Celebration

Today was a day of celebration. When a believer goes home to be with the Lord -- while there is grief and sadness over separation, you have to celebrate with the angels that they have entered into a better place. And that is what we did.

The Celebration Service for my Mom today was actually quite enjoyable. I saw men and women that I grew up knowing as my Mom's friends that I have not seen for years...and I had dear friends from my time in Dallas come to show their love and support. My biggest surprise was my friend Mona that flew in and showed up about 30 minutes before the service began. I felt very loved and supported...and we had a lovely time. My sister prayed...we had a time of meditation while we played a song by a mutual friend of ours and had some of our favorite scriptures up on the screen (You KNEW I couldn't do a funeral without using MediaShout! :)) The pastor did the eulogy and then I spoke on behalf of me and my sister. This spring at Mother's Day I had done an altered journal for her and made the first entry into it sharing some of the lessons she had taught be as a mother. So I shared from that...and got a few chuckles about my new obsession (scrapbooking). We had set up pictures of my Mom at different stages in her life and had also laid out a scrapbook page that my niece had made about her NANA and about her being "past away." It was really precious and I love that I have gotten another family member hooked on scrapbooking the "important moments."

Tonight we just kind of hung out with family -- played games...ate several different kinds of pies that people had brought over and laughed. It was a nice ending to what seems like a lovely if emotional day. I am sure there will be some days ahead that will be tough -- but I am glad that today wasn't one of them.

I want to thank each of you for your prayers and support...I know that is what made today easier to get through.

I will be cleaning out my Mom's house for the next few days....which I am sure will be both hard physical labor and a bit emotional as we go through things and make decisions about what to do not only with her things...but our grandparents things that she just moved into her house and didn't really dispose of. I think we have a plan...so i will let you know how it has gone.

By the way -- my niece has made me promise to scrapbook with her for at least one hour each day I am here...she is soaking up techniques...and coming up with a few of her own...which I may just have to steal! can't wait to get back to nashville and hear about all the news and see what Anne and Tracie found for us at CHA.

Ok...gotta go to sleep....tomorrow will come WAY too early.

Love you all.