3:16 - Day 15

Day 15: Bible verse

John 3:16 - For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.

I know... I know...

This verse either reminds you of the wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin or seems like the easy answer because it's the most popular/recognizable bible verse in the history of favorite bible verses. You might be thinking, "Oh, she's catholic, she doesn't read the bible so that's why this is her 'favorite' verse." Two years ago you would have had something. (By the way, Mom hates it when I joke about catholics not having to read the bible.) But, I think the reason I wouldn't have claimed this as my favorite bible verse before is because I hadn't realized the truth in it yet.

As most of you know, my dad had a very quick and difficult battle with cancer. In the two months that he fought I received two, "It's not good, you might want to come home" phone calls. That's four hours in a car, each time, driving down the road wondering what will be there when I arrive.

At the very end, my family and I spent night and day at the hospital for four days. Each of us taking turns sleeping in various positions in a recliner, couch, roll-away bed or chair next to dad's bed. I probably would have done that forever if it meant I got to keep him here, but that was me being selfish.

The last night that he was with us here on Earth, that verse kept running through my head. "For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life." Three o'clock in the morning, with my head on his bed, holding his hand, listening to his raspy breathing, crying. In hindsight, probably one of the first times my heart was truly breaking. I was struggling with questions like, If God loves me so much why would he do this? Why would he let Dad suffer? Why would he let us live in a world were such feelings even existed?

And then it dawned on me.

God himself has felt this exact same heartbreak. "he gave his only Son." He knew exactly how my heart was feeling. Who better to turn to? He let His one and only Son be crucified on a cross so that some day a sinner like me, imperfect and too smart-mouthed for my own good, could join him for eternal life in Heaven. He knew I'd disappoint him, act ungrateful, fall down, repent and repeat. Yet He still loved me enough to make that sacrifice.

It's humbling to realize that kind of love.

Certainly, that night was difficult, but learning to live again afterwards was just as hard, if not harder. After all, the world is short one of my most favorite people in the whole world. But I keep this revelation close, believe with all my heart that Dad is home with God and trust some day we will be joined  together again in eternal glory.

Smiles over tears for this post

It's hard to believe that a years time has passed since we lost Dad to his battle with cancer. I think about him everyday and depending on the day that either results in a smile or tears. Today the teary moments are winning out, but I figured I would share a clip from one of his favorite John Wayne western, McLintock!

I remember the first time I watched this with him on tv he was reciting every punch line before it was said and laughing like it was the first time he heard them. We even made Mom wait until the movie was over before we would get around to go to the nursing home to see Grandma Jeanne.

Hope you enjoy this good old-fashion mud brawl.

Papa's tree

As a family, we were overwhelmed with generous donations from friends and family when Dad passed away. With his memorial we were able to give back to those who helped take care of him (and us) Hays Medical Center, Our Lady of Lourdes (rehab hospital), as well as set up a guardian angel fund at our family church where parish members, who have to be away from home for extended periods of time because of medical problems, receive some money to help with expenses.

One of the "funner" ways we get to honor Dad's life is by planting a tree in Park's new city park...i like to call it "Papa's tree."

Here is the ground crew working hard on starting the hole...

Here is Kory, the littlest one, working hard and Payton using all her weight trying to use the shovel...

...let's be honest here, if I had used the shovel like that I would have hurt myself. So as you can see it was probably for the best if I held Maddie and supervised :)

Abby helped us decided when the hole was the right size.

Getting ready to put the tree in the ground.

Time to put some sort of important root stuff in the bottom of the hole and fill in the hole.

Paul makes sure it has plenty of water.

So there, in a nutshell, is our Memorial Day weekend. According to Google images this is what the autumn ash will look like in the fall...

The leaves turn a beautiful purple in the fall...just in time for K-State football, right Brian? :)

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Papa Bear. I love & miss you.

Leaves of Life

Yesterday was kind of a neat day in the Garrett family, my brother Brian was able to put up my Dad's leaf on the "Leaves of Life" Tree at Hays Medical Center. We were able to have a leaf in Dad's memory because of the donation given to the Oncology department from Dad's memorial fund. It only seemed fitting to give back to the people who not only took care of Dad while he battled cancer, but also took care of us and put up with our large, sometimes loud, fire-alarm-setting-off family.

The three tree trunks are sculpted out of red oak and the canopy of metal leaves bear the names of cancer victims and survivors.

It's a beautiful symbol of solidarity and hope for those who go there to receive treatments.

Love you guys!