Joy Memories...

Have spent a lot of time thinking and praying today.  Sweet little Lucy has been laid to rest... and the painful journey to healing has only just begun for those that are left behind after her heavenly departure.  My mind and heart has lingered with them since I got word of the tragedy, and today, I was consumed in my thoughts of them.  So much so, that I have a pounding headache.  I know it is tied to it... sort of a physical pain to go with the heart pain I feel for them.  I know the road will be long and at times so very, very difficult. I truly feel in my heart an ache of remembrance of what is just beginning for them.  But I also know, joy will come again and it will be all the more sweeter because that is where I dwell... right smack in the middle of the beautiful joy!
As evidence of that, I thought tonight, while sitting here trying to convince my mind to shut down, I would share a few of my favorite memories of Eathan that bring me such great joy...even though I can remember like yesterday when I never knew how I would ever truly smile from the inside out again.  God IS faithful.  He walks with us in our journeys on mountain tops and even more in the dark, desolate valleys.  And "weeping may come for the night, BUTJOY COMES IN THE MORNING!" 

Enjoy a few of my favorite things that bring me JOY in the mornings.....

Every time I eat an M&M I think of Eathan!  How he loved them!

He loved the phone!  He "talked" on it all the time!

This perfect foot impression was made for me the morning before he went home!  Those nurses had no idea it was his last day, but God did and He orchestrated that day to be the very day that imprinted that adorable little foot for me!

This one house shoe... Eathan was in a brace on his left leg due to pain after a stroke so he could only wear one shoe.  He loved these house shoes.  So he wore one as we put him to rest, and I kept one.  So special to me!

The smile that was there even in his sickest days.  That brings joy to my heart on so many levels!!

He loved airplanes!  This is a special one from his Pops.  He played with it for hours laying in the hospital bed. 
Joy in the difficulties.  What a symbolic message I see when I look at this plane!

I can still hold his hand now because of the nurses that loved him almost as much as me that made this crystal mold when then made the foot imprint.  Only God could know how much I would need to still hold his hand so He used his faitful nurses to give me one of the greatest gifts I could ever have!

He loved Dragon Tales!  They came on the channel in the hospital and he would just giggle and giggle!

Last pair of shoes he ran in.  I treasure them! 
And he grew so little after he fell ill, that these still fit him when he went home to Jesus!

His "B" and his "Bear" (of which he pronounced wrong and called his "Beer".)How he loved them!  They were with him all the way!  And his "B" is signed by Mark Shultz, a Christian singer who sang "He's My son" over Eathan and then an entire auditorium of people layed hands on the people in front of them until they were touching us.  It was profound and just a couple of weeks before our sweet Tuffy went home. 

Sweet dreams to everyone... praying for JOY to come soon... to all of us forever!

Robin