Christmas with Jesus

As most of you know who read this blog, my sweet Daddy went home to be with Jesus on Christmas Day. We were planning to visit after Christmas, but rushed there on the 21st after he had two slight strokes very close together. We transported him to the Hospice House of the Ozarks on the 22nd and stayed with him round the clock, talking to him, or circling around his bed singing to him, one of us always lying beside him in his hospital bed until he quietly left with the angels on Christmas evening. What an incredible gift for Daddy, to be with Jesus on Christmas.

His celebration service was unbelievable. His pastor, Sam Bailey, and SS teacher, Dennis Maley, officiated. Everyone who met my dad loved him. He'd driven the chuch bus for years to pick up children to come to church - until the church insurance couldn't cover him anymore at 70 yrs old! Not to be stopped, he became a daily Prayer Protector for an elementary school in Mtn Home, which he continued until a year ago. Children would roll down their windows and thank him for praying for them every morning, calling him "Angel Kenny!" He even received Christmas gifts! A gentleman...maybe a dad of a school child...approached him one day for help with some problems in his life, and he later called their home and left the sweetest message.

What a hole is left in my heart! Even though our prayers were answered, that he would not have to endure the worst ravages of Alzheimer's, the loss is so great that sometimes I think I cannot take the next breath. All my life, and even after his Alzheimer's progressed and he needed some help, he was the person I looked up to the most. He's been a natural nurturer, protector, advisor, and friend. I KNOW without a doubt that he is with the Lord and whole and well again. Praise the Lord!! This would be impossible to live with if I didn't know that, but my heart hasn't caught up with my knowledge yet! Some days it's hard to just to see people going on with their lives when mine has changed so much!

The four pictures above are some of my favorites with Daddy. The collage is a scan of the postcard the funeral home gave to everyone at visitation and the funeral...a collection of 10 of the 40 pictures they asked us to give them for a video they showed at the visitation/service. (Isn't that a neat idea?) The picture of him facing me and I'm in a bathing suit is my first lifetime memory! I was two and a half and he'd taken me water skiing on his shoulders, and he was talking to me about it! I loved it! I put my hands over his eyes as we slowly took off from a dock and he had to move my hands one at a time to his neck, but never let lose of me! (I promise it was safe and we went as slowly as you could and still be on top of the water!) The second picture is Easter when I was 6. Notice it wasn't enough for me to just hold his hand, I had to grip his arm! Wasn't he handsome? He still was at 81 years old. The pastor at his service called him "the Charlton Heston of Mtn. Home," and "eye candy" while one of his cousins saw a younger picture of him and called him "a hunka hunka burning love!" The color picture was made at our Matthew and Jordan's wedding. I love that picture and have had it on my counter since the wedding. The last picture was taken about a year ago while he and Mom Joyce were here visiting after Christmas. My niece, Amy, remembered it and sent it to my phone while we were in Mtn. Home. Amy said I whispered something to him, he laughed, and I kissed him on the cheek! I treasure that memory, among so many!

I have much to be grateful for...a wonderful husband who has never minded that Daddy and I were so close, who adored him also, and who has been so supportive throughout our 34 year marriage of the long trips to see Daddy and Mom J. He has been helpful through Daddy's illness and these past weeks as well. None of us will ever forget that Irby made possible my dad's lifelong dream to visit Ireland. We are so very, very glad we made that trip. My children also understand my grief as they dearly loved their Papa. They were in Mt. Home with us.

If you are reading this, please pray for my step mom, Joyce. What a sweet love they shared. For years, Daddy wrote her a love note every day, leaving them various places in the house. He also left her a book of love notes for after he was gone. There's not as many as he hoped to enter in that book as he began to have trouble writing. However, the ones that are there are absolutely priceless! Several men visited with us and said my dad had taught them how to treat their wives. Several women friends just loved him as you can imagine. He made every one feel important and cared for. Please also pray for my siblings, sisters Kim and Nancy, stepsister and brother, Sonya and Rodney, and niece Heather, raised by my parents until she was 13. We are all so indebted to Daddy...for keeping us straight and honest, and for loving us unconditionally.

I'll see you again, Daddy. Until then, as I whispered to you every time I left you, "I'll love you forever and always."