Life Update

Last Wednesday, Jesus finished preparing my grandfather's mansion and called him home to Heaven. My Papa finally got to hear those words "Well done my good and faithful servant". He was a Southern Baptist minister for many, many years and a WW2 veteran. My Mamaw held his hand and prayed for him, talked to him and recited Scripture to him as he passed away and she was still holding his hand when he took his final breath on earth. It was a bittersweet time for our family.  He had been very sick the past 2 years and his quality of life was not what any of us wanted for him and while we were so thankful he wasn't sick and suffering anymore, we are going to miss his smile, his hugs, his teasing (he loved to "pick" at us), listening to him play guitar and sing bluegrass gospel songs, sitting and talking about the Bible with him and we will most certainly miss his physical presence in our lives. 

We went back to my hometown and spent last weekend. It was a wonderful time with family and reminiscing and remembering all the special times with Papa. We decided rather than have a "funeral", we'd have a Celebration Service to honor his life and celebrate that he was finally in Heaven and had seen the face of Jesus. Papa always said he wanted his grandkids to sing and play guitar at his funeral.  So at his service, David and my cousin Ricky played guitar and the other 5 of us grandkids sang "Precious Memories" and "Mansions Over the Hilltop" while they played.  Even our 3 kids decided they wanted to sing with us and they learned both songs and stood in front of us and sang too!  The preacher who preached Papa's funeral said he could only imagine that knowing how much Papa loved talking Bible and studying theology that he was probably sitting around with the apostles Paul and Peter in Heaven and had to tell them "Can you guys hang on just a second?  My grandkids are singing for me".  He was buried with full-military honors complete with a flag-draped coffin, 21 gun salute and an actual bugle player who played "Taps" at the end of the funeral.  Then the flag was folded and presented to my Mamaw.  It was a very special way to honor my Papa and celebrate his life.  While we are going to miss him so very much, I am thankful that this is not a final goodbye....just a "see you later Papa".  

We also wanted to let you know that we have created a blog about our upcoming move to Texas and our mission work.  You can now follow our missions blog (via Linky Followers) to stay updated on our move, our training, and our work as full-time missionaries starting in July!  Eventually our header will include a family picture but for now it is a picture of David and I in Peru with some of the sweet kids we got to work with on that mission trip. So make sure you check out Arise, Go, Send and join us in our missionary journey!