journey of life

I did not mean to be away this long from my blog...it was my goal this summer to keep everyone updated on our lives, the pregnancy, and other projects this summer.

But, as always, God had different plans for our lives.

About three weeks ago we received a midnight phone call that Jason's dad had been brought to the emergency room with difficulty breathing and had been intubated right then and there. A ventilator was keeping him alive and breathing. A week passed and no improvements; the ventilator was still at 100% oxygen and breathing for him and he had little to no communication with those who worked or visited with him. The doctors called a family meeting and shared that they really did not see him improving and felt the family should make a decision as to whether to keep him on life support or not.

Jason is an only child and in recent years has not been that close with his father. But that was only recently; Jason's childhood memories of adventures with his mountain-man, motorcycle-loving, free-spirited father are precious. They spent days and weeks together camping, hunting, and fishing, all the while teaching Jason to value and love God's creation. Knowing this about his father, Jason had to make the ultimate decision to take his father off life support and allow him to join his Heavenly Father in a place where there is no pain.

We have struggled...first of all with the fact that no 30-year-olds should have to decide something like this for anyone--much less their parent. Also, to learn how to plan a memorial, or to learn what to do with a will and an estate. It really has been a very surreal time in our lives. We have been very fortunate to have the full support of Jason's uncles and aunt in all of this and in some retrospect it probably has brought all of us closer together.

With the memorial service now behind us, we move on to the estate. Another learning process for us (God seems to have given a lot of those to us this year so far!) we actually look forward to it with some anticipation as Jason is given the opportunity to go through his father's things and do a lot of positive reminiscing. :)

God is amazing to us. Through hardship, heartache and many tears, He still provides His loving arms to carry us through. 2009 is and will continue to be a journey of learning new ways that He always provides!