Sara's birthday party...or not

Yesterday was such a special day in so many more ways than I would have thought.

We started out the day going to the doctor.  Sara was coughing so bad and we had never seen her so sick before.  She had a hard time breathing the night before.  The doc said she had croup.  So off we went, to Walgreens to get all her medicine.  We had been taking turns standing with her in our steamed up bathroom so ease her cough.  We elevated her mattress so that she could breathe better at night.  And now we were getting ready to celebrate her first birthday...poor thing!  We decided to still have the party, and just make it through and have a good time, despite the circumstances.  The weather was supposed to be crumby too.  Truth is, we wanted to get through the party so that we could move on and focus on Johnny's granddad, who was in hospice getting ready to go "home".

Well after spending a few days getting ready, and just an hour and a half before the party, we heard that granddad had passed away.  This moment was filled with so many emotions.  Of sadness, because we are going to miss his presence here with us.  His never-ending stories (I think thats where Johnny gets it from:), and how he connects each one of them with, "Well, at any rate...".  I was going to miss having the privilege of talking to him about faith stuff.  If ever I had questions or a really cool God story, granddad was the one I would talk to about it.

Another emotion I experienced, which might sound crazy to those who don't know the Lord, was excitement and joy.  I almost felt giddy!  Granddad had lived his life for Jesus, and made sure to show it. He loved our Lord, and spread this love EVERYWHERE!  He would talk to perfect strangers about this love.  What an example for all of us.  It now it was so cool to see that he was in the arms of Jesus, the one who he had been serving for so many years.  What an awesome, amazing thought!!!  This was what he lived his life for!

So anyway, after getting to see some of the family, and giving some much needed hugs, we decided to have Sara's party anyway so that everyone could be together in this special time.  And what a special time it was!  We got to be together, and we got to celebrate three things: Mike's birthday, Sara's first birthday, and granddad's birthday too.  Granddad's birthday was a lot more special though, because he got to celebrate in the presence of the Lord.  He got to see Jesus' face!!!!!  Ah!!!

So we learned something yesterday.  That there are two things in life that you can't plan for...life, and death.  But you gotta have a party either way, and celebrate what the Lord has done in either case.

Sara was miserable throughout the night, we have never seen her so sick ever.  But she made it through, and so did everyone else.  We had some great family time, and there was joy in the air.  I am so thankful for the birth of our daughter, and I am so thankful to have known granddad.  Mike is pretty special too:)

So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord.  For we live by believing and not by seeing.  Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:6-7