spend the last few months by his side, caring for him and seeing first-hand the grace of Christ in his heart and in his marriage in the midst of tremendous suffering.

He leaves behind his wife, the love of his heart, who for decades  served Christ right by his side.  He loved her fiercely and for years, secretly stashed money into a Bible to buy her the diamond that he never got to buy her as young loves.  And through the months of painfully nursing his ailing body, she entrusted him to the Lord and even today, continues to do so.  She is now without half of herself, but remains strong because after all, "I have Jesus," she says.

He also leaves behind a daughter-in-law and 3 grandchildren.  His oldest grandchild (Audrey), when she found out that Grandpa was now in Heaven, gasped in shock and after a short pause, exclaimed, "Lucky him!" and in thinking about him for days, realized that Grandpa was in Heaven and was lucky because he gets to be with the "real Jesus."

We are so thankful for all our family and friends who have been praying.  Mike and the family are so encouraged by everyone's love and look forward to coming back to CA for the memorial service here.

Many of you have already watched this through Mike's facebook, but here is the wonderful slideshow tribute that Miriam made for her dad.





Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Time Freeze

With the turn of the new year, one can't help but wonder what things will happen over the next 12 months.  Last week, I had a very realistic dream that Marcus all of a sudden started walking.  Like REALLY walking.  It felt so real that as I was waking up, I was planning on calling his PT to tell him the good news.  But it wasn't true...not yet, at least.  I wonder if this will be the year.  How I hope it will be!

I long for the day that Marcus and I can have a heart-to-heart and I'll hear him say, "Mom, I know you and Dad have cried a lot over me.  And I know there are major challenges in my life that are really hard for me to go through.  But my Father is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and my Good Shepherd laid down His life for me.  So you don't have to worry about me, Ma.  I'm set for life."

Oh, how I long for that day!

But as much as I want to see all the wonderful things that could come about in the future, I've been feeling more and more that I want time to slow down.  There's really no hurry for the next great thing.  The kids and I took a little outing last week and as I shot pictures of them on my camera, I took mental pictures of them as well to file away in my heart.

I deliberately wanted to remember them as they were that day, enjoying them before she stopped calling her training wheels "stabilizers".



Or before swinging all by herself wasn't something to show off anymore.





Or before he outgrew the kiddie swing.



Or before being silly wasn't her default state.



I wanted to remember that they LOVED being together and that any little thing she did made him laugh.



But on the ride back home,



Marcus decided that he'd pedal himself a bit for the first time.  Another small milestone, which means that time is indeed moving along.



Someone was proud of himself and I told him he was a big boy.



But he corrected me.  "Very, very big," he said.



I guess it's inevitable.  They're growing up.



Boy, are they growing up.





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