Living not striving…

Emotionally exhausted, drained, so sad, yet overwhelmed by love.  This is a smidge of what we are feeling currently.  I have never lost a loved one this close to me so this is a strange, difficult new experience.  It is a bit overwhelming thinking of ever doing it again and yet it is inevitable.  Mark, Kimberly and Pat have been down this road too many times it seems.

You can check out Mark’s blog for details on the arrangements.  How completely amazed we have been how in the last 12 hours we have been loved on in amazing ways.  I received the phone call that Tom had slipped away and within 20 minutes I was by Mark’s side and it takes almost 15 minutes to get to Pat and Tom’s house.  That is how quickly friends moved into place to free us up to grieve.  Within three hours unbeknowst to me not only were my children being fed and entertained but friends fell upon my house and straightened (forgive my clutter!), cleaned, scrubbed, folded, washed bedding, reorganized my house to prepare for out of town guests.  Then to top it off they mowed the yard!

All day long we have received food, emails, text messages, phone calls.  God is so good to us and we are so undeserving but I promise these huge gestures bless us so very much.  What a testament to God’s grace.  Not one gift, card or phone call is unappreciated.  It keeps us going so thank you.

Please do continue to pray for our strength, especially for Pat, Kimberly and Mark.  They are going on months of very little sleep and the grief is hard.  Also as a momma please pray for little Eli.  We took him to the doctor tonight b/c he has a very, very bad cough.  Apparently it is just a cold thank goodness but of course I worry about him:) 

So thanks be to God for all the support from those that love us and love Him!  I just kept thinking of Tom today enjoying the sunshine of the Lord while fishing with his dad.  What a sweet picture!