The Last Week . . .

A lot of things have triggered our minds as we begin to walk through this last week before the first anniversary date of Matthew's death. I think in many ways "Saturday" seems more like the death date, then the 11th - which will be Sunday, since he died on a Saturday, and the events of the day will be forever etched in our minds. Yesterday Norm even brought up how it's hard to imagine that a year ago (yesterday) he was still alive - working, and looking forward to so many things. Today, when we walked in the church, it was all decorated for Christmas. I was not prepared for that in my mind, and it sucked away my breath. It was decorated like it was for Matthew's funeral service. The Christmas trees in the same place. We had communion today too and it made me realize, the Sunday before his death, he had communion too. The man that sang at Matthew's funeral service, sang a solo today, and it was a very touching song.

This Tuesday is Melody's 6th birthday. She is SO excited about it. I am thankful she does not relate the timing of her birthday to Matthew's death. We try to be so careful what and when we talk about things. She is one though that is very tender, and often speaks of missing Matthew and will cry. I am thankful to we have a reason to CELEBRATE this week. Our young Katie's birthday is the day before Matthew's birthday. I know these had to be God's timings, to give us the joy even in the sadness.

I've been reading another book, To Live Again, which is by Catherine Marshall. It was recommended to me, even though it is more about the author going through the loss of her husband, Peter Marshal, at a young age, and having a young aged son. It was originally written in 1957 and immediately made the New York Times bestseller list and has sold over 4 1/2 million copies. I would highly recommend this if you know of someone who has lost a spouse - or anyone close to them. She writes beautifully, and shares a lot about heaven and things to ponder on. This is one sentence, that I liked, and will end with, for today.