HEAVENLY CELEBRATIONS & EMAIL 2 YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GARY !

Though it's been 18 years in November, since you left me here and went home to be with the Lord, I can't help but still miss you a great deal! I thought it may help to write you this letter to let you know how much I love you and have needed you here to share like we use to do! I can hardly believe that it's been this long because it seems like yesterday! I don't have any photo of you in my computer but I have some from the last Christmas we shared at our sister Carol's home. However, this is not how you looked your last days!

You looked so peaceful as you laid there in a coma! I shared all your favorite music with you that week and read the Word to you! I know that your spirit received all that I was sharing! I will never forget the last visit from Renee that day, the radiance of joy on her face as she spoke to you about being in heaven and holding her baby daughter and giving her a hug from her and her daddy. She was such a special friend to you and that's why she chose you as her baby's godparent! As you listened to her talk, you seemed to be smiling. She asked me about an angel pin that she had sent you with a recent card, so we looked for it in your mail. She wanted you to put it on as a reminder. It was my privilege to attach that angel as I told you that I was giving you this "angel" to accompany your spirit into heaven and in that moment, you took a deep breath as I grabbed dad's hand and placed it in yours, I saw your spirit leave and rejoiced with tears and much heartache. I will always treasure those moments with you and having grown up with you as my baby brother. I can hardly wait to see you again with mom & dad!

I have thought of you often and your mission trip to Haiti. They are in the path of many hurricanes and tropical storms these last few years. I wish I had your pictures with me! I think of those smiling children from Haiti and Jamaica often from your trips there. I hope many know Jesus because of the love of Jesus that you shared. I'm praying for them!

I cannot believe how old you would be today! 48 WOW! How the years have gone by, but not the pain...it saddens me that you were robbed of living all these years but I am filled with the HOPE and COMFORT that you are in a much better place! I'm sure celebrations of your earthly birth are nothing compared to your heavenly celebrations!

I found this beautiful graphic of heaven 

by David B. Holeman
and a poem by David M. Romano, but did not want to mess with copyright
so please read this at: http://www.angelrays.com/plain/heaven.html
[sorry it's no longer there] 11/2/13
"When Tomorrow Starts without Me"

This HEAVENLY poem certainly touches my heart!

It is as if YOU, Gary were speaking to me today to encourage my heavy spirit!

So after reading this today, I know that you and I, Gary are not that far apart because I often think of you and know you are in my heart! 

These words give me great hope!

 "Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven." Matthew 5:12a

 "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16a

 "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Matthew 16:19

 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. " John 14:1-3

 "There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another ..." 1 Corinthians 15:40

 "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ." Philippians 3:20

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away ..." Revelations 21:1-4

IN ALL OF THIS, I FIND MY HOPE in CHRIST JESUS, the author and finisher of my FAITH!

My eyes are fixed on Jesus!

"Heaven is a wonderful place

Filled with Glory and Grace

I want to see My Savior's Face

'Cuz Heaven is a Wonderful Place"

(i wanna go there)

[words from a kid's song my kids sang 
when my mom was dying in '86]