'til We Meet Again....

Apologies to Liahni, as this is a copy and paste from the message I wrote to you. I just couldn't figure out a better way to write it than what I wrote to you. :)

My dad passed away Tuesday night with the grandkids holding his hands, and the rest of us all around him. We were all there and it was a sweet, but sad experience. Oh....and it happened to be the anniversary of when we were sealed together as a family on 3/30/78 in the Washington DC temple. We think he did that on purpose. :) His funeral will most likely be next Friday (not this coming Friday) to give his family more time to make arrangements to get here.

We got there in plenty of time. His numbers were doing pretty good and staying pretty constant for a couple of hours, so after Mandi and the kids got back from eating in the cafeteria, Thom and my mom went down and Bill and I were going to go next. Well, about 5 minutes after they left, his numbers started dropping quite steadily. We saw what was happening and I called my brother and told them to come back up quickly. The rest of us gathered around him---Jared and Kaden holding one hand and Chloe the other. Little Kailey was just sitting watching things happen. Things slowed way down. Mandi said she could feel the spirit sooooo strong. We all could--so thick and tangible. Mom and my brother got there just as his heart beat for the last few times. Such a sweet, sweet experience.

I'm still fighting such feelings of deep disappointment that he can no longer be with our family. But, I know this is where he needs to be. This was confirmed when their Stake President came and talked to us at their house. He gave my dad a blessing. Not necessarily a release, but a blessing that said things that my mom interpreted that could go either in this life or the next. What he didn't share then but did today, was that as he was beginning the blessing, he felt very, very strongly that my dad had already left his body and he could feel his spirit there. I was praying for a confirmation Sunday night that we were doing the right thing, "letting him go" and not prolonging his life artificially. That confirmation was given to me tonight. So, yeah, I'm at peace but will miss him sooooo badly.

Thank you all for continued thoughts and prayers for our family.