please keep our family in your prayers

This morning, I woke up feeling completely awful. Along with waking up completely exhausted, I, also, awoke with my "Minnie Mouse" voice. If you have not had the pleasure of experiencing my Minnie Mouse voice, you are lucky. It is extremely high and can give you a horrific headache. So, as you can read, my day was not starting off the greatest!!

Mid morning, I received a phone call from my mom. She was in tears and extremely upset. She had just received news that my cousin, Kelly, had been killed in a car accident. She was taking her grandson, Bryer, home when she hit a telephone pole and then a tree. Bryer was flown to Primary Children's Hospital with critical injuries. Kelly was transported to a hospital where the doctors and nursed worked on Kelly for over an hour. She quietly passed from this life not too long after that. My heart hurts for feelings that we are all experiencing today. She was definitely the ROCK in her family that kept them all together. I just do not understand why someone who is needed so much is taken from this life to the next.

So, as I sat at my desk, I wanted to focus on things that I could remember about her. I started making a mental list of some of my favorite things that I loved about Kelly. One of my favorite things is that she was always laughing. She was and is such a cheerful person. It did not matter what was happening, she was always joking around and laughing. She could turn not-so-good things into pretty good things. She had that gift--the gift to help others lighten up. She was simply crazy. Oh, just a side note, she introduced me to homemade Oreo cookies. She brought them camping one year and they were such a hit. I still remember sitting around the camp fire as she shared these most delicious cookies with us--then explained step by step how she made them. Oh, it was great!!

So, I wonder why she was taken at this time. I know that we will not know, but it is a question that keeps popping in and out my head. A couple of weeks ago, my mom was in Walmart when she ran into Kelly. Kelly gave her the hugest hug and then, they talked for awhile. I can not help thinking that Mom and Kelly were suppose to run into each other that day and share that moment. I wonder what would happen if we knew that the moment that we shared with someone was the last moment we had with them here on earth? Or is it best to not know?

I think back to the moment that my grandma passed from this life--that last moment. I would never take that moment away. My mom and I sat there with grandma as she took her last breath. We were holding her hands. I could not think of a better place to be that night than where we were. I am grateful for the most special experience that anyone could ever had. YES, it was extremely difficult--but we did know that that moment was the last time we would see her alive until the next life.

So, as I think of Kelly tonight. I think of her up in heaven with Grandma and Grandpa. What a glorious reunion. I can just imagine Grandma with her arms around Kelly as they sit watching over the family.

Kelly--we will miss you!! and Bryer, we are praying for you!!