Sister-in-law

I’ll go ahead and say that this post will be a lot of writing and only one picture.

Probably most of you who are reading this know that our sister-in-law, Lori, died on December 10th after a 21 month battle with breast cancer.  Bret, Lori’s husband and Gary’s brother, sent an e-mail out that was a great testimony.  He wrote:  “My sweet, amazing Lori has fought the good fight, and this morning she passed on to be with the Lord.  Friday morning (12/10) at 5:20 am Lori gained full victory over the disease of cancer as her Lord Jesus ushered her to her forever true home.  Her sister, Brenda, her wonderful children Seth and Kenna, and I were all with her to say goodbye.  Shortly thereafter many family and friends have blessed us with their well wishes.  Lori’s faith in Jesus to completely save is now beautifully realized!”

We were able to get tickets to come back the day before the funeral.  Ethan didn’t have a seat, and it didn’t look like we would be able to get a seat with a bassinet, which meant over 10 straight hours of him being on our laps.  God continually provided, and our trip was much better than we expected.  We went from the very last 2 seats on the plane that didn’t recline to where one of us were able to get a seat with the bassinet and the other one would have to stay in the last row to where we were both able to get on the row with the bassinet but with 2 seats of other people between us.  Then once we got on the plane, the woman next to Gary noticed that we were together and asked if I wanted to change seats with her so I could be next to Gary and she could have an aisle seat.  So, Gary and I were able to sit next to each other AND have a bassinet for Ethan.  The interesting thing was that the plane didn’t take off for awhile because there seemed to be so many people complaining to the flight attendants about their seats.  Gary and I heard several people trying to switch seats with people and talking to the flight attendants about problems with their seats.  Neither of us have seen so much changing of seats and problems on a flight before.  That made me all the more thankful for how God provided for us.  And, to top it off, we were on a plane where you can go downstairs to the bathroom which was better for me than just walking up and down the aisles since I needed to get up and move around every hour due to blood clotting being more prone in pregnant women. 

We woke Ethan just before leaving the house, at 4:30 am, and just took him to the airport in his pajamas.  Surprisingly, he stayed awake on the whole drive to the airport.  The flight to Germany wasn’t full, so Gary moved to an empty row to get a little sleep.  As usual, Ethan was a big hit with the flight attendant, so she carried him around the plane several times.  Near the end of our 4 hour layover in Frankfurt, we were in the security line (which was very long).  That was the first time that Ethan began getting fussy and having a meltdown.  Before too long, one of the security workers let us jump line and go through since we had a young child.  I don’t know if she would have noticed us had Ethan been quiet.  We weren’t in a hurry but it was nice to not have to wait so long in line.  After getting up so early in the morning, Ethan didn’t sleep until his normal nap time and only slept the amount of time as his normal nap time.  He still did well on the flight.  We know that there were many people praying for us and our travels here, so we are thankful for that!  Please also pray for our return trip.

The funeral was a great testimony to the Lord.  Several of Lori’s friends shared some stories about her.  Bret played a recording of a song that Lori wrote a few months ago and he and one of Lori’s friends sang it and then taught it to everyone to sing along.  Bret said that at least one of her doctors was there.  He counted 470 people who signed the visitor book for the funeral.  One of the people commented to me, afterward, that it was the best funeral service they had ever been to.

We are all so glad that Lori is not suffering or in pain anymore.  I am sad for Bret and the kids who are 13 and 17 years old.  Even though my dad died when I was 26 years old, I can’t imagine what they are going through.  I do know that God is sovereign and His timing is perfect.  His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts.  I do pray that Seth and Kenna will know His presence and peace and feel their Heavenly Father’s arms wrapped around them like I did when my dad was dying from cancer.  I just don’t know how people handle these types of things when they are not Christians.  I’m sure God will be using this family as an example to those who don’t know God personally. 

Here is a picture of Ethan with his cousins, Seth and Kenna.