TOUGH WEEK FAVES

my beloved daddy with his granddaughters
 my two children:  Claire and Courtney
Xmas 2012

It's Thursday morning but by the time you read this it will be Friday and my husband, 2 daughters, and my self, along with my 3 younger sisters and their families, will be in my childhood hometown in central NY, at my daddy's "Celebration of Life" service.

It's been a tough week.  But I have some little blessings tucked in that the Lord gave to us.

Please join in sharing your faves by linking up at Susanne's site.

• PEACE!  Our minds are at peace as Dad/Grandpa is now at peace with Jesus and my mom.  Last Saturday, Dave and I traveled out to dad's nursing home to "say goodbye" as the nurses didn't expect him to live beyond the weekend.  My 3rd youngest sister Hope and her husband Donny were there too. We took turns praying over dad and I said right in his ear (as did Hope) that it was ok for him to go be with Jesus now.  As a Christ follower, it is all he wanted...he just wanted to go Home and be reunited with his wife (my mom).  I specifically prayed all winter long as the last stages of dementia took over his mind and body, that Daddy would just pass in his sleep.  And that is what he did. At first it was hard to say "no" to a feeding tube but it was his wishes and we wanted to respect his wishes.  We are at peace and I'm so thankful  for that.

• POEMS and SONGS:  this poem was especially touching when I saw it online so I posted it on Facebook to share with family and friends.  I also appreciate all the messages from friends, emails from dad's pastor as well as my own pastor, and cards in the mail from close friends.  I'm thankful that as a Christian, we have a wonderful support system in one another.

flowers from my in-laws 

• COMING TOGETHER:  On Monday, my 3 sisters and I traveled out to the old hometown to gather together to plan the casket, obit, service, luncheon, etc etc.  WOW...so many details to work through but thankfully, Dad had already written his own obituary shortly after our mother died, and we just had to tweak some parts of it.  And he had already contacted the funeral director who happens to be a family friend and already knew what Dad wanted.  Because Dad is a Korean war veteran, he gets the burial full service treatment so we didn't even have the chore of needing to choose the stone..the vets take care of all of that!!  We just had to order flowers for the church, meet with dad's pastor who volunteered to put together the service with our input as well as create a slide show presentation of photos we emailed to him, etc.  It all came together so peacefully for which we are all thankful!!

Dad in his Senior Year, high school yearbook

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• MEMORIES:  we were looking for dad's high school photo for the slide show and I discovered this one on my oldest daughter's FB page!!  I had no idea she had discovered his old yearbooks when she was last at his home in central NY.  We had fun this week looking through all of his old army photos, photos from when he was stationed in France, photos of his engagement time with mom, etc.  I'm thankful he kept all of his treasures for those of us left to enjoy.

• TRIBUTES:  I've written a tribute, as the oldest daughter, to read at the celebration of life service.  Hoping I can get through it with out breaking down in tears but thankfully, some other dear friends of Dad's will also be speaking.  Our childhood pastor will try to make it (although he is dealing with his own health issues) and one of the old timers in his church will be speaking as well.  My youngest daughter will be reading Psalm 145.  The service will be nice and hopefully the salvation message will come across for the unsaved relatives and friends who will be there.  That was Dad's wish.  Later this weekend I will post the tribute to my daddy.  I'm so thankful for the legacy of Christ he has left with all of us and that we will be reunited one day.