Sad But Wonderful

If you have been checking my blog and wondering when I would post a new one - sorry. We left last Friday morning and went to Donna's folks house outside of Searcy and were there- with family- for the funeral of Donna's Dad, Dean Curtis, on Sunday. After spending a good bit of Monday just enjoying being with family, we left for Nashville, with Pat, Deborah, Chad, Elizabeth, and all their kids (our grand kids) and had Christmas on Tuesday. It was so nice to see Jonathan and Holly at the funeral and to spend some time with them out at Mamaw's house, but we still missed having them with us for our Christmas. We then had Caleb's birthday party on Wednesday evening, and came home yesterday afternoon. So I was a little too tired to do anything about a blog last night.
The flowers above are the flowers from the Florissant Church of Christ that were at the funeral. I've been to so many funerals - for other families - that I really never thought that much about how wonderful it is to have loved ones thinking of you and being thoughtful enough to send flowers. It did my heart good to see these flowers at the funeral home on Saturday evening and again at the church building for the funeral on Sunday. There was a beautiful arrangement send from Patrick and Chikita Jackson, good friends at Florissant, but the cards were gone by the time I had my camera and I couldn't remember which one it was. What a wonderful and thoughtful gift.

This is the arrangement from our old Nashville small group. What a wonderful group of friends they have been to us for so many years now. You will never have to convince me of the value of building relationships through small groups. They are all brothers and sisters that we will love no matter how far apart we happen to be. Thanks again guys. We love you.

It was a sad occasion, but it was also a blessed occasion. It was so wonderful to see all our family and to just comfort each other and spend time laughing and crying together. The highlight of the gathering was the uniting of all twelve grand kids. We figured out that they haven't been together as a group since "the famous Christmas of '95" in WV. What an awesome group of young Christian adults they all are. I know that would have made Dean very proud.

I don't know how they did it, but toward the end of the funeral service, the grand kids along with three of the spouses, sang a beautiful song about all the people in heaven who will thank us for helping to get them there. There are certainly a lot of "thank yous" going on in heaven right now as many of the people that Dean touched and influenced are welcoming him. There may be no better tribute to a godly man's life than to have his grandchildren walk with God. It certainly put things in perspective for all who where there.

To all who knew about it, thanks for keeping us in your prayers. We are sad and we will miss Papaw, but how nice is it to be the first of our family to come into the world, live healthy & happy for 82 years, see your children, grandchildren, and now great grandchildren love God, and then get to be the first one to leave this world - leaving everyone healthy & happy & walking with God. We should all hope for as much. God is good.