Tuesday, March 16, 2010

God is Love.

My dear sweet friends,

Thank you.

Thank you for your kind words of love, your generous outpouring of encouragement, and your genuine sentiments of sympathy. What can I say? My heart and soul are shattered in a million little pieces at the shock of the situation and the fear of the reality that is looming before me and my brothers. But somehow my spirit knows peace. I have never been so weak or experienced so much pain in my life, so it must be a loving Savior surrounding me and hugging me tightly. Praise God my mom and dad are in the arms of a loving Father, who we will now call Dad too.

I know God is present in the little promises he shows me everyday such as the verse that He gave my brother Evan, Psalm 139: 8-10. "If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." My sweet mom and dad were flying with Jesus and his hand was with them as they went to meet him in the depths of the sea. And he's holding them now, and he's holding us now.

How great is our God.

Their death is a beautiful picture of their souls. My dad would go no other way, flying made his heart sing. And neither would my mom, right by his side, living each moment fully and with an expectation of the eternal. I'm so glad they don't have to go a day without each other because they were madly in love. My brother Doug has been living at home and said it was the happiest he's ever seen them, that they were like little kids in love. They have been an incredible example to us of a loving, serving marriage and gracious parents. They were ready to be with Jesus, they told us over Christmas that very thing. Each child was at an incredible place of peace in our relationships with them and fully knowing the deep love we all have for each other.

The outpouring of love from our community of friends, family, and acquaintances has been sustenance for our souls. While our family has grown smaller, our definition of family will ever be expanding as we come to embrace and be embraced by a great cloud of witnesses. I thank you for your graciousness with us during this time, and I just ask that in the weeks, months, and years to come that you will participate and be part of our new family.

It is also an incredible inspiration and comfort to hear the amazing ways my parents have impacted the lives of so many people. So please do send your sweet memories so that we can celebrate the lives of the two greatest loves of my life and the fantastic individuals of Evan and Peggy.

I miss them with all my heart. I keep hoping each morning that my dad is going to come kiss me on the forehead before he goes to work and that my mom will sit with me in her bathrobe over a cup of tea at the kitchen table.

Then I'm reminded we will have all of eternity to do that. This is only temporary.

God is good, all the time.
and
All the time, God is good.



--
with much, much love,

Ashley