"Have A Great Time In Heaven!"

Steve and I have been blessed to have both sets of our parents alive until today. Steve’s dad went home to be with Jesus at 6:24 PM EST. He was 84 years young and survived four strokes. This was Steve’s fourth trip to say “good-bye”. Every other time Steve made the trip to Missouri dad would rally, so happy Steve was there and he would recover! This time was different, we learned a few days ago he refused to eat or drink. Not knowing if Steve would make it all the way out to Branson again we all got on the phone Saturday night and said our “good-byes”. Dad couldn’t talk but a phone was held to his ear and we knew he could hear us. Everyone told him how much we loved him. Zachary told grandpa “Have a great time in heaven and we’ll see you again some day!”

Steve left this morning with Emeline and Samuel to make the trip west. Sam had prayed for months that he would have the opportunity to see grandpa one more time before he passed away, and Steve prayed that he would be there when the time came for dad to leave this world. I prayed that also for Steve but had doubts that it would all happen at just the right time, after all, Branson Missouri is not around the corner and there are no nonstop flights to the place!

I’m not a big morning person and was secretly hoping they would not wake me up at 5:30 am before they left, but of course I couldn’t tell them that. Sure enough they all marched in this morning ready to go, wanting another kiss and hug from mom! At 7:00 am I got the call they had missed their flight. I can’t help but say I was chuckling all day to imagine the three of them traveling together!

As it turns out God had a bigger plan then anyone! When Steve and the kids missed the first flight (because they were eating at the food court) they were re-routed from connecting through Denver to connecting through Chicago. When they arrived in Chicago Steve noticed there was a flight that would get them to Branson earlier then the original scheduled flight. They flew standby and successfully made the flight. Once in the nursing home and greeting dad it was 24 minutes before he passed on. Had they made their original flight out of Philadelphia, they would have missed seeing dad alive. How awesome is that? It was as if he waited until his only son arrived and then decided it was time to go…

Now the grieving process begins. Unfortunately so many of us have lost loved ones and are in different phases of the grieving process. I once heard someone say “The best way to get through grieving is to grieve.” As a mom we not only grieve for ourselves, but we grieve for our children, the loss they will feel.

Today was a day I wondered what people do when they don’t have God in their life. I recently spoke to someone who told me they believe they have a soul that goes somewhere when they die but they’re not sure where. How very sad, my heart hurts for that person. As Dr. Ken left this world today he knew where he was going and so did his family. It was and is very sad, but what a blessed experience to stand around a loved one, holding hands, praying, singing, tenderly ushering him into God’s throne of grace where he will spend eternity. Tonight is dad’s first night in heaven. We are sad he is not longer with us but know he is in a much better place.

We thank all our friends and family for their love and prayers.

Blessings,

Debbie