Dad's Homegoing

This is a hard blog post to write. My dad went home to be with the Lord last Monday morning.  He has had health struggles, but it still took us by surprise.  He's battled chronic pain caused by Lyme Disease for the last 7 years and most recently, back in November, he had a routine test done and discovered he had an aneurism in his aorta.  He was hospitalized for a week, but at that time they decided not to do surgery and to check the aneurism in 3 months.  So earlier this month he had it checked and the aneurism had grown.  They determined that surgery was necessary.  So on Thursday, March 13 he had surgery to repair the aneurism.  The surgeon put in two 7.5 inch stents.  His surgery was a success and he went home Sunday, March 16 in the afternoon.  He was doing well and had high hopes that this surgery was going to help with some of the pain he had been dealing with for so long because he was already noticing a drastic difference in his pain levels.  Sunday evening after church, we took KFC over to my parents house and had a nice dinner with Mom and Dad.  His blood pressure was low and he was really tired, so he wanted to go lay down.  I had all the kids come and give hugs and kisses and say goodnight to Papa, then I hugged and kissed my Dad and said goodnight, not knowing it would be the last time I would see him alive.  I got the news at co-op the next morning, March 17 that he was unresponsive and within 5 minutes of hearing that news, I found out that he had gone to meet his Savior.  I am so thankful that Dad had accepted Jesus as his personal Savior and that he was ready to go.  He knew he was a sinner and that there was nothing he could do to pay for his sins.  He believed that Jesus died for his sins and rose from the dead 3 days later and that by believing on Jesus as his Savior, he would not have to suffer an eternity of suffering in hell, but would go to Heaven and be with his Savior forever.  And now that day has come and he is free of pain and suffering and in the presence of Almighty God!  How awesome that is for Dad!  But I miss him so much and there's an emptiness that will never be filled.  God is good and has given us peace, but the hurt and sadness from Dad being gone is there.  I miss him now and will never stop missing him.  Life just feels so different without him here.  There are so many things that I am thankful for with how God worked out all the details of Dad's homegoing.  It was peaceful - he died in his sleep.  He did not suffer a terrible death.  He was home in his bed instead of 2 hours away at the hospital where he had surgery.  He had a couple of days with less pain than he had the last several years.  We knew the possibility something could happen during surgery, but weren't ready for this news since the surgery went so well.  But Dad was prepared.  He was prepared to meet Jesus.  And I'm thankful that although I won't see him again on this earth, I will see him again in Heaven one day when I go to be with my Savior.  I love you Dad!

I took this picture and the one above earlier in March, shortly before Dad's surgery.

the whole family together the weekend before Dad's surgery

Papa loved to take the kids on the golf cart on my Grandparent's property.  This was from last summer.