Thankful for You

In the midst of the whirlwind, time stopped today for a while. Today marks the 2nd year that Samantha is in heaven. The kids and I went to the cemetary with some flowers. It is about a 20 minute drive, so there was time for good conversation. The kids wanted me to tell her story again. We recalled some memories and I tried to answer the many, many questions about why she died. Josh, who was 3 when she died, had the most questions. " I just wish she could come back so I can play with her", he said. The kids also had so many questions about heaven. I answered them as best I could (If God thinks it's important, He will definitely have teddy bears for her to play with in heaven, Josh). But most of all, I was encouraged at this opportunity to share with my kids the importance of life, living the best for the Lord, for our days are certainly numbered. It was a wonderful opportunity to share the gospel again and to beg for God's help and salvation for them.

Our conversations are not saturated about Samantha on a daily basis by all means. Even this day, I tried to talk about her with the kids only on the way to and back from the cemetary. It just seems so heavy for them to bear very long. As for me, however, as a mom, I'm thankful that this day particularly, I can think about her all day and watch the video again of her sweet little moment of smiles (maybe some day I can figure out a way to post this short clip).

Lastly, with time going on, I didn't expect people to actually remember this particular date, as I do. Personally, dates are not the sort of things I'm good at remembering. I was overwhelmed with thankfulness for the sweet short emails , calls and even a rose bush hand delivered in memory of Samantha. I really couldn't ask for better friends. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.