A Goodbye...

Hey everyone! I just wanted to give you all a quick update and thank you all for your prayers. My grandpa passed away on Thursday. The wonderful answer to prayer is that my uncle did get home in time. To be honest, my grandpa really did have to fight for that to occur. But then an hour before my uncle got to the hospital, my grandpa stabilized. The next day his doctor said he actually thought he could recover. I had mixed feelings about that. He was ready to go. And it became more and more evident to us as a family that the end was near. He was stable through the rest of the day and then we were called to the hospital that night. Then he stabilized again. The next day there wasn't much change. My mom and my uncle had to make the difficult decision to take his oxygen mask off. It was what my grandpa had wanted. They gave him morphine so he wouldn't feel any pain. This was at 2:00 in the afternoon and they told us they didn't expect him to make it through the night. He was gone in twenty minutes.

Everyone is asking me how I am doing? To be honest, it has been a lot more difficult than I was expecting. I remember sitting next to him in the hospital holding his hand. There was this moment that I looked in his eyes... and I realized I had the same color eyes as him. I thought to myself, those are my eyes. I can not explain what I felt. A part of me was dying with him. This was the grandpa that always took us to get ice cream. He took me out to pizza more times than I can count. He was the man that everyone loved... wherever we went. He & my grandma loved each other so much that they secretly eloped and then went back to live at their parents house. They didn't tell anyone! (Can you imagine!) They were married for almost 50 years. He was such a spit fire and had all of us laughing in the hospital the entire time. He was a fighter. He was all of this, but most of all he was the grandpa that I was closest to. Sometimes I think you don't realize how much you love someone until they are gone. I don't have any regrets. My kids knew him. He knew I loved him. But even then, I didn't know I would have such a hole in my heart. My grandma used to tell my mom, Better to have loved and lost then to never have loved before. I think that sums it up. I am honored to know that I came from him. He was a fighter and he was strong. God told me he was one of his fighters. It is so cool to know that I come from that. We need to be speaking that into our families. Kim & Dan's kids can say the same. Aaron & Barb's kids can say the same. (And many other examples) There was a warrior that I could feel rise up in my spirit as I watched him and knew that I had that same spirit. Although the emotions have been high this week, the Lord spoke to me so clearly through many situations. As in any situation in life, the Lord was with us every step of the way. Now my grandpa is with Him... and my grandma. What more could I want for him?

Thanks for all your prayers! You are an awesome family!

Love, Jen