Valentine's Day

I keep this note in my Bible. A close friend of many years mailed it to me last year in remembrance of Kent. It was postmarked February 13th, the day he died the prior year, but was received on February 14th, Valentine's Day.

If you can't read it, it says:

Dear Bridgett,

Thank you for being you. Kent loved you immensely.  You made him extremely happy. You gave him three wonderful sons who made him even happier. God bless you.

Sincerely, with love,

Name Withheld

Valentine's Day will always be the day after Kent was called to his eternal home which compounds the reminder of my loss. It was a blessing to receive this note on a day of really missing him!

Remembering Kent

Even though it's been two years since Kent went to his eternal home in Heaven, my heart is still grieving. In remembering him, this partial entry by Lettie Cowman, a widow herself, in her classic devotional Consolation speaks to my heart:

[H]eart stricken mourner, He knows the grief and anguish you feel; He knows the desolations of your spirit and its yearnings after a solace the world cannot give!

Go the grave of your beloved one; but as you go let not your tears so blind you, neither so hang down your head that you may not see that Jesus has come to sustain you. Hear His gracious voice from beside the tomb, "I am the resurrection and the life."

Your husband is not dead. His believing soul lived with Christ here, now lives with Christ in Heaven and his Christian dust is sleeping sweetly until He shall rise, immortal, glorious and incorruptible at the resurrection of the last day. All your love, watching and anxious nursing could not save him from [sickness, suffering] and the tomb; but the love of Jesus has delivered him from all and taken him up to that sinless home where there "shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things have passed away".

Here you were united in a better than an earthly love, the love of Christ, and in that love you are and shall be united forever. Look, then, beyond the scene of your mortal grief to the home of your perpetual bliss. Christ has lain in the tomb and sweetened it for the sleep of His beloved and yours; but as you stoop to see within the sepulchre see not that it is broken and that the uprising Master has opened a way through it, up through the rent veil, up through the everlasting doors to the paradise of God! There seek to follow and when you draw near the celestial band you will find waiting to welcome you one more radiant than an angel in whose transfigured countenance you will recognize him you have not lost but who has gone before you to our Father's house.

I miss my husband and my sons miss their father, but it's an incredible comfort to know we'll be reunited with him in Heaven. In the meantime, though, God is continuing to sustain and bless us as we continue to heal from our loss.

More Good Reports

I went to parent-teacher conferences tonight and all three of the boys are continuing to do well in school. Like other boys, their favorite part of school is PE, lunch and, of course, recess!

February Birthdays

Happy birthday to N and Belle! N is six today and Belle will be one tomorrow. 

N had fun celebrating the day with one of his brothers and some of his classmates at the Big Apple's Ballocity.

One Thousand Gifts

When we were going through our trial with cancer, I was challenged by Ann Voskamp at A Holy Experience to record One Thousand Gifts by cultivating a heart of gratitude with the intentional counting of my daily blessings - or gifts - from God.  This challenge opened the eyes of my heart to the simple but profound blessings in everyday life which encouraged me to persevere through my husband's cancer and death and even now through widowhood and single parenting. 

The title of her gift list is now the title of a highly acclaimed and best selling book that released today. If you're seeking contentment and joy in the midst of the mundane of everyday life or even in the heartache of a trial, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are is a great book. It's about Ann's life and how contentment and joy in it started with gratitude. Check it out!

J & Basketball

J's first basketball game of the season was this morning. It's his first year playing and he did great!

First Snow

Even though it has snowed three times so far this winter, our first big snow storm arrived last night. The boys are always eager to shovel the porch, deck and sidewalks while I plow the driveway.

It's a lot of work for them but helps me quite a bit. They have fun too, though, especially when they pile enough snow up to build igloos and tunnels.

Of course, Belle, like most Labs, likes to play in the snow too.

J turns 9!

My oldest son, J, turned nine today! He had fun celebrating this weekend with some of his classmates and a neighbor at the Big Apple. Afterward, they ate pizza as well as cake and ice cream, played Wii and watched a movie at our house.