Monday, October 3, 2011

Birthdays in heaven

On September 26, 1929, my wonderful grandfather was born.  It is one of the best days to ever happen because it brought him into the world to eventually be my Poppy.  This September 26 was the first birthday that we have had since his death.  In fact, it was 3 months and 1 day since we lost him.

This concerned Jessa and Spencer both a lot.  They had many questions.  Will he get to celebrate his birthday?  Will he get to eat cake?  What if we want to get him a present?  What if we want to send him a card?  As always, I was touched and challenged by their many questions.  I told them that he would have a wonderful birthday in heaven with Jesus and all of his friends and family.  But they were still sad.  They wanted to be able to make him a card.  So I thought quickly and suggested that we make him cards and send them to heaven.

The day came last week.
When they got home from school, they both got right to work making him the perfect card.  The cards were both so sweet AND so different. 
Jessa is a little older, and she thinks a little more deeply. 
Here was her card:

Spencer is just as sweet, but a little more simple at this point.
Here was his:

Once we were finished, we shed a few tears together.  Then we rolled up the cards into small little scrolls.  And we headed to the florist shop on base.  They were so patient with us and so nice.  They had some trouble getting the scrolls into the balloons.  But they worked at it and got them both safely into the balloon.  They filled them with helium, and we were ready to go.

We headed home to release our balloons so they would go straight to Poppy in heaven. 
It was a beautiful, if windy day - perfect conditions for our launch.


It was a small tribute that we all shared together. 


David, Jessa, Spencer, and I had our own little party on earth celebrating one of the best people we all know in heaven.

Happy Birthday Poppy!
We miss you.

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