Another Angel in Heaven...

Jesus wept -John 11:35

"When grieving mothers open their Bibles in search of comfort, they don't have to worry about being assaulted by passages depicting Jesus breaking out in a belly laugh. Instead they open God's Word and find a man of sorrows with whom they can deeply identify. It is in this picture the suffering find comfort".
Joni Eareckson Tada

I am not sure why the story of Tyler Genneken has touched me so much. I guess it is how Heather's story touched people we have never met before. Tyler was called home tonight. He was 14 years, 8 months and 13 days old. He died in the hospital where all his treatments began about 3 1/2 years ago. He was days away from finishing his treatment when he came out of remission. Tyler needed a bone marrow transplant and there was no match anywhere in the country. Tyler is only the latest victim to be killed by a cancer called leukemia. I know what his mother is feeling right now. I know the relief that your child is no longer hurting, but the total devastation that your child is gone forever. You will never be able to hold your baby, tell them you love them and hear their voice. It is all gone till the day you join them in heaven.Last year at this time I was busy preparing for the Grand Ball. Our family celebration that Heather had beat her cancer. The worst part was behind her and the rest of her life was ahead of her. It was the best time. Heather was so happy. All seemed right with the world for a brief moment. Those moments are what we hang on to. We need to take advantage of all the happy moments. All too soon, there will be something else come along that will rock our world. We need to make the most of the happy moments.I usually begin all the holiday things about now. I begin the Christmas newsletter and cards so they can be mailed the day after Thanksgiving. Yes, you may hate me, but it is something that I really take pride in being able to be some of the first cards people receive. I then decide what the new Snoopy or Peanuts character will be created to go in the front yard. I have all the house decorated by the end of Thanksgiving weekend. With the entire house decorated and at least 4 Christmas trees in the house I need to get started early. This year it is hard to get started. It is hard to think about those things. How can the holidays come when Heather is not here. Heather LOVED the holidays. It was her time to shine.Heather's 18th Birthday-2005 with her Holiday Barbie

Usually by now I have begun to get gifts for Heather's birthday on December 10. I usually get Heather the Holiday Barbie for her birthday. I have to get Barbie early because she usually sells out way before Christmas. This year, Holiday Barbie is beautiful. Heather would have wanted this one for sure. It is the 50th anniversary of Barbie and she has long blond hair wearing a pink dress. PERFECT!! Due to the economy, Holiday Barbie is not selling well. They keep dropping the price. Bill decided a while back to get Holiday Barbie for me. He brought her home yesterday. He decided he had waited long enough before none were left.I decided last week to go through all Heather's DVDs and CDs. That sounds harmless enough. I did not realize that it would be a week long project and require the purchase of 3 new pieces of furniture. Heather loved her movies and her music. I have placed marker dots on all of Heather's stuff. I purchased a remake of an antique apothocary cabinet to hold the CDs and DVDs. The problem is that it comes in black. We have an oak wood desk. So...we changed the entire office. Heather's black desk is now our desk in the office. I bought a bookshelf to place all the things from the drawers as Heather bought her desk for looks not for function. All the pieces look great. It is quite a different look for the office. We have had the same desk for 14 years. The black is refreshing. It also feels good to have Heather's things out for a change.Hug your children tonight. Tell the ones you love that you do love them. For in a twinkling of an eye your world can change...